Once is enough (Boots Soltan Once Lotion SPF40)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Boots Soltan Once Lotion SPF40
Date:	31/07/07 (945 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Protects well where it covers but...

Disadvantages: ...covering completely is the challenge

I love going on holiday although sitting in the sun for hours on end is not my idea of fun. Don't get me wrong, I love warm weather but in the direct glare of the sun I get far too hot and in any case I unfortunately have the sort of skin that doesn't instantly adopt that all over coffee colour with which others seem blessed. I burn if I don't take protection and so I tend to find myself sitting in the shade more often than not.

But, you can't stay there for ever. At some time you have to venture out into the sun. No matter how long for, to do so without protection against the harmful effects of sunlight would be foolish. In my case it is my head that needs to be most protected as I most of my hair, at least on my head that is, seems these days to be in retreat! Elsewhere it seems to be doing the opposite. Just my luck!

This year, in celebration of finally being entitled to a free bus pass and a winter fuel allowance, my wife and I agreed to indulge in another cruise, this time a fortnight aboard one of Royal Caribbean ships, starting and ending at Southampton and taking in many Mediterranean destinations that would be new to us. Much time would be spent on board as we made our way down to the Med and we would definitely be making use of the pleasures at hand, including sitting out on deck and swimming in one of the several pools.

My wife had chosen the sun protection, as usual, and had chosen from Boots own brand range, “Soltan”, one we have used in the past and have found very reliable. This year she picked from the Soltan “Once” range. This is advertised as being a lotion that need only be applied once, as the name implies, in order to give protection for a full six hours. She bought two versions, one at factor 15 for herself and the higher protection factor 40 for me. I usually use a factor 40 protection at first and then swap to her factor 15 when I finally start to get a bit of a tan. This often takes me as much as a week or even more.

Soltan Once Lotion is, in my opinion, incorrectly described. I would consider it more a cream than a lotion. It comes in a squeezy tube and comes out much more in the constituency of toothpaste than than a liquid. The factor 40 version seems a little thicker than the factor 15 but both have more or less the same feel.

And the problem with Soltan Once is directly related to this. Applying Soltan Once is a bit like trying to smear yourself with toothpaste; it simply doesn't go on smoothly or evenly. Not just that but it is difficult to determine where it has been applied and where it hasn't. This I found to my cost the first time I tried to use it. Although it seemed that I had applied it all over, the subsequent evidence of patches of red skin clearly showed that hadn't been.

It seems that the cream dries out quite quickly when applied and so although you may rub your hands across all of your skin the cream may already have ceased to travel with your hands, so leaving places that you think you have covered but which in fact you haven't.

Don't get me wrong, where it is applied it does protect well, that is clear. How to ensure that you are fully protected though, is the challenge. I have tried all sorts of approaches to applying it but none give me the assurance that I need. Maybe in my case the problem is exacerbated by my hirsute physiology. Soltan Once may possibly work better on the smooth skin of a female body.

However, I shall be resorting to a proper lotion in future as that is the only way that I can be sure that I am protected from sunburn. Soltan Once was, for me, an unsuccessful experiment and one that I shall not be repeating.

Summary: A suntan protection that may suit some but not all