QUESTION: What’s the current thinking in the cycling world about protecting one’s skin from the sun while cycling? I’m fairly new to cycling, and of course, I know about suncreams, but I heard recently that the chemicals in those get absorbed through your skin and end up in your bloodstream. With all the miles committed cyclists ride in the sun, I figure you must have some recommendations. —Ali C.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: While every cycling source I know of that addresses this topic agrees about the need to protect yourself against overexposure to the sun, I’m not aware of a consensus recommendation when it comes to sunscreen. Here at RoadBikeRider, we’ve had some discussion about it, with readers weighing in as well in the comments section.
I can tell you that for many years of cycling, I wore no sunscreen at all. I’m one of those people who simply brown up a bit when outdoors for extended periods, and I also have a high tolerance for being active in sunshine. So I thought I was not having any problem as a result, but in my early 70s, I developed some small growths on my ears, face and top of my bald head, which a dermatologist diagnosed as “pre-cancers,” and froze them off with liquid nitrogen. I now see the dermatologist routinely once a year to nip any new growths in the bud. I also now wear a lightweight white skull cap under my helmet and use sunscreen on my ears.
Until recently, I used one of the standard sunscreens with a SPF of 30 or more. These creams contain chemicals that, as you have heard, get absorbed into your bloodstream. Learning that, I recently switched to zinc oxide, which is one of the “mineral” creams, which supposedly is less potentially toxic because it mostly sits on top of the skin with only minor amounts of it being absorbed.
While the news about chemical absorption from sunscreen gives pause to some of us, medical authorities — including the FDA, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society and many other medical groups — maintain that the potential danger from skin cancers is such that it’s best to continue to use sunscreens of some type, whether chemical or mineral creams, at least until some long-term studies can be done. Beyond that, we are exposed to potentially harmful chemicals in other ways, through cosmetics, plastics, and food and water, so avoiding sunscreen is not going to lower our absorption risk to zero. Some sunscreens manufacturers, however, in the face of the news about chemical absorption, have removed certain suspect chemicals from their formulas.
But for more perspective in answering your question, I talked to my riding buddy, Mike. He has a light complexion, and even his hair is very blond going on white. If he goes unprotected in the sun for even a short time, he sunburns. But he likes to ride, and so in addition to wearing normal jerseys and bike shorts, he uses white, lightweight sun sleeves to protect his arms and legs (he calls the sleeves “sausage casings”). He says they do a good job of shielding his skin from sun, and are more effective than sunscreen, which has to be reapplied often, because we sweat it off. Mike’s not aware of the sleeves having any special UV qualities, but he attributes the protection to the weave of fabric. He also likes that in hot weather, he can wet the sleeves down, which has a cooling effect while they dry.
Sun sleeves are widely available from several bike clothing companies. And you can even get a brim to fit over your helmet.
Mike does use a sun-care product on his exposed skin. He currently likes a mineral sunscreen made with essential oils by dōTERRA. He uses the stick version, and when riding, he reapplies the product every 15 to 20 miles or so. (This is not a recommendation for dōTERRA. I’ve not tried it personally but mention it here simply to expand the range of possible skin protection products. From what I read on the site, it seems to say that essential oils do get absorbed, but the company presents that as a positive factor.)
You may occasionally hear recommendations that cyclists should apply sunscreen under their cycling clothes, but riders who have responded to RBR articles about sun protection all say that they don’t burn under their normal bike clothing, whether it’s made with UV treated material or not, and Mike agrees, as do I. Besides, creaming up under one’s clothing increases the area for sunscreen chemicals to be absorbed.
The closest the bike world comes to consensus on protection from the sun is that covering bare skin with clothing is best, but for those areas where coverage from clothing is not feasible or desirable, use a sun-care product on the surfaces most likely to burn (e.g., for cyclists in shorts, the front of the upper leg between the bottom of one’s shorts and one’s knee, but generally not the back of the upper leg or any of the lower leg) and reapply it often enough during your ride to maintain protection.
And the recommendation from the medical world is that the risk of getting melanoma — which is the most dangerous and deadly type of skin cancer — from sun exposure is high enough that it justifies using sunscreen, for whatever risk there may be from chemical absorption is less that than the risk of spending hours in the sun with no protection.
Here’s a good article for further reading.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
syborg says
Personally, I prefer physical sunblock and am loathe to use chemical sunscreens. I try to follow the “if you wouldn’t eat it then don’t put it on your skin” philosophy.
I wear sunsleeves and a Buff back gator that covers my ears and neck. In my experience any material, as long as it’s not cotton, sufficiently blocks UV. I have equal success with UPF rated fabrics and unrated fabrics.
Jim Braley says
Any reputable Dermatologist will tell you to wear sunscreen while riding. I use on with Zinc Oxide with an SPF of 50. Clothing unless it has an SPF rating does not really protect you totally.
emiron says
Jim is right, but one has to keep in perspective, that dermatologists, who focus on a narrow scope of health don’t have much perspective. To a hammer, everything looks like a nail as they say. Jim may also be right about clothing not protecting “totally.” But the important question is also one of perspective. That is how many cyclists would have to wear sunscreen under their clothes to prevent one case of melanoma? I suspect the answer is in the millions.
Chris VandenBossche says
Most zinc oxide sunscreens do poorly in Consumer Reports tests. As someone who has had several skin cancers removed I think the risk of the chemicals in worth taking. CR recommends several and they take seriously such issues.
Rich G says
In warm weather I wear a cotton bandanna tied pirate style (doubled over into a triangle) under my helmet. I have never had a sunburn from this despite the bandanna being cotton and me having little hair.