A few weeks ago, the folks at SmartShield contacted me and asked me to do a review of their sunscreen. While sunscreen isn’t what you think of first when getting gear together to go fishing, it is one of the most important. So I agreed. They sent me a free bottle in the mail last week.
Unfortunately, I got my bottle a week too late. If I had received it earlier, I could have brought it with me to Cincinnati and really put it to the test. That week was my first major exposure to ultraviolet rays this year and once I get that first major exposure, I don’t burn easily the rest of the summer. I did, however, bring my bottle with me on my Mille Lacs trip and used it there.
Because the main role of sunscreen is pretty much the same across the industry, sunscreen companies have to differentiate themselves in other ways. That’s when you get into features like being sweatproof or waterproof. However, Smartshield adds one more feature: it’s not greasy.
You can tell this immediately when you put it on. It doesn’t leave that greasy film on your hands after you’ve spread it on your skin. In fact, SmartShield lives up to another claim that the lotion gets absorbed almost immediately. There’s almost no residue on your skin after you’ve put it on. I brought my bottle to my son’s T-ball practice the other day and gave some to one of the other moms there. She doesn’t like traditional sunscreen because of the greasy residue. But she didn’t mind SmartShield at all.
My fishing buddy, Mark, is so paranoid about sunscreen that he uses a rubber glove to put it on while he’s out on the boat. He cites studies that show sunscreen residue actually repels fish. I’m not sure if that’s completely true, but I would be interested in trying an experiment with SmartShield to see if it is a problem or not. By the way it feels after application, it doesn’t seem like it would contaminate lures or fishing line like other brands. I’m going to put it to further tests this summer and will report back if I find out anything about its affect on fishing.
In the meantime, stay tuned. SmartShield is letting me give away a bottle to one of my readers so you can try it yourself. I’ll be posting a contest in the next week or so. I just have to figure out what you should do to win it.
Author’s note: As mentioned above, the bottle I evaluated was provided to me at no cost by SmartShield. I try to evaluate products as objectively as possible whether or not I pay for them myself.
You should come to Texas to test your SmartShield. You would find out pretty quickly whether it works!
Sure sounds like something us fisherman and gals should check into since we spend so much time on the water, or, in the water. Thanks for the review and I will look to see if we have the product in our local shops.
Looking at their web site, it doesn’t look like it’s that widely available. But you can buy it from their on-line store. Thanx for commenting.
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