This is the first time, I have seen a product that was labelled “UVA/UVB” promising “Fast Fairness” and offering “sun damage protection.”
Naturally, I couldn’t just walk this product – I had to buy it! I won’t be road-testing it because it has 2 different types of parabens (and I’m not a fan. Click this LINK).
However, I am intrigued by this product. It is ABSOLUTELY NOT a sunscreen. Why does it Titanium Dioxide a superior sunscreen filter in it?
In this blog, I am dissecting the ingredient label and telling you what I think this product is/does.
My perspective: this is undoubtedly a skin lightener
There are potentially 3 ingredients that could be contributing to skin-lightening: Niacinamide, Ascorbyl Glucoside and a citrus fruit extract.
Ingredients are listed in order of descending quantity, and as Niacinamide is listed as the 4th ingredient, its the 4th most abundant ingredient in the product. The other 2 ingredients are found at position 20th and 26th and we can ignore them.
“Fairness” is being delivered by overwhelmingly one ingredient, Niacinamide, which is the amide form of Vitamin B3. It’s an essential vitamin for normal cellular function.
As a skin lightener, Niacinamide reduces melanosome transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes – somewhere between 30% – 68%. That means the topmost layer of the skin has LESS MELANIN. Melanin pigments give inter alia skin its dark colour and less amounts of this pigment in skin, mean skin appears as lighter or fairer.
In fact, as far back as 2002, clinical studies showed Niacinamide significantly decreased hyper-pigmentation and increased skin lightness after 4 weeks of use. (Source: Hakozaki T et al)
Why have sunscreen filters in this product if its not a sunscreen?
Melanin is not only a skin colour pigment, but it also is your body’s internal SPF which is far superior to anything money can buy. For example, sunscreen can be wiped off but melanin cannot.
If you use a skin whitener, two things happen. First, you become fairer as a result of their being less melanin in your skin. Secondly, your skin becomes MORE sensitive to UVA/UVB radiation and this in fact causes your skin to compensate and produce MORE melanin, making skin darker than before or increasing hyper-pigmentation. It can be a vicious circle and you don’t even need to leave your house for this effect to kick in.
To prevent this, this product has sunscreen filters which are designed to compensate for the reduced amount of melanin in skin and make skin LESS sensitive to UVA/UVB radiation.
This product has 3 sunscreen filters: Titanium Dioxide, Avobenzone and Octocrylene.
Do I need to use a sunscreen with this product?
Absolutely. Without a shadow of doubt. For products to be sold as “sunscreens” they must have an SPF value, which means they have to have clinical data proving SPF value.
I am very concerned that users will think this is a substitute for sunscreen, as the smell, consistency and chalkiness of the product is very much like a cheap supermarket sunscreen. It even smells disgusting…
Clearly, this is not Garnier’s intent, as they would be losing money if consumers started to substitute this cheaper product for sunscreen. Secondly, the sunscreen filters are simply intended to enhance the effectiveness of the fairness ingredients and that’s it….
That’s it for today…
P.S. THIS IS A GEEK ALERT. STOP READING IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN WHAT’S INSIDE THE PRODUCT…..
There are 32 ingredients in this product, of which one ingredient is delivering “fairness” and 3 ingredients are responsible for “sun damage protection.” The other 25+ ingredients are there in a supporting role.
Which ingredients are vital?
Based on my research and conjecture, these are:
Chemical and physical sunscreen filters: Titanium Dioxide (nano) (7th ingredient), Butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (27th), Octocrylene (18th ingredient0
Skin lighteners: Niacinamide (3rd ingredient), Ascorbyl Glucoside (20th ingredient) and Tocopherol Acetate (19th ingredient)
Moisturising agents: Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid and Glycerin (within the top 5 ingredients)
Humectants: Glycerin ( Humectants are substances that attract water from within the skin and on the skin)
Emollients: Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Isopropyl myristate
- Protective (create longer lasting protective film on skin surface),
- Fatting (create a slightly greasy longer lasting film on skin surface) or
- Drying (create a thin non-greasy film on skin surface) and astringent (create minimal greasy residue reducing the oily feel of other emollients).
What are the supporting ingredients?
These ingredients essentially ensure that the product is in a useable format and has a sensible shelf-life.
- Buffering agent (pH control of the product): Potassium Hydroxide
- Emulsifiers: Behenyl Alcohol, Myristic Acid (I think the function of this ingredient in this product is to stabilise the emulsion..)
- Solvents: Water (for water soluble components), Butylene Glycol
- Preservatives: Methylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylparaben, (likely) Benzyl alcohol
- Chelating agent (ensures longevity against metal ions): Tetrasodium EDTA
- Smells not awful (fragrance/masking agent): Linalool, Geraniol, Parfum, Limonene, Citronellol, Hydroxycitronellal, Hexylcinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate
- Colouring agent: CI77891, which is the colour code for white Titanium Dioxide