If you spend your days on the water, the word on the bottle you most want to believe is “waterproof”. It is also the one word regulators have taken away. The US Food and Drug Administration puts it simply: there is no such thing as waterproof sunscreen. All sunscreens eventually wash off.
What “water resistant” really means
In the United States, a sunscreen labelled water resistant has to say how long it stays effective while you swim or sweat: either 40 minutes or 80 minutes. That is the whole promise. It is a time limit, not a guarantee that the protection stays put for the afternoon.
How often to reapply
The FDA advises reapplying at least every two hours, and more often if you are swimming or sweating. European guidance says the same thing in its own words: reapply frequently to keep your protection, especially after swimming, sweating or towelling off. Towelling is the one most people forget. Drying off after a swim takes sunscreen with it.
Why it matters on the water
Water and sun work together against you. Time in the water washes sunscreen off, and the light keeps coming off the surface around you. What washes off your skin also goes into the water you are swimming in, which is why we care so much about what a sunscreen leaves behind.
What we do on the boat
Every SOLA capsule is a single dose for the face and neck, sealed without water. When you come out of the water and dry off, you open a fresh one. There is no bottle to find, nothing to spill on the deck, and the same measured amount every time. Read more about how much sunscreen you really need.
Sources
- FDA: Sunscreen, how to help protect your skin from the sun
- Commission Recommendation 2006/647/EC on the efficacy of sunscreen products
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SOLA launches across the European Union in late spring 2027, and in the United States in 2027. The first two hundred people on the list become founding members.
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