Defective Sunscreen, or User Error???

This post contains pictures that may not be suitable for queasy stomachs, children or moms.

Cath & I were in St. Louis working very hard getting our items out of storage and into our new home.  We arrived back in Denver to our happy children, two of which glowed in the dark from very bad sunburns.

We discovered that they had been swimming all day and they assured us that they used "plenty" of sunscreen.  When we heard this, my first thought was "did you apply the sunscreen to your skin?"

Tanner and Taylor assured us that they applied the product liberally and at two different times.  They also guaranteed that they waited a full 30 minutes after application before they got back in the pool.

But, even with these measures, they received 2nd degree sunburns, the like I have not seen since my days of youth when the maximum SPF was 8.  I grew up by the beach in Southern California where nobody used sunscreen and a good burn was a sign that you actually went to the beach.

The instant reply of the boys was that the sunscreen product (SPF 45) was defective!  I considered this option and wondered myself if this would be the start of a multi-million dollar, mega class-action lawsuit of the mean sunscreen company that produced a product that allowed the sun to burn my children!

Then, my mind went to the definition that my boys use when they say that they used "a lot" of sunscreen, "frequently".  Unless the defective product contained some UV attracting chemical, I am not sure that I buy the position that it was completely the sunscreen.  We did check the bottle for an expiration date thinking that perhaps on the effective date, the product would magically be rendered unusable, but could not find such a date.

The mystery may never be solved.  Perhaps we should have saved the bottle and sent it to Mythbusters for a definitive answer.

Well, you can be the judge.

(Did I mention that Cath & I were out of town when this happened???)