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This
article isn't exactly about fishing but about something we all
use while fishing in the summer – sunscreen.
My wife, daughter and I went on a boat ride to the beach this
spring and we dosed ourselves down on the boat with a spray-on
sunscreen. Upon returning to the dock, I washed the boat down
and instantly a large orange stain appeared on the white deck of
the boat where we had put on the sunscreen.
No matter how hard I scrubbed, the stain would not come out.
Finally, it took a strong chemical agent called On and Off and
several applications of boat wax to remove the stain from the
no-skid deck. That incident put me on a mission to find out
what ingredient in the sunscreen reacted with the water to cause
the stain. It turns out that the oxidizing chemical Avobenzone
is the culprit. It is a man-made chemical that is becoming
increasingly common in sunscreens.
If you have well water in tidewater VA, you’ve probably had to
deal with high iron content in your water. It turns out that
Avobenzone causes an oxidizing reaction with iron in the water
which basically forms rust deposits on whatever the sunscreen
touches. If you’re like me, you have seen these stains on your
shirts, as well. I experimented with several different
sunscreens and it seems that the spray-on versions with
Avobenzone are much worse than the rub-on lotions containing
Avobenzone. Spray on sunscreen is fast and convenient, but
please avoid using them on the boat.
There has been a lot of talk recently
about health risks that
all the man-made chemicals in
sunscreens including Avobenzone may cause. Some people are even
debating whether these chemicals are a reason for the rapid
increase in the rate of skin cancer. I don’t know if that’s
true or not, but I have switched sunscreens with all natural
ingredients like zinc oxide and titanium oxide to prevents
stains and hopefully any health risks. Zinc oxide in
particular is very safe and actually used as diaper rash cream
for babies. I've even heard of fishermen lathering up with
diaper cream for sun protection since it's cheaper than
sunscreen! |
