Thanks, but that's not the case here. We have always had Nivea. Never issues before. It was cloudy to start, so we only reapplied after 3 hours, and then we stayed for another 3 hours. Should have reapplied twice. We usually don't stay so long at the beach.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Notwithstanding the answers thus far, stand by for my 2c worth...

Having recently had a malignant melanoma on my arm removed along with 2 lymph nodes, I'm now super focused on these matters. As Dave has eluded to, just because it says 50+ on the bottle doesn't mean it is. Check out the Cancer Society approved brands ( There aren't as many as you think). I've changed from the Nivea we were using to another one that actually is 50+.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sorry to hear about your melanoma, hope all is well!

I've tried to look up cancer society approved brands, but couldn't find it. I did find this article where Cancer Society didn't meet their spf rating according to consumer NZ, and Nivea did https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/403766/nine-sunscreen-brands-fail-protection-tests-consumer-nz So not sure what to believe. I had a look at the consumer NZ database, which has more than 100 products, but no Nivea.

Thanks for reminding me to look after our skin. It was just an error on our part I believe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Skin cancer has come up a bit in my family so I pay attention to this stuff, though I believe it's pretty common in NZ in general. The consumer tests vary each time. The cancer society ones tend to have good results but that year they didn't. From memory, Banana Boat is one that fails a lot and so I avoid that brand, plus any from smaller companies. I believe Nivea is one that has consistently done well, maybe with an occasional off year but as per your article it looks like that may be behind us now that issue with the lab falsifying results has been picked up.

It's worth noting that when they fail, typically they are still high SPF. When I was a kid I think SPF15 was the highest available. Now anything under 30 is barely considered sunscreen, and many are 50 or above.

One other thing worth mentioning is that the middle of the day when UV is the highest it's really best to avoid being in the sun. Not always easy, of course.