Is your Sunscreen Waterproof?
Posted by Deb Oxley on Aug 26th 2015
Short Answer: Our Sunscreen is "Water Resistant" from 40 minutes up to 4 hours depending on conditions.
Long Answer: When it comes to sunscreens there is an abundance of
mis-information out there! No sunscreen may legally be called 'waterproof' per FDA mandate issued a few years ago, but some
brands are still calling their products 'waterproof' nevertheless. The
problem is that the FDA has lots of power to issue mandates, but
very little power when it comes to enforcing said mandates.
Unless a class action lawsuit is initiated somewhere along the
line, many companies just plain old do not comply with the law.
Sunscreens do come in a variety of 'water-resistant' types
though. As you probably know there are a multitude of chemical
based sunscreens with some extremely questionable ingredients, but
if you are reading this blog, you are likely to be well-educated
on the reasons you should avoid these cheap drugstore brands so we
won't cover those. We will talk about more 'all-natural' barrier
protection sunscreens such as our
SunProtect SPF30+.
Barrier protection sunscreens are a minimum of 10% Zinc Oxide up
to about 25% (ours is about 23%). This Zinc Oxide (should be non-nano) is dispersed in a spreadable emollient base and hopefully boosted with some
botanical skin actives for increased UV protection and skin care
benefits. I'm sure everyone remembers Desitin diaper ointment
which is based in wax, petroleum and mineral oils (also
petroleum). This stuff might actually BE waterproof, but it's
hard as heck to get on (and off!) and it will leave you very, very
white.
Many of the so-called natural
sunscreens use petroleum oil (it's cheap) to as a base for their
ZO in and end up with similar white sheen and consumers experience difficulty in application as a result. Our carrier is is 100% organic Shea Butter which is
excellent for the skin, is sustainably wild harvested and allows
the product to spread easily without turning you white.
Depending on the intensity of the sun, if you let the product
dry and adhere properly before going in the water or sweating, and have applied it over all exposed skin surfaces, we see a need for reapplication every 2 to 4 hours.
Use common sense though!! If you're in the Caribbean snorkeling on
top of the water at noon after being snowbound in Chicago all
winter, reapplication as often as every hour might be in order!
You might even consider using sun gear water clothing in this type
of circumstance, since topical sunscreen can only do so much..