It's Monday, again

Milestone weekend for SMACK! all thanks to our growing readership. You're the best, really.

It's August. The dog days of summer. Plenty of sunburns to be had. Wait, what? Who gets sunburns anymore? That's so 1995!!!

Seriously. I just saw a mind-boggling figure in a news release from last week. The NPD Group, a market research firm (that prefers the term 'global information company') has pegged sales of beauty products containing SPF at just over $1 billion (USD) for the 12-month period ending in May 2013. That's billion, with a 'B'. Oh yeah, and that's just in what they call 'prestige department stores.' So NOT counting drugstore brands (which, really, I feel like my personal purchases at Target alone were nearly as high). According to NPD, it's a 24 percent hike over what consumers spent on the same category of products just three years ago.

Yay us? Yes and no. If consumers are getting smarter about SPF and striving to protect their skin, great. But if you've perused EWG's Sunscreen Guide at all (which you'd better if you want to be a SMACK! reader) you'll remember that nearly 80 percent of the chemical sunscreens on the US market contain troublesome ingredients that can disrupt some serious sh*t once they've leached through the skin. Check it here.

So which is it, Jazzy? Good news or bad news that consumer spending on SPF products is up? The talking head from NPD Group cut to the heart of the matter:

"...not only are consumers buying more products with SPF they are spending a little more on them to get that higher SPF number for better protection..."

 "Sun protection is a great example of the power behind a product that not only addresses a need, but also has found ways to expand it reach and tap into the emotional component."

And there we have it. It's good news for cosmetics companies that consumers are handily opening their wallets (more widely than ever, by the sounds of it) for beauty products containing SPF. 

It's not really great news for the consumers themselves, however, when you consider that the marketing is very, very targeted and deliberate. Protect your skin. Anti-aging is the new mark of success for middle- to older-aged women. You deserve the best. Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.

Again, we know from EWG that higher SPF doesn't always mean a better product. And common anti-aging ingredients, like Retin-A, can put you at higher risk for sunburn or sun damage!

There's a lot of summer left. Let's be smarter about our choices (like, I don't know, stay in the shade, or wear a hat) and think through what we buy. Agreed? Good.

-- Jazzy