cross-posted from: https://linux.community/post/1079125

I’ve started sunbathing because… reasons.

second day: I applied sunscreen to my skin and after some 30 seconds of rubbing my arms, I started to see what I could be dead skin on my hands: tiny balls of grey and white junk, the size of one to several sand grains, but not hard to press like sand or a tiny particle of wood.

The other thing that crossed my mind is it could be rests of the chemical sunscreen I use. Has this ever happened to you with chemical screens?

Is this normal?

  • hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    In skincare discussions what you experienced is called “pilling” and it’s the result of putting on a lotion or skin product too soon after another one that was applied too thickly or didn’t have time to absorb fully. The balls are dead skin and the dried lotion or sunscreen that has gotten gummy and stuck to itself like eraser bits. Apply your sunscreen a little bit thinner and rub it in well and it shouldn’t continue to happen.

    • Eheran@lemmy.world
      1·
      5 months ago

      I can do the same after simply letting my skin soak in water for a few minutes at some points like in the foot arch.

      On a side note, does lotion actually “soak in” in meaningful amounts? Wasn’t that a myth/sales pitch?

      • hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world
        1·
        5 months ago

        If you soaked your skin then that is just dead skin cells. Pilling happens on dry skin.

        Lotion is composed of a water part that gets absorbed or evaporated and a fat or wax part that only absorbs into the very top layer of dead cells.