I was just perusing the contents of a tube of sunblock-aside from unpronouncable ingredients, it is mostly a combination of mineral oil, cocnut oils, and other vegetable oils. Where does this stuff wind up? Is it absorbed throught the skin-if so, does it wind up in your blood stream?
Also, is there any proof that sunblock prevents skin cancer?
I can’t answer the first (though my guess is that some is absorbed and broke down like anything else and the rest rubs off or something), but as for the second, I’ll take a gander.
Sunscreen can help lessen the chances you’ll get skin cancer as a result of too much sunlight. I’m not sure if this has been clinically proven on a long term basis as until recently they weren’t making the ole SPF 30 stuff in the amounts and distribution that they do today. In other words, I assume that it’ll be years before we can detect the drops since it takes years for the cancer to develop in the first place. However, we do have some pretty good evidence that the ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause cancerous cells and we know that the sunscreen will block out said rays, so it stands to reason that sunscreen will block out cancer causing rays, thus producing less cancer.
Suntan lotion, as far as I know, has no such properties and mainly exists to help your skin toast up faster without burning – sort of an anti-sunscreen, really.
I’d imagine it just rubs off after a while, sorta like finger paint.