Stocking up on sunscreen is one of those rites of summer.

But selecting the most effective type seems to get more complicated every year.

Hair dye. Sunscreen. Band-Aids.

If you believe this week's medical news, the stuff in your bathroom cabinets may pose a substantial health risk. Or it may not. It's hard to tell with the mixed information we hear in the media.

For so long we’ve been barraged with cautions of such sun-induced cancers as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, it’s hard to leave the house without first slathering on some level of SPF. Still, it’s summertime and you simply can’t look pasty on your vacation to Las Vegas, that family reunion in Tampa or your cousin’s wedding in San Diego … so, you reason, why not minimize the risk by visiting a tanning salon?

As a sunburn-prone redhead, sunscreen buys me a ticket to vacation fun. Without slathering on a thick coating of SPF 45 I would be unable to leave the hotel room in a tropical locale for even one minute. I sometimes wonder what life would be like without sunscreen (would I be forced to trade my beach holidays for winter ski vacations?) and I also wonder if my trusted SPF is the solar panacea that it claims to be.