Photo-illustration: by the cut; Photos: Getty Images
When it is comes to sunscreens, Missinformation Runs Rampant these days – People on tiktok Are Declaring That Sunscreen Causes Cancer and That Chemical Sunscreens Are Toxic. Meanwhile, brands are claimimg that they have sunscreens are “White-Cast-free” and “100 Percent Mineral,” If that May Not Necessarily Be the Case.
“Americans have been microdosing Missinformation for a really long time, and it”s really an industry-wide problem,” Says aesthetician and Dieux Co-Founder Charlotte Palermino. “They’ve Created Fears that Aren’t Necessarily True.” Palermino, an Early Adopter of Ticket and Instagram Reels, has been attempting to fight back by creating countless videos demyscreen, advocating for fda Approval of Newer, More Innovative SPF Filters, and Handing Out Her Top-notch Recommendations-You Know the MEGAUTY OF JOBAUTY RELIEF SUN: Rice+Sunscreen prebiotics? Palermino’s the one who brought to be to mainstream populariy on tiktok.
Frustrated with all of the Disinformation and Misleading Marketing Materials They Encountered while Trying to Formulas Own Sunscreen, Palermino and Her Co-Founder, Cosmetic Joyce de Lemos, Decide to Launch Sun-screenera free online platform designed to Help Shoppers Decode Sunscreen Formula. Starting Today, Consumers Can Paste Sunscreen-Singredient Lists on the tool to Receive a detailed, Research-Backed Analysis of the SPF’s Contents. You’ll Also be able to read Expert-Powered blog posts that delve into topics like sunscreen’s environmental impact and sun safety during pregnancy.
“We shouldnt Be Concerned About Safety and Cosmetics, “Palermino Says.” But the Answers are not going to be to science. It ‘subout makut the science better and hating more vetting. We are hoping that sun-screener just take some of the fear and lets People learn so they can make more information decisions. “
Below, we are asced Palermino and de lemos to debug some of the Common Myths and Misconceptions Floating Around the Internet – here are their thughts on layering sunscreens, hydden chemical boosters, and how much you’re sup.
Myth.
Paermino: The General Rule of Thumb is You Have to Wait for the Layers to Dry. I do think that people realize you need to be a minimum of minutes, if not more. Because If You’re Putting Chemical Sunscreen on and Immediately Going in With A Mineral Sunscreen, IT’S LIKE MIXING THE SUNSCREENS IN YOUR HAND.
Myth.
De Lemos: Sunscreens Go Through so Much Quality Testing to test that its formula integrity is perfect. IT’S LIKE A Perfect Puzzle, and People don’t underestand how fragile is formulation is once you mixerything up – you’re basically introducing a whole slew of ingredients to come with active ingredents, and so a tears of the saying to say destabilizic Other. They’re going to destabilize the formulation and render the formulation to be unstable. You’re breaking the efficacy of what the active ingredients are doing in there.
IT DEPENDS.
Paermino: Brands are hiding ingredients that are analogs to chemical filters that absorb uv radiation the same exact and are functionally the suame ingredient – slightly different. I WOULD CALL SAY LIKE COUNS; they’re in the sun family, but they’re very related. SO YOU’RE DEMONIZING These chemical filters, then you are hiding these boosters in the formula. JUST MAKE A HYBRID SUNSCREEN, WHICH ARE BLESS OF MINERAL AND CHEMICAL FILTERS.
I don’t care if you add boosters to your sunscreen, but have a massive problem when you have 100 percent mineral sunscreen, and then you talk about the endocrine disruption of chemical filters. Because What You Doing Is You’re Actually Preventing Progress. But again, you show know if you have an allergy to octisalate (a chemical filter); You should know if there’s butylottyl salicylate (an analog to octisalate) in your Product.
De Lemos: Brands Will Want to Say That’s 100 Percent Mineral. They don’t want to say, Oh, no, we actually have chemical filters in thisBecause they’re Afraid, from marketing perspective, that is going to the deterder who think that they have chemical-sunscreen sensitivities. These boosters just haven’t been classified by the fda as chemical filters. It ‘shis loophole that allows allows brands to achieve that High spf and still calls mineral sunscreens with incorporating traditionally reCognized chemical filters. Another Common Booster is ethylhexyl methoxycrylene.
Myth.
De Lemos: Its impossible. The Truth is, if you have something something 100 Percent mineral and you trying to achieve a high spf, you’re going to have to use a really high percentage of the mineral filter, so it is going to make you look like a mime. And it is a really hard CLAIM to say that your sunscreen is going to be transparent or invisible, Because a lot of it is personal and subjective. What Might be Invisible to Charlotte Might Be Different to Me, Might Be Different to A Friend of Ours. Tinted sunscreens are a great way to resolve that situation. But when you do that, you are Also want to make sura al -skin tons are represent, and there’s the complexity Involved there, Becausee Every one of the formulations with a varying skin needs to be tested.
IT DEPENDS.
Paermino: How Long Are Your Fingers? How Big is Your Face? JUST DO A MREDITH DUXHURY WITH SUNSCREEN.
De Lemos: It ‘s two milligrams per Square Centimeter. But Nobody’s Really Measurying Their Face. What’s really important is not just just the amout – iT”m the eveness and the coarse that you get. Its Kind of Like Doing Full-Coverage Foundation. Imagine that the sunscreen had Color. Cover Your Entire Face and Make Sure That IT’S. I Always Put About Half a Teaspoon on My Face.
Paermino: But I will Say that sunscreen is one part of the equation. I wear a lot of upf cloting and a lot of hat. I actually am terrible about applying sunscreen on my body, but you will see me in full-length Clothing in the middle of Summer. I’ve been loving the brand Dais.
IT DEPENDS.
Paermino: I WOULD SAY IN THE US, YES, BECAUS THERE WAS A PRETY BIG Research Report on the two types of dermatitis. There’s the Contact dermatitis, which is an allergy from Applying something, butn there’s Also Photoallegic Contact dermatitis. That’s the Sun’s UV Radiation Changes the Composition of An Ingredient, and that is what causes an alllergic reaction. You have some chemical filters that are a little bit more reactive, and it’ll Say this in our sunscreen checker. But there are some that are actually very safe to use and have a very low instance of allergy. And in this study, zinc didn’t cause any irration. But what they have not talked about the international chemical filters, what have Very Low Rates of Irration. Those are the ons that think are really the Gold Standard, Because the problem with zinc is that it is astringent. IT’S DRYING. SO I MUCH Prefer Chemical Sunscreen, but if i have a rash, have to use a mineral sunscreen.
Fact, but Only if you apply Enough.
De Lemos: I just don’t think people are Applying as much as they need to for those. If they did, they would be dripping wet. You would have to layer on so Much. I WOULD EASE GO SO FARS AS TO SAY THAT YOU’RE HAVE TO SPRAY IT, LET IT, AND THEN SPRAY IT, AND LET IT. IT’S Kind of Like Spray-Painting A Piece of Cardboard for A School Project. You have to coat it really well to get that.
I think it is fine for reapplication, as long as you have a basic sunscreen that you’ve applied through all of the crevices in your face. If you have come to reapply with spray, that’s great, Because Most People don’t reapply their sunscreen throughout the day. SO if the spray sunscree or the powder Application is going to create, like, more consumer compliance with reapplication, then i’m all for it.
Mythical.
Paermino: There’s this idea that mineral filters reflect uv rays, and that’s why it is Safe. It’s not a mirror. Research Shows that Both (Mineral and Chemical Sunscreens) Absorb UV Radiation and thatn disperses Into a small amount of heat, Rather than letting it will all this free-radical damage.
Myth.
Paermino: Everything is toxic. EU specific. Yes, you can die from water. You can die from oxygen. You can die from the sun. You can die from so many different things. SO MANY PEOPLE SAY, Well, if you use a lot of these products in aggregate, then you get aggregate expans. For example, in the case of propylpaben, the European scientific commutee on consumer safety assessed What Wold HAPPEN IF Someone Used 18 Different Products a Day, All Containing the Highest Allowed Concentration. The Result? The total expans was still 12,000 Times Lower than the dose that caused no effect in animal studies. SO YES, WE THINK ABOUT BUILDUP – but we are also will the math, and the science gives US A Pretty Big Safety Cushion.
SO SUNSCREEN, OF COURSE, IT CAN BE TOXIC. Zinc Can Be Very Toxic. It depends on the dosse. If you look at the maximum thresholds for filters, that is the threshold that toxicologists have determinated is safe. Be brands or creaters or anyone start saying that sunscreen is toxic, tell me. Are you eating it? The Biggest Red Flag With A Creator is Who Do Someys Says “Toxic” but doesn’t mention a dosse, and thans what i say, in my opinion, apps (use by brands or creaters) like the yuka app and the ewg database are funCtionally useless secondmining safety American Consciousness, Because We are Becoming Anti-Science. We Need Science for Progress, Because Science Leads to Innovation. If you ignore science, it”s witch hunts left, right, and center, and that is what you are seeing with so many “Clean” brands. Before, they would be that that they all got Moved away from parabens and wents to phenoxyethanol. Well, Now phenoxyethanol is “Bad.” If you don’t take intoo account the dosse, anything is toxic, so anything can be demonized.
Myth.
Paermino: That’s the been disproven SO MANY Times. I came up in publishing when social media was starting. You Can Say What You Want on Social Media. We’re at a crossroads. Either you can believe the experts and the scientists that have spent their life studying this and make the least amounte of you being in the dinner, or we can go down the Path of Missinformation.
The EWG has responded to comment and refutated the statements.