Sunscreen test
Rs 575 for 50ml (29 April 2020)This is product contains the harmful chemical Oxybenzone.
I am not a fan of this ingredient, as its a hormonal disruptor and a known skin allergen. If you’d like more details on the deleterious effects of Oxybenzone, please read my blog, Chemicals to Avoid – Oxybenzone)
Even if you are fine with this product containing Oxybenzone, you really should not waste your money on it. Here is why
What do we want sunscreens to do?
We want these products to contain photostable UVA and UVB filters that protect against these damages.
UVA and UVB filters
- UVA/UVB filter is Benzophenone-3 or Oxybenzone (6th ingredient)
- UVA filter is Avobenzone (8th ingredient)
- UVB filter is Octinoxate (11th ingredient)
Given the absolutely low quantities of all the UV filters, this is a low SPF product.
What offends me about this product is that there is no way this is a PA+++ rated product.
Let me explain. Avobenzone is a gold standard UVA filter but it is viciously unstable. It must be stabilized and this product achieves this by having Oxybenzone. However it is sunscreen formulation 101 that Octinoxate will make the formulation and Avobenzone unstable.
In 2008, 14 commercially available sunscreens were applied to microscope slides and exposed to natural sunlight. The results were replicated in 3 different labs and therefore there is no doubt of the following:
The sunscreens that contained a mixture of Avobenzone, Octinoxate and Oxybenzone, were measured for % of UV filters that remain after application of UV radiation:
- Oxybenzone 100% recovered,
- Avobenzone 25% recovered and
- Octinoxate 41% recovered.
Closing
All the other ingredients in this sunscreen are great except the ones that really count: the filters. Just pass on this sunscreen which I appreciate is difficult to do because of the price, but ask yourself after all I have told you about the product’s instability what are you buying?
Drop me a line at email@happyskindays.com if you have any comments or questions. I’d love to hear from you.
Notes
Reference to study above
SaNogueira J, Lott DL (2007) Letter to FDA with comments to proposed sunscreen monograph.
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-1978-N-0018-0652 and SaNogueira J, Lott DL (2008) Letter to FDA with supplement to comments to proposed sunscreen
monograph. http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-1978-N-0018-0653
The full ingredient list is available at: LINK
See also
What damage is sunscreen trying to prevent?
Make-up products are not a replacement for good old sunscreen
Top 5 sunscreen recommendations
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