To help you figure which sunscreen you should use, I am reviewing the Top 20 sunscreens on both Nykaa and the American website of Sephora.
The reason why I choose these sites, is because they are during a lockdown a reliable indicator of best-selling sunscreens.
Before that I want to highlight three points, which stem from my discussions with readers and friends & family.
1) Who / when / what / why should everyone wear sunscreen?
2) Happy Skin Days’ sunscreen criteria?
3) I’ll do the work
1) Who / when / what / why should everyone wear sunscreen?
- 100% UV resistant skin is a myth: even the darkest skin type incurs significant DNA damage when exposed to radiation. You may not care about tanning or photo-aging, but you should care about DNA damage. (See blog Myths About Sun Protection)
- Indians must wear sunscreen every day: Sun damage is caused by UVR AND not temperature. An overcast day (especially in the summer) can have similar UV levels to a sunny day, as (eg) 80% of solar UVR can penetrate light cloud cover. Haze in the atmosphere can even increase UVR exposure.
- Sunscreen should be SPF 30+ and above with UVA filters: Statistically, individuals apply less than the correct amount of sunscreen. Applying even 50% of the recommended sunscreen amount reduces the SPF by 1.5-3.8. SPF 30 protection quickly becomes SPF 8 – SPF 20. (see also, SPF 50 or SPF 15?)
- Sunscreens contain mainly chemical filters, which work by reacting with your skin. Therefore there is a time lag between applying sunscreen and sunscreen becoming effective. Therefore you must apply sunscreen at least 15 minutes to 30 minutes before you leave the house.
- Make-up products such as foundations, powders, CC creams, BB creams, moisturisers etc are poor sunscreen replacements. Statistically, individuals apply less than 1/2 teaspoon or a nickel sized amount on their face. Therefore, the SPF they apply is reduced (see also, Do I need to wear sunscreen in addition to foundation?)
2) Happy Skin Day’s sunscreen criteria
If you’ve read one of my blogs reviewing sunscreen, then I work through these criteria to decide whether or not to buy sunscreen for myself.
3) I’ll do the work
The feedback I’ve received is nobody really understands my jargonesque use of filters which I insist on using in my blogs. For example, why Avobenzone and Octinoxate should not be present in the same sunscreen.
That’s fair feedback. I’ll do the grunt work and tell you which sunscreens pass my sunscreen test or not…
P.S. Ultrasun, the GUCCI of Sunscreen
Finally, the sunscreen I use every single day is whatever Ultrasun SPF 50+ product I can get my hands on.
Ultrasun is manufactured in Switzerland and is not readily available outside Europe. I have not reviewed this brand for two reasons: I cannot keep my bias away from any review. Second, its expensive. An SPF 50+ product will set you back GBP 22 /100ml or in my case, GBP 36 for 50ml anti-pigmentation variant that I use.
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I wish to remind some of you that I am a non-affiliated skincare blogger. I invest my time, money, blood, sweat, and tears in creating content for my blog. My blog is read in multiple countries and according to my lawyers, each of those countries protects my content and rights under copyright law. If you would like to use my content, do the right thing, and write to me at email@happyskindays.com. Don’t be that person who steals content, because it’s arrogant, disrespectful, and ultimately, a crime.