SPF15SunBlock

Suntan lotion past its prime? You may want to think twice before you throw it out!

For most of the northern hemisphere, summer is just around the corner, which means more bared skin and more time outdoors. While a nice dose of sunshine is good for you in moderation, it is important to remember to protect your skin from harmful UV rays if you’ll be outdoors for a prolonged period. If you’re not willing to sacrifice T-shirts and tank tops for long sleeves, your next best option is sunscreen.

You may be tempted to use any remaining cream you have left from previous summer days by the pool or at the beach, but once the bottle has been opened, the active ingredient in sunblock loses its efficacy and won’t guard your skin like it’s supposed to. (Unopened bottles should be okay!)

Throwing out those half-full bottles of precious sunscreen will probably feel like a waste of money, because, well, it is! It does still have a purpose or two around the house, so don’t throw it out yet. Here are five handy ways you can use up that leftover sunblock.

ID-10068082Image: FreeDigitalImages/ Pixomar

1. Polish your silver goods

Simply apply sunscreen to your silver or metal goods and polish with a cloth. Oils in the sunscreen appear to help remove rust and dullness, but you’ll probably want to avoid using this method for things with fine details or precious stones.

2. Remove permanent marker from your skin

Apply sunscreen to the spot on your skin with permanent marker and massage in, then wipe clean with a tissue.

3. Remove unwanted stickers

Put a lot of stickers on your binder or suitcase, then immediately regretted it and tried to take them off, only to be left with ugly sticky marks? Just apply some sunscreen and cover with a tissue. After letting it set for a while, use a towel to wipe it off and it should come clean.

ID-100253402Image: FreeDigitalImages/ Danilo Rizzuti

4. Revive your scissors

Have your scissors helped you with a few too many arts and crafts ventures and are now too sticky with tape or glue to cut anymore? Carefully rub some lotion equally over both sides of both blades, then make several cutting motions over and over. Finally, wipe the blades clean with a tissue and they’re ready to work again.

1Images: XS TOKYO

5. Design your own original T-shirt!

What you’ll need: A plain T-shirt; a mirrored,colored print of the design or image you want; sunscreen; and a clothes iron. Apply a liberal amount of sunscreen over the entirety of your image, then let set for about one minute. Place the image face-down on the shirt where you want it, and iron it directly with high heat. Once the paper peels up on its own, the image should be properly transferred. Iron the transferred image directly to set the colors. Let the shirt hang for a full 72 hours to set and it’s safe to wash too!

Anyone think they’ll try these ideas? Let us know how it turns out!

Source: NAVER Matome 
Top image: Wikipedia, Livedoor edited by RocketNews24