Why People Do Not Trust Big Sunscreen

We recently received an email from a company interested in educating its customers about sunscreens. It was nicely laid out and completely wrong. How can they be so wrong? Either they want to be ignorant because it's good for marketing or they stopped reading 40 years ago. Let’s go through each of the items one-by-one.

1) The emails says “... Mineral sunscreens … reflect UV rays”  

Not true.  The physical sunscreens, zinc oxide and titanium don’t primarily work by reflecting UV. They reflect visible light relatively well, that’s why they make paint out of titanium dioxide, because it's really, really white. But, in the UV range, and this is especially true for zinc oxide, the minerals primarily absorb the UV light, just like organic sunscreens do.

2) The email implies“ …chemical sunscreens need to penetrate into the skin to work. 

That’s simply wrong. The sunscreen doesn’t know where it is applied. It's going to do its job on the skin, in the skin or on your clothing. It does not matter. If the UV hits it, the sunscreen is absorbing it.

3) The email lists oxybenzone as a still common ingredient. 

This is clickbait since virtually all legit sunscreen companies have stopped using oxybenzone. Sure, it's out there in legacy products but it's disappearing. Marketing about not using oxybenzone is like advertising you don’t use plutonium, no one does anymore.

4) The email provides the deep insight that mineral sunscreens are gentler. 

Ughhh….  Irritation and acne issues from sunscreens, or any product for that matter, are most likely caused by the other ingredients in the formulation. Plenty of mineral sunscreens come in oily pore clogging formulations.

5) The email implies that the instructions to apply before going outside are unique to organic (chemical) sunscreens

All sunscreens sold in the US state apply 15 or 20 minutes before sun exposure. You know why they say this?  Because the FDA requires it. The reality is that sunscreens are effective the minute you apply them. That language is there to encourage people to put the sunscreen on before going outside, not because it won't work otherwise.

6) The email states, “May require more frequent application.” referring to non-mineral sunscreens.

How often you have to apply sunscreen is almost completely dictated by the formulation, not the actives. They know this, but are hoping we are all morons.

7) Finally, they state, “mineral sunscreens are biodegradable.” 

Think about that for a minute. The mineral sunscreens are literally components of rocks. Sure, give them a few billion years and they will degrade. At least with zinc oxide, it may eventually dissolve, but titanium dioxide is here for the real long run. The irony is that the “chemical” sunscreens are organic molecules and actually do biodegrade.