Anyone who has tried to pin down a wiggly kid who haaaaates the very necessary task of sunscreen application may be tempted by the promise of a new hack that can save everyone time and tears.
That’s where Solar Buddies comes in. (The company name is Solar Buddies, but the applicator is called a Solar Buddie, which is confusing.)
Invented by two entrepreneurs in the UK, the 3.4-ounce refillable plastic applicator dispenses lotion through a sponge directly onto skin and is intended to help kids apply sunscreen on their own.
The company got an investment on the entrepreneur reality show Dragons’ Den (video), and now social media videos of people recommending the Solar Buddie have racked up thousands of likes on TikTok.
To see if it is worth the hype, we asked a panel of five staff members who were taking spring-break family vacations to give the applicators a try. It turns out Solar Buddies apply sunscreen just fine in most cases, but they had far too many asterisks for us to wholeheartedly recommend them.
