Sunscreen is always necessary when your child is enjoying the beach or playing outdoor sports, but it can be a hassle to bring along and a mess to apply. Here’s 8 reasons why adding a face stick to your sunscreen regimen is a convenient way to make sure you and your child are always safe from the sun’s rays.

1. Portable: Possibly the best part about a face stick is that they’re small and portable compared to a normal bottle of sunscreen, so you can keep them anywhere and everywhere to always be prepared. Toss one in your car, in your child’s backpack and athletic bag, and in your cooler so you’ll have them at a moment’s notice on your next beach trip or sporting event.

2. Better Face Coverage: Sprays and creams are great for covering large areas of skin. However, they’re hard to get on small areas like the nose and ears. Using a face stick will help you get coverage everywhere so your child won’t come home with random burned areas they couldn’t or wouldn’t put sunscreen on.

3. Easy to Apply: Sunscreen creams tend to be oily and white on your face, while sprays can get in your eyes and mouth causing irritation and toxicity. Face sticks solve these problems by being used similar to how you would use a lip balm. Take the cap off, twist the stick up, and apply everywhere. Simple!

4. Less Visible: If you have ever used a mineral sunscreen, you know that a thin, white film is sometimes visible for the first few minutes after application. This is because the slightly larger, non-nanoparticles of the active ingredient Zinc Oxide form a protective barrier on top of your skin to protect against UVA and UVB rays. Tropical Sands Face Stick allows your child to apply the right amount of sunscreen every time, leaving their skin protected without the film.

5. Non-Nano: Speaking of nano particles, you may have recently seen studies about the dangers of chemical sunscreens due to their ability to soak into the bloodstream. Most mineral sunscreens are non-nano, which means they have components that are too thick to penetrate the lower levels of your dermis - keeping the sun off of your child’s skin and the active ingredients out of their bodies.

6. Water Resistant: The most common times a face stick comes in handy is when your kids are playing outdoors and participating in sports, as well as when you make a trip to the beach or pool. For all of these scenarios it’s important your biodegradable sunscreen stays working even in water or sweat. Sweat and water resistance is important because otherwise you may not even realize how much skin damage you’re absorbing!

7. Beach Safe: There have recently been some worrying studies about the effects that the sunscreen washing off of people into the ocean does to marine animals and especially the coral reefs. It has been found that the chemical oxybenzone found in most sunscreens bleaches and kills the coral. 14,000 tons of dangerous sunscreen end up in the ocean every year. Most sunscreens today are chemical based, so using a biodegradable sunscreen face stick instead will help save the coral reefs.

8. Natural, Biodegradable, and Eco-Friendly: Face sticks should be natural and biodegradable sunscreen for the sake of the environment and to minimize the risks of an allergic reaction on your child. There are now resorts, parks, and beaches that require this for the sake of protecting the ecosystems, and all ingredients used in the Tropical Sands Face Stick are considered eco-friendly.