Sunscreen might be the most recommended product in all of skincare. It's also one of the most misunderstood. Most of us picked up a handful of "facts" about it years ago — from a parent, a magazine, a half-remembered ad — and never updated them. The trouble is that several of those facts are quietly working against us. So we're going to skip the part where I tell you sunscreen matters. You already know that. Let's talk about the things people get wrong instead.

It's worth being clear about what's actually at stake, because "don't get a sunburn" undersells it. UV exposure is one of the largest daily stressors your skin barrier faces. It breaks down the lipids that hold the barrier together, degrades collagen and elastin, and drives a low, constant level of inflammation in the skin. A sunburn is simply the version of that damage you can see. The rest accumulates quietly, year after year — which is exactly why the myths below are so costly. They never feel like mistakes in the moment.

Six Myths Worth Unlearning

None of these are fringe beliefs. They're the common, reasonable-sounding assumptions that even people who love skincare tend to carry — which is what makes them worth taking apart one by one.

• Myth 01
  "I put it on this morning, so I'm covered for the day."

  The number on the bottle is measured under conditions almost no one recreates. SPF is tested using a generous, even layer — roughly a quarter teaspoon for the face alone — and most of us apply a fraction of that. Applied thinly, an SPF 30 can behave more like an SPF 5 to 10. Sunscreen also simply wears off: it transfers onto collars, sweats away, and breaks down in light over the course of a day. One morning application is a strong start and very little protection by mid-afternoon. Outdoors, reapply every two hours — and sooner after swimming, sweating, or toweling off.

• Myth 02
  "SPF 100 is twice as strong as SPF 50."

  The SPF scale feels like it should be linear. It isn't. SPF 30 blocks roughly 97% of UVB rays, SPF 50 about 98%, and SPF 100 about 99%. The leap from 30 to 100 is a difference of about two percentage points — not three times the protection. A higher number can buy a small margin of error for the under-application in Myth 01, but it is not a license to skip reapplication, and it can create a false sense of all-day security. The most protective sunscreen is the one you'll actually reapply.

• Myth 03
  "I just need a base tan to protect myself."

  This is the one I'd most like to retire. A tan is not a layer of protection your skin builds for you. A tan is the damage. Tanning is the skin's emergency response to UV injury — the color appears precisely because DNA has already been harmed and the skin is scrambling to limit further harm. For all of that effort, a tan provides an estimated SPF of only about 3 to 4. There is no protective base tan. The only tan that doesn't come with a cost is the kind that comes from a bottle.

• Myth 04
  "It's cloudy, or I'm inside all day, so I'm fine."

  Clouds feel like cover. They aren't much of one — up to about 80% of UV rays pass straight through cloud layers, which is why overcast days still cause sunburns and accumulate damage. Windows are a similar story: UVA, the wavelength most responsible for premature aging, passes readily through ordinary glass. Photographs of long-haul drivers are the classic illustration — the window-side half of the face visibly more lined and sun-aged than the other. If you sit by a window at work or in the car, you're getting a daily, measurable dose.

• Myth 05
  "My skin is dark enough that I don't really need it."

  Melanin does provide some genuine, built-in defense — but nowhere near enough to go without. The protection deeper skin tones carry naturally is estimated at an SPF of around 13 at most, and that does nothing to prevent two things that matter a great deal: UV-driven hyperpigmentation and uneven tone, and skin cancer. Skin cancer in richly pigmented skin is real, and because it's so often assumed not to be a risk, it tends to be caught later and at a more dangerous stage. Sun protection is not a fair-skin concern. It belongs to everyone.

• Myth 06
  "Chemical sunscreens are toxic — only mineral is safe."

  This one deserves a slower look, and it's where my pharmacy background makes me want to add some nuance. A few years ago, FDA studies found that several chemical UV filters are absorbed into the bloodstream. That became a frightening headline — but absorption is not the same as harm. A great many safe, ordinary things are absorbed by the body; "detected in blood" is a signal to gather more data, not a verdict of danger. The FDA's own guidance throughout was to keep using sunscreen. "Mineral" filters aren't automatically safer or more effective — they're simply the two filters already cleared under the FDA's older framework. Both types, used as directed, protect your skin. The genuinely risky option on the shelf is the bottle you don't buy.

The Good News: Sunscreen Is About to Get Better

Here's a genuinely encouraging development to end on. For the first time in more than 25 years, the FDA has proposed adding a new UV filter — bemotrizinol — to the list of ingredients permitted in American sunscreens. It's a filter that has been used in Europe and parts of Asia for over two decades, and it offers notably stronger, more stable broad-spectrum coverage, particularly against the UVA rays tied to aging. A final decision is expected later in 2026.

It's worth knowing why this is news at all. The United States regulates sunscreen as an over-the-counter drug, which means new filters move through a slow, demanding approval process — and as a result, Americans have had access to fewer sunscreen ingredients than much of the world for years. Two things are quietly true here: your sunscreen is genuinely about to get better, and the careful, evidence-heavy process behind that new filter is the same kind of process that should make Myth 06 feel a little less frightening.