Flexible Parenting Reviews

This is a part of Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting. It contains a write-up of products and services that I review, mostly but not entirely related to parenting, families, and children.

Flexible Links

My Blogging Inspiration
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Skiplovey

Slouching Past 40

Flexible Affiliations

Get great free widgets at Widgetbox!

- Crazy/Hip Blog-Mamas +
(Random Site)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

KINeSYS

It's no secret that my family burns in the sun. It is unusual for me to meet anyone who burns more easily than us. Part of our paleness comes from my efforts to avoid sunburn; I slab thick layers of sunscreen on us if we're going to be outside for long periods of time. That being said, I'm sporting a nice tan right now from burning on the beach last week.

Finding sunscreen that works for us can be challenging. My husband, younger son and I will all use whatever is available. My older son though tends to be very sensitive to the textures of lotion and can't stand a lot of sunscreens. The Parent Bloggers Network asked people to review a few sunscreen products by KINeSYS Performance Sunscreen so of course I had just had to try them out. They're made for athletes so I figured they probably wouldn't be as sticky.

The first product I tested was a sample spray of kids sunblock. It was Kids SPF 30 Sunscreen Spray with Parsol. What I liked about it was that it comes out at room temperature. I know that sounds weird, but some of the name-brand sprays come out cold which of course sends my kids howling. The other thing that's nice about it, is you can't really feel it when it goes on you; it's very light. You also don't need to use a lot of it. I personally am a fan of the pump because we weren't inhaling all those fumes the way we do with a spray. I did however still manage to get the sunscreen all over my shirt yesterday. We'll see how well it washes out.

What I didn't like is that I found it took longer than 2-3 minutes to completely dry. This of course could be entirely me. Particularly when the kids start hopping around because...well they're kids and they don't like to stand still, some body parts can get pretty heavily sprayed by accident. When it did dry though, it was really dry. It wasn't oily or greasy. It made my skin soft and had a nice faint scent to it. Also, it did seem like it really sank into the skin giving me the feeling that it protected better than other brands' spray.

The second product we tried out was the lotion version of the kids sunscreen. It was Kids SPF 30 Sunscreen Cream with Titanium Dioxide. Compared to other brands we've tried, this was far less greasy. (That's the part of sunscreen that my older son in particular hates. ) It's also the part that I hate because oily sunscreen = 100 million pieces of sand stuck to my younger son. I still preferred the pump spray though because it left less residue.

The last product I tried was a sunscreen for me. It was SPF 30 Sunscreen Spray with Parsol. It was also a pump. That one seemed fine. Honestly I must confess that I didn't see any difference on me between that one and the kid one which I also used. I suspect that the kid one is for more delicate skin. Speaking of which, the nice thing about the non-kid spray was that it didn't irritate my skin nearly as much as sunscreen usually does. However, if sensitive skin is a concern, they do sell a fragrance free product.

Overall I liked this product. Particularly if you have a child with sensory issues, the kids spray works really well. In case you are curious, it didn't matter that the SPF was 30 and not 50 like we usually use. We didn't burn at all. Apparently it's rated as number 1 for being safe and effective by the Environmental Working Group. The one drawback is that it's not as easy to find as other brands of sunscreen. It tends to be sold in sports shops and of course on-line. Right now the company is offering free shipping on orders over $45. All bottles are $15 for 4 ounces of sunscreen.

posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:05 AM 0 comments

0 Comments:

My Profile

Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
See my complete profile