Saltee Sea & Sun lotion SPF 30

I love Sali Hughes.  if you don’t know who she is, it is definitely time to come out of lockdown, open the front door and not step out.

#respect your countries lockdown rules

Sali Hughes writes the Guardian newspaper’s beauty column. I primarily read the column as she is a gifted and entertaining writer.

I am not sure about her recommendations though, mainly as they are focussed on Caucasian skin.  Most of the time (99.90%) this is ok.  Except when it’s not and this brings me to today’s column: Saltee Sea & Sun Lotion SPF 30.

Back to basics

My premise for using sunscreen and profusely and incesstantly advocating its use on my blog, is to protect against the following damage:

For Asians, partially preventing a tan is an important reason for using sunscreen.   Saltee SPF 30 in its listed ingredients contains “Acetyl Hexapeptide-1” which I believe is the same as “Melinoil”

According to Melinoil’s manufacturer, this increases the production of melanin in the skin, thereby promoting a tan.

This is the complete opposite of why Indians would want to use sunscreen. Hence I will not be rushing out to buy this product at all.

For those of you ecstatic to use such a product, please continue reading as I apply my sunscreen test.

Happy Skin Days’ sunscreen test

This is an SPF 30 product, its made in the UK and we can be sure it will contain both UVA and UVB filters.  It doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals that I look for (parabens, Oxybenzone, BHT) and so on.

The other reason – the elephant in the room

The filters present are

UVB Octocrylene (2^nd ingredient) and Octinoxate (Ethyl Methoxycinnamate) (3^rd ingredient) and Octisalate (Ethylhexyl Salicylate) (7^th ingredient)

UVA: Avobenzone (4^th ingredient) and DHHB (6^th ingredient)

Most of UVR is UVA 1 (click blog what is PA?) and it is essential that sunscreens contain adequate amounts and photostable UVA filters.  In this sunscreen, there are 2 UVA filters:  Avobenzone and DHHB.

Avobenzone is the 4^th ingredient on the list and its safe to assume that the product looks to Avobenzone to provide the UVA protection. 

Avobenzone is notoriously photounstable and it can reduce in efficacy by 50% – 90% within one hour of application.

Matters are made even more complicated because the product also contains Octinoxate.  Studies show this combination is less than ideal, as both Octinoxate and Avobenzone demonstrate less absorbance after UV exposure. (Click on LINK for supporting study).

But like Superman, DHHB in this product comes in and saves the day!! 

DHHB is a new style filter that is photostable, has a large molecular size and therefore does not penetrate the skin.  It does not need to be present in high percentage quantities to give effective protection. DHHB provides superior UVAII / UVA I protection, peaking between 350nm-360nm.

What does all of this mean?

I think this product probably provides PA++ level of UVA protection and while it is photounstable, it also has DHHB, which provides acceptable UVA protection. 

Do I like the complication formulation?  No.  But this is an off the shelf formulation designed to be compatible with Melinoil, so I get it. 

If you want a natural tan accelerator which provides decent sunscreen protection, by all means, buy this product.

If you are not a “tan fan” skip the product like I will be doing.

My comment section now works!

I am severely technically challenged. Therefore, my comment section has not been working for the best part of the past 12 months. Please leave a comment on your experience of using this product…

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Copyright

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.