It's time for better sunscreen

Why it's so bad and what we can do

I’ve never attended a powerpoint party but if I did, my presentation would be about sunscreen. My interest was piqued in 2020 when daily walks took on a new urgency and I downloaded TikTok. I’m quite fair and have some family history of skin cancer so I’ve gotten yearly skin checks for a while (I love my dermatologist in Union Square, tell Alissa I sent you). I started to see content on Tiktok about sunscreens made in other countries and how they were more advanced than the options we have available here, which I had never given much thought to.

I placed my first Stylevana order in 2021 and haven’t looked back. This week, AOC made a video with skincare expert and Dieux founder Charlotte Palermino (I love their moisturizer and have featured it on the gift guide) about sunscreen which brought this issue to the New York Times. Amanda Mull at the Atlantic wrote about it last summer—sunscreen is having a well deserved moment.

Here’s the story:

The US has not approved new sunscreen filters since 1999 while other markets, especially Korea, Japan, Australia, and the EU have been innovating and using new sunscreen filters in their products during that time. Why do we need new filters? Three main reasons.

1. They offer better and more lasting protection from more types of sun damage and some even offer protection against blue light, which wasn’t as much of an issue in 1999. Just like with all things medical/scientific, there have been innovations in the past 24 years!

2. They are much more pleasant to use which means people are more likely to actually use sunscreen daily and reapply, which is really important. Lots of sunscreens in the US leave a whitecast, which makes good sunscreen harder to find for people with more melanated skin. Many of these newer formulas don’t have that issue and an SPF 50 formula can glide on smoothly. There’s also innovation in format, like sunscreen sticks you can carry around and reapply throughout the day, even over makeup. So smart! (In general, sunscreen is marketed as anti-aging, which I don’t like as aging is very much a privilege. Ageism is global.

   Jessica DeFino
   deconstructs this concept a lot in her incredible newsletter about the beauty industry
   The Unpublishable
   )

3. They are much more affordable. Here sunscreens that generally feel nice, like Supergoop and Elta MD, can be $40 for a small tube, and those don’t work for everyone. Formulaters have to work a lot harder to make them feel good while you can get a great Japanese sunscreen for $13.

Why is there such a hold up?

In the US, sunscreens are approved via the FDA like drugs and that process is expensive and slow. Also unlike drugs that are very lucrative, sunscreen is not a cash cow so there’s less incentive for brands to fund the process. Many brands will just make a (worse) US version of their sunscreens to sell here. It’s not that we want unsafe or untested sunscreens, it’s that the process can be streamlined and we can use the extensive research done in other countries to expedite certain filters here (Remember the vaccine process? This is a lot less serious but that was very much a global effort). Also, Congress is very old and not super passionate about skincare—having members of Congress who care about this is helpful.

What can we do in the meantime?

You can buy Asian sunscreens on Stylevana, which takes a while to ship but is great. In New York, you can also shop at 0035mm, which has an upcharge but no wait for shipping. I buy sunscreen when I travel (the La Roche Posay ones in the EU are great) and I’ve heard great things about this Australian brand. Here are two of my favorites from Biore and Isntree (Dale loves this one) and it’s fun to order a few and try them so you can find your favorite. There are a lot of counterfeits out there so I would not recommend buying sunscreen on Amazon. You can also call your reps and ask them to make some adjustments to this process because we are way behind! There’s info in this video.

Why should we care?

Obviously this is not the most important thing in the world but it seems very solvable which is rare these days! I also am passionate about sun safety and preventing cancer where can and finding inclusive, affordable ways to protect ourselves is a good thing.

What kind of sunscreen do you use? Are you on the sunscreen side of TikTok? If you know me in real life, how many times have I gone on this rant in the past few years?

Midweek Reads:

Climate change is affecting everything, especially coffee farming.

I’m tired of the “slams laptop shut til Monday” posts

I walked past this building in the East Village and Eden from

Big City, Little Friend

told me there’s a cool story behind it!

Frozen dumplings → dumpling salad

I’ve never been to Italy but I did read Smitten Kitchen’s Italy travel diary as soon as it was posted.

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Thank you for joining me on this detour this week! I hope you enjoyed it or learned something and let me know if you want more deep dives on personal passions!

xo, Abigail