I recently resumed reviewing sunscreens AFS in India. It reminded me that now is an opportune time to get into the nuts and bolts of sunscreen and where there is an opportunity for innovation.
This post is a summary of my more extensive blog (click here)
From an industry perspective, there is innovation in Europe (and not ROW, especially the USA), as manufacturers are pushing themselves to divorce from old-school filters, namely Avobenzone, Octinoxate, Oxybenzone etc.
Health and environmental risks are likely to be drivers for this transition. Especially concerns about Oxybenzone and Octinoxate. A reader on a different platform pointed that Avobenzone per se is not offensive: I am not sure about that.
My view on Avobenzone is this: it’s the gold standard in UVA protection and there is no doubt about that. However, available evidence shows Avobenzone degrades quickly upon exposure to sunlight, reducing its efficacy by as much as 50 and 90 per cent after 60 minutes of exposure. Products tend to use a combination of both Octocrylene and Benzophenone-3 to stabilise Avobenzone. Even though Avobenzone can be stabilised by BEMT, it still if its present in a sunscreen, stabilised by the first two UV filters mentioned. Both Octocrylene and Benzophenone-3 have health risks associated with them and by default take Avobenzone under the bus.
Of these, the notoriously unstable Avobenzone, which provides formidable protection against UVA radiation, is the most challenging.
A shift in industrial trends
The best sunscreens in the EU are French pharmacy brands. Period. As a group, they simply have no competitors. I include Bioderma, La Roche, and L’Oreal within this group. Vichy have been upping their sunscreen game, and Avene is a complete laggard. There are also one-off exceptional products: Altruist (a British brand) and Ultrasun (a Swiss brand), but the market in product innovation is French.
The main challenge in sunscreen innovation is offering comparative UVA protection without using Avobenzone.
Brands are achieving this in two ways:
- I see variants of BEMT+DHHB+MBBT to give formidable UVA protection. These filters are modern, generally photostable, and to large to penetrate the skin.
- On average, the number of sunscreen filters I have seen in the past year is at least 5 and upto 8. At least 3 of these filters protect against UVB, and the remainder are broadspectrum and provide protection against UVA.
The USA, with its archaic Stone Age sunscreen legislation and reticent manufacturers, shows little change. I see increasing use of Homosalate, but Octinoxate is the dominant UVB filter.
Consumer trends
Part of my work is primary research – interviewing women about skincare habits – and I have seen an increased awareness of the benefits of using sunscreen, especially in South Asians. There is also much interest in mineral sunscreens (Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide).
However, the consumer-education component is severely lacking. For example consumers frequently underapply the recommended dose of sunscreen by mixing it with make-up OR simply are not applying 2mg/cm2
The problem with how consumers use sunscreen
The SPF on a product is measured in a lab and is very reliant on the quantity of sunscreen applied AND frequency.
SPFs dependence on quantity needs to be emphasized more to consumers AND the repercussions of applying less SPF.
50% less sunscreen doesn’t mean SPF 50 goes to SPF 25, it could be SPF 15 and consumers need to understand this.
Where is there need for more innovation?
From my experience with my clients and women/men I interview, there is a massive gap in the market for products that genuinely address these issues:
- Protection against blue light: sunscreen is a terrible substitute for protection against blue light radiation, and there needs to be more ingredient innovation here
- Once make-up is applied with the final stage being (e.g.) a make up setting spray or powder, HOW DO YOU REAPPLY SUNCREEN? This is such a big gap in the market, that whoever cracks it will make a killing
- There are insufficient sunscreens for problematic skin such as melasma, acne and oily skin. The post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation group is so huge that I don’t understand why there is not more product/ingredient innovation here.
I want to write the US needs to get its act together on sunscreen, but that feels like hitting my head on a brick wall.
If you have any comments, please leave them below. I would love to hear from you.
- Octinoxate: Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate
- BEMT: Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine
- DHHB: Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate
- MBBT: Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol