The $30 sunscreens by Hawaiian Tropic and Clinique that might not actually work, according to analysis
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Sunscreen is one of the best ways you can protect your body against the lifelong harms of the sun's rays.
But many sunscreen brands don't actually provide the protection they claim to, according to independent testers.
This means that you could be unwittingly letting cancerous rays into your skin — mistakenly thinking you've been protected by the impenetrable shield of sunscreen.
Both drugstore favorites, like Alba and Hawaiian Tropic, and luxury brands, like Dior and Lancôme, have come under scrutiny from regulators, consumers or lawyers for their sun protection claims.
Between not providing the amount of sun protection that they claim on their label and making assertions that their product is more resilient than it really is, there's a whole world of products to look out for.
SPF protects against the sun's harmful rays, but many products contain far less of the protective ingredient than is stated on the label, analyses show.
'People place too much trust in high SPF products,' the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that releases public health reports about a range of products in the US, said on their online guide to sunscreens.
This could be partially based on a 2021 study the group ran which looked at 51 sun products available from Amazon, CVS, Target and Walmart.
By running the products through a battery of chemical tests, they discovered that their tested products contained only between 59 and 42 percent of the SPF that was stated on their labels.
'US sunscreens significantly underperform relative to the labeled SPF,' the paper found.
EXPL WHAT SPF MEANS SIMPLY..REFERS TO HOW OFTEN U NEED TO REAPPLY ETC
Clinique SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen, $37
Clinique rejected the report that said their SPF 30 Mineral sunscreen provided a third of the sun protection it advertised on its product.
SPF is a measure of how well a product protects against one kind of radiation that the sun gives off, called UVB rays.
UVBs only affect the upper layers of the skin, but cause DNA mutations and sunburns in them, which over time can increase your cancer risk.
A sunscreen with an SPF of 30 should be able to block as much as 97 percent of UVB rays from reaching your skin, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Mineral sunscreens, like Clinique's, protect against UVB rays by using ingredients like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to reflect the radiation, stopping it from affecting the skin.
These products are sometimes thick and chalky and give sunscreen it's infamous white cast.
Chemical sunscreens, use organic chemicals to absorb the suns rays before they can reach the skin. These are lighter and more convenient, but might rub off easier than mineral sunscreens, Dr Anisha Patel, an MD Anderson dermatologist, said.
A sunscreen with an SPF of 30 should be able to block as much as 97 percent of UVB rays from reaching your skin, according to MD Anderson.
These products give sunscreen it's traditional, and infamous, white cast.
Though Clinique does contain both titanium and zinc oxide, a 2022 report from Which?, a UK based consumer testing company, found that it only provided a third of the SPF protection it claimed on the bottle.
Clinique Mineral Sunscreen Lotion currently costs $37 online, and is sold at retailers like Amazon, Sephora and Ulta.
The company rejected Which?'s findings. Their statement read in part, 'all our products are subjected to rigorous testing - we guarantee our claims are clinically valid.'
Hawaiian Tropic Mineral Skin Nourishing Milk, $12.99
An SPF of 30 is more than sufficient to use daily to protect yourself against skin cancer, dermatologists say. But not all SPF 30 products are equal.
An SPF 30 sunscreen should be more than enough to protect you against the sun, assuming its an accurately labeled product, Dr Saira George, a dermatologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said.
Regular sunscreen use, of as little as SPF 15, can reduce your risk for developing skin cancer by 40 to 50 percent, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
But it's difficult to know if what on your label is reflected accurately in your sunscreen.
Which? also tested the SPF 30 of Hawaiian Tropic's mineral sunscreen, and found it only provided a third of the protection against UVB rays that it claimed.
Like Clinique, Hawaiian tropic rejected Which?'s findings, stating that, 'we firmly disagree with the testing results obtained by Which?.'
Alba Botanica Lotion, Sensitive Mineral, $15.78
Alba botanicals failed to protect against UVA rays in a 2022 test, but it did live up to it's SPF claims.
Another complicating factor is that for a sunscreen to be truly effective, it needs to protect against both kinds of rays that the sun gives off - both UVA and UVB.
SPF only measures protection against UVB rays. Sunscreens that are labelled 'broad spectrum' are supposed to protect against both types of rays.
UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin - causing wrinkles, aging and sunburns. The American Academy of Dermatology calls UVA rays aging rays and UVB rays burning rays.
Over time, these rays can lead to skin cancer, Dr George said. She added: 'UVA partners up with UVB to cause more serious problems, like skin cancer.'
Alba Botanica, a chemical sunscreen which is currently sold at Walmart and other national chains, failed to absorb both UVB and UVA rays in Which?'s 2022 test.
Other products, like Green People's Scent free mineral sunscreen, passed the SPF test - but 'failed to adequately block UVA light'.
Dior Forever 24 hour Foundation, $57
Dior was the subject of 2023 class action suit, filed by a consumer who claimed that it's 24-hour wear description was misleading.
No matter how high your product's SPF is, and how good the product itself is, you should re-apply sunscreen every two hours, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
This is because sunscreen wears off - clumping from friction, decaying in the suns rays or washing off with sweat and water.
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Some popular cosmetics with SPF in them have run into trouble with this fact - with consumers claiming that their advertising makes it seem like they'll be protected from the sun all day.
In 2023, a Californian woman filed a class action suit against Christian Dior, claiming that it's Dior Forever Skin Glow Foundation, which called itself a 24-hour foundation with sunscreen, claiming that its labelling was misleading.
'Reasonable consumers interpret these labels to mean that the sunscreen in the Products will last longer than two hours,' the complaint reads.
'However, the products do not and cannot provide more than two hours of SPF protection as claimed. The labels are therefore false, deceptive, confusing and/or misleading.'
The suit was dismissed at the end of 2023, saying that if 'reasonable consumers' read the back label on the product, they would know that they needed to reapply every two hours.
That decision has since been appealed by the plaintiff.
Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Foundation, $57
L'Oreal had two products come into question in a class action in 2022 - their Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear and L'Oreal Infallible 24 hour fresh wear foundation.
Other cosmetic companies have had similar complaints lodged against them. In 2022 - L'Oreal was slapped with a class action from California Consumers claiming that their 24-hour wear products with broad spectrum sunscreen were 'false, deceptive and/or misleading.'
It was specifically against L'Oreal Infallible 24 hour fresh wear foundation and Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear, which retail online for $16.99 and $57 respectively.
The L'Oreal suit, which includes claims against their higher-end brand, Lancôme, makes a similar argument to the Dior case.
The attornies argued, 'Consumers are not expected to inspect layers of stickers on the back label to discover the instructions to reapply the product every 2 hours. Nor would a reasonable consumer expect that the buried back label would contradict the front label SPF representations.
La Roche-Posay Ultra Light Spray, SPF 60, $26.99
Using SPF above 60 might lull consumers into a 'false sense of security', Dr George said.
Dermatologists have a whole new set of concerns when it comes to sunscreens that advertise an SPF higher than 30.
'A high SPF can give people a false sense of security', Dr George said, meaning that when people see an SPF over 30, they might be misled into forgetting to reapply their sunscreen, thus making the product ineffective.
The FDA agrees, and has taken a public stance against high SPF products since at least 2007. The agency proposed a 2021 rule that puts a ceiling on sunscreen labels at SPF 60.
Studies have found that people spend more time in the sun when they're given a higher SPF. High SPF sunscreen cause 'profound changes in sun behavior', Dr Philippe Autier an epidemiologist at International Prevention Research Institute, said in his 1999 study.
In addition, Dr George said you don't really need more than SPF 30, because 'after a point, going higher doesn’t mean you are getting dramatically more protection.'
Outside that, independent testing of some high SPF products has shown that they can yield disappointing results.
In the case of La-Roche Posay's Anthelios SPF 60 Lotion Spray Sunscreen, the 'UV protection is significantly lower than the SPF value would indicate,' the EWG reported on their sunscreen database.
They also flagged the product as a concern that it might cause a person to 'misuse the product'.
The Banana Boat Kids Max Protect and Play 2018 formulation, $13
The EWG took issue with the lotion formation of the Banana Boat Kids Max Protect and Play Broad Spectrum Sunscreen, specifically of the 2018 formulation.
The EWG took issue with Banana Boat Kids Max Protect and Play Broad Spectrum Sunscreen, SPF 100 for the same reasons that it flagged the La Roche formula.
An SPF of over 30 can be misleading, they said, adding tha tit likely doesn't provide the amount of SPF protection that it claims.
Banana boat products are sold at national chains, like CVS and Walmart for approximately $13.00
This brand has had problems with their SPF claims before. In 2016, Consumer reports found that Banana Boat Kids Tear-Free, Sting-Free SPF 50 lotion, actually had an SPF of about 8.
In the same report, Consumer Reports found that 42 percent of other chemical sunscreen brands did not meet their SPF claims.
EWG and Consumer reports had similar concerns about CVS's products.
Their CVS Kids Sun Lotion SPF 50, tested at an SPF 8 in 2016.
CVS Health Sheer Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 100, $12.49
As of 2022, the EWG flagged CVS Health Ultra Sheer Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 100 with their highest level of concern. They cited doubts that it provided the UV protection listed on the label, and the same concerns about using a high SPF label at all.
The drugstore brand was under similar scrutiny in the past. CVS Kids Sun Lotion, which was supposed to have an SPF of 50 tested at an SPF 8 in the 2016 Consumer Reports trials.
This sunscreen can be found across the United States, or ordered online through the pharmacy for $12.49.
A’PIEU's Pure Block Waterproof Sun Cream, $12.99
The FDA doesn't allow US based sunscreen manufacturers to label their sunscreens as waterproof. But other countries do.
Another thing to look out for with sunscreens is if a brand claims that it is more resilient than it is. For example, there is no such thing as a waterproof sunscreen, according to the FDA.
Sunscreens can be water resistant, meaning that they can stick to wet skin for as long as 80 minutes, but non are truly impervious to water, which means that you need to reapply no matter what.
As of 2011, US based companies are no longer allowed to claim their sunscreens are waterproof. This is because 'such claims overstate the product's effectiveness, leading to a false sense of security,' Dr Christopher Schmidt, a dermatologist and co-founder of Dermasport, wrote in a 2023 blog.
But other countries aren't bound by those regulations.
A February 2024 class action suit was leveled against the makers of two popular Korean sunscreens, MISSHA and A'PIEU, in New Jersey, for making 'false, deceptive, misleading and unfair' statements about their products.
Chiefly, that their products don't wash off with water or sweat.
The specific products include MISSHA's All Around Safe Block Waterproof Sun Milk, All Around Safe Block Essence Sun Milk and All Around Safe Block Soft Finish Sun Milk. Also, A’PIEU's Pure Block Waterproof Sun Cream.
MISSHA and A'PIEU products are available for sale online through online vendors like Amazon and Walmart.