burnd's Founder and Zinc Oxide

burnd has a long history in sunscreen innovation.  Dr. Mark Mitchnick, one of our founders, invented and produced Z-Cote in 1992, the first widely available transparent zinc oxide for sunscreens.  Prior to this mineral sunscreens were essentially white house paint—effective at blocking UV, but cosmetically unacceptable for most people.

1. Transparent Zinc (The Z-Cote Legacy)

Dr. Mitchnick was the primary inventor of Z-Cote, the first transparent microfine zinc oxide. He realized that if you could reduce zinc oxide particles to a specific size, they would become small enough to allow visible light to pass while still absorbing UVR, both UVA and UVB. 

This wasn't just a minor tweak; it was a fundamental shift in how sun protection was approached. It allowed for a mineral based sunscreen that provided high-level protection without the opaque, chalky mask. Most transparent mineral sunscreens on the market today are essentially iterations of the technology he pioneered.

2. Hydrophobic Particle Coating

Making zinc transparent was only half the battle. Raw zinc oxide is hydrophilic (water-loving), which is a problem for anyone planning to sweat or swim. It clumps together and washes off easily.

Mitchnick’s company and its partners developed the technology to apply a hydrophobic coating to these microfine particles. This allowed the zinc to be seamlessly integrated into the oil phase of a formulation. This is why burnd doesn't turn into a milky run-off the moment you get wet—the particles are engineered to stay exactly where they were applied.

The burnd Perspective

We aren't a marketing company that decided to sell sunscreen because it's a "growing category." We are a technology company founded by the person who built the foundation of modern mineral sunscreens.