Here in Southern California, we wear sunscreen even more than we do underwear. You just can’t really leave the house without it, regardless of the season or time of day. So much of the labeling is deceiving — just because a product wins shelf space, or seems like it’s natural or effective because of the packaging, doesn’t mean it is.
The Environmental Working Group, bless their souls, does a marvelous breakdown every year on what the best and worst sunscreens are for kids and adults, and even does some nifty mythbusting (like, a high SPF count might not be all that, European sunscreens are better, and nanoparticles, schmanoparticles). One thing to note is that even though sprays are on the rise, there’s concern about inhalation risks and coverage.
“Almost three-fourths of the products we examined offer inferior sun protection or contain worrisome ingredients like oxybenzone, a hormone disruptor, or retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A that may harm skin. And despite scant evidence, the government still allows most sunscreens to claim they help prevent skin cancer,” the report says. “In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration set new sunscreen rules that removed some of the most egregious false marketing claims, like ‘waterproof’ and ‘sweatproof,’ from product labels. But the FDA allowed most sunscreens to claim that they play a role in preventing skin cancer. There is little scientific evidence to suggest that sunscreen alone reduces cancer risk, particularly for melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. Despite a growing awareness of the dangers of exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, and a multi-billion dollar sunscreen industry, melanoma rates have tripled over the past three decades.”
It pays to be skeptical — you only get the skin you’re in.