What to Know Before Picking a Sunscreen

This is a long post about the brands and safety/effectiveness of sunscreens so I’ll put my summary first just in case you want a quick read and can come back to the rest when you have more time.

There are many factors that come into play when deciding which sunscreen is best for you and your kids. As I stated in previous posts if in direct sun for longer than 20 -30 mins I put some sunscreen on Vivi, but try to only use organic brands that contain titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. If it’s after about 4pm and Vivi is not in continuous direct sun I don’t put sunscreen on her at all. After the last several weeks of lake, beach, and pool activities she hasn’t gotten red or burned and has just a little bit of color so it’s been working out ok so far for us. There are times though that I had to put something on her. I tried the SPF shirt with minimal sunscreen, which worked fine but she got a rash from the shirt. If not out in mid-day sun I’ve been using California Baby Sunblock Stick Everyday/Year-Round, SPF 30+ on her face and shoulders or Mustela Bebe High Protection Sun Lotion, SPF 50. I have Weleda Children’s Sunscreen, SPF 18 and will use it up as it is an all-natural formula but it has too much fragrance for me and of the 4 brands I’m using it ranked highest for hazardous ingredients according to The Environmental Working Group’s site http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. In direct mid-day or just lots of sun I am using La Roche-Posay Anthelios Dermo-pediatrics SPF 50+ Lotion. LaRoche-Posay has scored high on protecting against UVA and UVB sunrays and sunscreen stability but is outrageously priced.  Mustela Bebe has on the label UVA and UVB protection but according to The Environmental Working Group’s site http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com, Mustela, California Baby and Weleda have a medium score for protection against UVA rays. Here’s The Environmental Working Group’s 2009 Sunscreen Guide. (Above right are their 2009 top 10 recommendations for sunscreen.)

To really get a grasp of all the details before picking out a sunscreen you should understand the difference in UVA & UVB sunray protection, organic/natural sunscreens and their ingredients and be aware of label/packaging that can be misleading. Also note, don’t buy by brand alone as with major brands  like Coppertone and Banana Boat there can be major differences in how well the sunscreens or sunblocks score in protection. Also, from year to year a brand that scored well one year may not the next as the make up of ingredients and sunscreen stability may have changed. Also important to note,  “research at the University of California, Riverside, indicates that sunscreen needs to be reapplied within 2 hours in order to remain effective. Not reapplying could even cause more cell damage than not using sunscreen at all, due to the release of extra free radicals from those sunscreen chemicals which were absorbed into the skin” (source: Wikipedia.org).

Other Research/Resources

In the July/August 2009 issue of Mother Jones Magazine the article Sunscreen’s Shady Business talks about misleading sunscreen packaging and claims of protection. The article also states “UVA penetrates the skin, causing wrinkles and other skin damage; UVB causes sunburns. Until recently, it was thought that only UVB caused cancer; now scientists suspect that UVA does, too.” Worth a read as a consumer. Check out also writer Kiera Butler’s update on her blog, Sunscreen: Still Shady.

I found interesting posts on mommyfootprint.com about sunscreens including other EWG top rated organic sunscreens. When looking at organic sunscreen or sunblock look for titanium dioxide in the ingredients. In an article What is Organic Sunscreen? found on ezinearticles.com there is a quick summary of what you need to know about organic sunscreens.

In the article The burning question … how much for sunscreen? by Jill Papworth of The Guardian, Saturday 26 July 2008, she cites information about SPF numbers being either the American or European measurements (more info on this in my previous post What You Need to Know About Sun Screen SPF) and provides research indicating that you don’t need to buy the most expensive sunscreen to get best protection.

I also did some research on ConsumerReportsHealth.org, which has an article about the best brands of sunscreen they have done an independent studies on. You have to be a member to get the 2009 list but in the overview they list their 2007 finds which include: “High-rated products from our 2007 tests that are still being sold include Blue Lizard Regular Australian SPF 30+, Mustella Bébé/Enfant High Protection SPF 50, Lancôme Paris Sôleil Ultra Expert Sun Care for Sensitive Skin SPF 50, and Fallene Cotz SPF 58.”

I subscribed to find out what which brands were listed in the 2009 report, and to my surprise none of the 2007 brands were included in the 2009 report, leaving me with more questions than answers. So I emailed them and here’s what they said:

“To help us determine which brands and models to test, our Market Analysts research each brand-name in the product category and select those that have the highest market share, as well as those that have new or forward-thinking features.  We pay close attention to the national availability of products, and to the suggestions and requests of our subscribers.  Then, our anonymous shoppers go to work purchasing the models that we have decided to test.  If there is a product that our shoppers cannot readily purchase, we sometimes have to exclude it from our testing. The absence of any product from a given report does not mean that it is a poor performer; it simply means we did not test it. Consumer Reports cannot guarantee the continued quality of a product after its evaluation. In light of this, I would like to assure you that the ratings in the most recent report are the ones that you should reference when considering your purchase.”

Some of the sunscreens that are hard to find in stores are usually found pretty easily and generally cheaper online.