Ask any dermatologist about sunscreen and they will warn you to apply it constantly to protect your skin from dangers like sunburn or skin cancer. So as a mom of a rambunctious toddler who loves the water and outdoors, my number one goal this season has been to protect his skin from the harsh rays without his skin looking and feeling chalky and irritated.

As a general rule, most mineral sunscreens don’t mix well with my darker skin. They typically leave a white cast (here’s looking at you Casper the ghost!) and if they don’t do that initially, I find my skin has a tacky matte finish by the end of a fun day at the pool. For these reasons, my go-to sunscreen has always been chemical-based… until now.

Blue Lizard

best kids sunscreen

Blue Lizard had my family in mind when creating a mineral-based SPF 30+ formula that protects my kid from 97% of the sun’s burning rays. And it contains no parabens or fragrances, which puts me at ease knowing that I’m not exposing my little tyke to harmful chemicals. Even better, the brand originated in Australia—where sunscreen standards have stronger water resistance claims—and it meets the criteria of 240 minutes of water resistance. I don’t know about your kid, but that’s way more than enough time for my toddler to be in the sun at the pool.

And speaking of the pool, getting a 2-year-old to do anything is a losing battle, but telling him to get out of the water to reapply sunscreen every 80 minutes is akin to taking him to the playground and telling him he can’t get on the slide—it just doesn’t happen. For me, it’s an added plus that the cap on Blue Lizard’s kids sunscreen turns blue in harmful UV light, which reminds me to practically force my kid (no, just me?) to reapply sunscreen.

$14.98


Honestly, the Blue Lizard family is the workhorse sunscreen my crew needs to get me through the East coast sun rays and I’m so grateful. 🙌

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