End #SunPoverty with Escentual
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Escentual.com is on a mission to provide free sun lotion to 30,000 Welsh children this year as part of the newly launched #SunPoverty campaign. As well as donating free sun lotion, Escentual are also appealing to the government to get rid of VAT on children’s sunscreens because sun protection for kids is not ‘discretionary’ – it’s necessary to help prevent skin cancer!
Organised by the CEO of Escentual.com, Rakesh Aggarwal, the SunPoverty campaign will provide Escentual’s brand new SPF50+ for Kids to any primary school child eligible for free school meals.
I think this is such a brilliant initiative from Escentual and sends a very important message – while the UK might not be particularly known for intense UV and blistering sun, we have had some exceptionally harsh summer days and there’s no excuse for children to be suffering sunburn and damage.
According to statistics, malignant melanoma is now the fastest growing type of cancer in the UK, with numbers nearly tripling in the past 30 years. In 2018 there were 17,852 new cases and 2,764 deaths, and yet 86% of these cases could have been prevented through the use of high protection sun lotions.
High levels of sun exposure in childhood is the most significant risk factor for developing Melanoma and if a child or young adult experiences blistering sunburn it doubles the chance of developing skin cancer in later life.
Sources: Melanoma UK
Escentual CEO and Founder Rakesh Aggarwal says-
“Due to Covid safety issues this year we will be distributing the sun-creams through food banks across Wales instead of direct to schools. If the scheme is a success we hope to be able to extend the campaign to all primary school children in the UK by 2022.”
Escentual.com is based in Cardiff, hence Wales is a starting point for the campaign. How extraordinary will it be if the initiative extends to UK-wide by next year?!
The Escentual Sunscreen for Kids SPF50+ (pictured) has been launched in line with the campaign and is available to purchase from today. Available in a 45ml bottle, with a handy clasp to attach to school bags, baby bags and handbags, the high protection lotion offers 4 hours of water resistance and comes with a bespoke application guide and sun safety leaflets – there’s a space on the bottle to write the child’s name too, which is a nice touch.
In terms of the formula, it’s light, smells great (that classic suncream scent) and is very, very easy to rub in as it absorbs very easily – really important when we’re talking about applying this to little ones. The cream leaves a dry-touch finish with absolutely zero greasy feel. It’s actually one of the most pleasant-to-apply sun lotions I’ve used in a while to be honest.
On top of the 30,000 bottles of lotion being given away, Escentual.com will donate another to the SunPoverty campaign for each bottle purchased.
The same applies to any Clarins, Eucerin or Bioderma sun lotions purchased on the site – you can find the products included in the donation campaign here. Escentual.com estimate that on this basis they expect to donate as many as 50,000 bottles by the end of summer this year. Pretty amazing!
You can buy your own bottle of the Escentual Sunscreen for Kids SPF50+ here at Escentual for £6.95. If you don’t have kids or you’ve already got them covered, this is a good option for the face as it’s designed with sensitive skin in mind. The plastic part of the bottle is recyclable and the metal clip can be removed and used for something else.
If you can, please take the time to read more about this brilliant campaign at Escentual.com.