I have mentioned on here that sunblock is important and how I’m going to do better about making sure I apply sunblock more thoroughly and for every single run. It’s so important! I really don’t care if I’m pasty white because in all honesty, any sun-derived color in your skin is actually an injury. I’m all about injury prevention!

So when the opportunity came up to try the SCAPE line of sun protection products I was pretty excited to give them a whirl.

First, SCAPE is a line of sun protection products designed for athletes. They were created by the PhD who created Neutrogena sun protection products and they were developed in conjunction with Craig Alexander, a world-champion triathlete. The line is 5x more waterproof than any other product on the market right now and it is designed to still allow your skin to breathe and sweat properly without being washed away by the sweat. All products contain vitamins and antioxidants to help protect the skin as well.

The 3 products that I tried are:

Sunblock
The sunblock lotion is SPF 50 and has a slightly thin consistency that rubs in well. It doesn’t have any strong scents, but there is a faint smell there. It’s not an unpleasant thing, but just clean and fresh. I did end up with a light white film on my arms after I used it for a run. When I asked the company about that, they said that it shouldn’t happen because the product does not contain zinc oxide. As long as the sunblock is applied 10-15 minutes prior to sweating, it should be okay. I tried it on other days and the white residue wasn’t as obvious, but it was a little disconcerting to see that white residue all over my Garmin! (4/17/2011 Edit: I’ve continued using this and the white residue issue doesn’t happen all the time.  I’m not exactly sure why it occurs at times, but for the most part it doesn’t show up.)

Lip Balm
This product has an SPF of 50, I think that’s the highest factor I’ve ever seen on a lip balm. Lips are a pretty sensitive area and if you’ve ever experienced the misery of getting sunburnt on your lips, you know how important it is to protect them. (Side note: I’ve heard that men get more skin cancer on their lips than women because women often shield their lips with other products in the form of lipstick, gloss, balms while men tend to be a little more au naturel.) This goes on smoothly, doesn’t have any overwhelming scents or tastes and it feels nice once applied. It seemed to last quite a while too, but my personal philosophy is you can never have too much lip balm! 😉

Face Stick
Truthfully I was skeptical of this product when I got it, I figured I wouldn’t want some waxy stick product on my face. Boy was I wrong… this was probably my favorite item of the bunch. It doesn’t go on feeling waxy or greasy at all, and it glides smoothly across the skin. I really liked using this on my neck and my ears, as putting on methodical swipes up and down my neck helped me feel like I was getting more accurate and even coverage and it was quick. Plus you can apply this product to wet or sweaty skin and carry it with you for use during long events. (Ultrarunning? Triathlons? Day at the beach?)

So to summarize, I’m still a little on the fence about the sunblock, but I liked the other two products a lot.

I received these products for review from the company, but the opinions are my own. If I completely disagreed with a product’s purpose or philosophy I wouldn’t feature it on my site.