By default, sunscreen is illegal in schools. The Skin Cancer Foundation is trying to make sunscreens legal in school. Sunscreens are illegal because US classifies sunscreens as over the counter drugs. (This is also why the US is 20+ years behind in legalizing sunscreens widely used in Korea and Europe.) A Virginia mom told me her kid goes without sunscreen because of this rule. Before school, she’ll put it on at 8am. Sunscreen only lasts about 2 hours - there’s no way for her preschooler to reapply it during the day. Virginia bans self-application of sunscreen unless a child is nine years old. For a teacher to apply sunscreen, Virginia requires 1. written permission from parents 2. a written record of application with the amount and type applied, day and time, name of caregiver, any error, and 3. Sunscreen must be in the original container and labeled with the child’s name. Doing this for all 12+ kids in your classroom is a lot. So teachers don't do it. The law requires every kid bring their own sunscreen. A teacher can’t buy a pound of sunscreen to make sure low-income kids also have access. The result of all of these: kids go without sunscreen. This wouldn’t happen if sunscreen was classified as a cosmetic, like it is in Europe. Have any other parents encountered issues like this?