SUNSCREEN | WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Over the past few months, the skincare industry has been shaken with sunscreens (from both Eastern and Western brands) failing to live up to their advertised level of protection. I have to hold my hands up and say I've been a little naive on this issue. Sure, I assumed that sometimes manufacturing errors must lead to bad batches but I didn't realise that a company only needs to run a single test to slap 'SPF 50' on their product. This isn't a new issue (I've since found several reputable articles from 2016 discussing thathalf of all sunscreens on US shelves failed to meet their SPF claims) but the controversy really came to light following Purito's 'SPF 50' testing at about an SPF 19 in a blind independent test (the brand itself also re-tested it and appeared to get a third value). So, where do we go from here? Who can we trust? I don't have all the answers but let's explore it...

There are a number of resources that really helped me in my understanding of how sunscreen testing works and why it often yields wildly different results - I recommend checking out content put out byLab Muffin Beauty and 生态井 . I suppose I'd just assumed that repeat tests would be conducted to reach an advertised value on an product as important as sunscreen, and this is not the case, largely due to the expense of in vivo (on human) testing. In this context; I'm not surprised we're seeing these discrepancies. Whilst some brands are quite forthcoming about their testing, this kind of transparency is rare. I have to say that this left me feeling a bit lost. It seems the industry has a reactionary approach: pulling products to retest them (in Purito's case, this was done by a 3rd party at its own expense, but the Korean Food and Drug Agency is now conducting wide independent testing of all products made by the same manufacturers) and taking them off the market if they fail. By which time, it's kind of too late.

I have to say that a lot of this made me wonder if it's really feasible for every indie brand to be bringing out a sunscreen. Perhaps this is best left to the pharmaceutical giants? This would mean the company itself has more experience in sunscreen formulation (Purito's issue was that they didn't have this expertise so relied on the manufacturer to choose the filters and conduct the testing) and can afford for more than one test to be conducted. Whilst it's an attractive idea, it was brought to my attention that in recent years both Nivea in New Zealand and La Roche-Posay (owned by L'oreal) in the US both had their products fail to live up to their advertised levels of protection, as did Hawaiian Tropic and Boots Soltan formulas here in the UK.

I also feel as though we should maybe rethink chasing SPF 50 because - if you're applying the correct amount - SPF 30 isn'tbad当涉及到防止皮肤癌(我t's not pictured but 50 will allow 2 photons into the skin). I do wonder if our own bias on wanting the highest possible protection is causing brands to try and get their product to test as that. Purito have reformulated their sunscreen to an SPF 30 and I think that's absolutely fine for an elegant everyday formula you're going to wear under makeup to the office. If you're wearing SPF 30 out and about then you need to be more diligent in ensuring you reapply it! (Maybe SPF 50 actually gives a false sense of security in that respect, because people don't realise they need to reapply.) You need to make a decision for yourself, ultimately; I'm a person with melanin who has experienced mild redness approximately 3 times in my life (and I was not very good at wearing sunscreen in my youth...) so if your skin is extremely fair, this difference is going to be more significant. Likewise, I work in an office, not outdoors, so what I wear day-to-day is different to what I wear when I'm going for a walk on a summer's day. I guess I just think it's situational and SPF 30 is not completely pointless if you apply enough.

Image via colorescience

In terms of how I approach sunscreen now: I think applying the right amount and reapplying it as regularly as possible is critical. It's incredibly important, and even more so when we really don't know 100% what any product would actually deliver if it was tested a hundred times over. It's important to monitor your skin more closely (if you're burning, I would question if the product is working for you) but also to use other methods like wide-brimmed hats, covering up, sitting in a cool patch of shade etc. I also think it's important to choose your sunscreen wisely: that gorgeous lightweight formula you wear to work under your makeup probably isn't going to cut it if you're going out for a hike at the height of a sunny day and sweating profusely while you get yourself up that hill. I also feel less suspicious of mineral formulas, simply because there are only a handful of filters and they're pretty 'tried and true', but the associated white cast can rule them out for a lot of people and you would most likely have to get used to an SPF 30.

In terms of what I'm buying: I lean a little more towards products that have good testing behind them (though obviously this information isn't always available - Thank You Farmer is a Korean brand that easily cleared its independent testing). I also have formulas I trust from La Roche-Posay, despite their previous issues, simply because I've used them for years and have never had an issue (and I appreciate they reformulate for the US market and make different SPF claims to what they could in Europe). I also feel I'm more trusting of brands that focus exclusively on sunscreens like Evy, who specifically have done extensive testing to strengthen their claims of water resistance and protection levels, alongside Ultrasun (who do extensive testing) and Coola and Supergoop. Additionally, Australia requires stringent testing so another idea would be to see if the product you're looking at is available at brick and mortar stores over there (and at what SPF level because, unless the lab formulating the product has been approved by the relevant bodies, it can't be advertised above SPF 15 in Australia) - one of their great homegrown brands is Ultra Violette so I recommend checking them out.

我猜这不是一个特别令人满意的答案，但这是一个不断发展的话题，我将改变我的方法，而新信息出现。最重要的是申请足够的防晒霜，并确保您全天持续重新申请，这就是我真的可以说的。我认为有公式我们可以比其他公式更多地拥有更多的信仰（个人，我避免了一个受影响的韩国实验室之一制作的防晒霜的任何品牌，并且尚未释放他们的结果，显然是像克拉夫这样的人，保持酷和cosrx谁失败了，但它很难;作为消费者，它不应该对我们研究独立测试，这些产品是在它的方式受到监管的产品上。这是一个遗憾的事态，但这是我们所在的地方，我希望最近的愤怒能够震动行业，增加透明度和推动更广泛的测试。

How have the recent controversies affected how you look at sunscreen claims? Which products and brands do you still trust?