Skin Care Talk banner

Very cheap SPF 50 sun screen - but are there any ingredients in it I should avoid?

4K views 37 replies 13 participants last post by  skinaddict 
#1 ·
Hello

I apply Retin A at night time (at present approximately twice a week). I am wanting to increase this but only when I have a good sun screen. I am waiting for the Shiseido Anessa SPF 50+ (silver bottle) to arrive from ebay.

However at the moment I am using a sun screen from Tesco which only costs about £3. It is SPF 50 and UVA 5 stars ultra. My sister showed it to her dermatologist who said it was good but I can't believe something so cheap is really that good?

I would be very grateful (fawnie are you there please?) to hear if there are products in here which should be avoided? Or is it indeed a bargain and offers good protection from the sun!

The ingredients are (in the order written on the label): Aqua, Cera Alba, Cocoglycerides, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Octocylene, Cetyl Dimethicone, Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol, Ethylehyl Salicylate, Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenol Trizine, PEG-15 Cocamine, Butylene Glycol, Isopropyl Palmitate, PEG-40 Stearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Helianthus Annus seed oil, Allantoin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Acylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Triethanolamine, Decyl Glucoside, Propylene Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylparaben, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea, BHT.

Thank you
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Nope, it's good, Avo, Octocrylene, Tinosorb M and S, Octyl salicylate... You can even use it with minerals and makeup, Tinosorbs will protect you and wont break down or become deactivated as Avobenzone would (it's a crappy filter anyways, they just use to get high UVA ratings, just like Octyl salicylate and Octocrylene is use to increase the SPF
).
Other than the filters is a mix of both "good" and "bad" stuff, but it's impossible to tell how the mix will work and interact on skin just by looking at the ingredients. I'd use it!

If you are into all-natural skin care, then this one not the best option tho, all the filters are synthetic and there are lots of other ingredients that are frowned upon by the natural community.
 
#3 ·
Hi Chorlton Lady, What is the make of sunscreen your are buying from Tesco please? At £3, factor 50 and thumbs up from Rayoflight, I'd like to give it a whirl. Have spent a fortune on expensive sunscreen for face only to fnd they make my eyes sting and water.
 
#7 ·
Hello,
I 'll ask similar question re my sunscreen: " SunSense anti-aging face sunscreen" by Ego.
I would be very grateful if someone will help me with the ingredients:
Actives (w/w):

Octyl methoxycinnamate 8.0%, bemotrizinol 2.15%, methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethylbutylphenol 1.5%

I'm planning to go to Europe next month... Can you recommend any good European sunscreen worth buying?
Thanks.
 
#25 ·
I am a great fan of Clinique but I don't use their sunscreen either but many of their moisturisers now have SPF in it ranging from 15 to 25 which I was comparing my sunscreen from Tesco to. However with some of the Clinique moisturisers I find them a bit too greasy and some leave a whiteness on the face. You don't get that with the Tesco sunscreen and I am using it like a day moisturiser.

(Off topic: You mention you like Clinique products I personally like 'All about eyes rich' as a moisturiser for my eyes at night time. Saying that I do think after reading so many fantastic threads on here whether Clinique is a little over-priced for what if offers. I don't know .... I'm reserving judgement for the time being.)
 
#20 ·
first, i wouldnt concentrate too much on the spf#: spf 50 blocks out 98% and spf 30 blocks out 97%...also, the government is planning on capping spf to 50 since the amount of protection is negligible the higher you go.....not worth the extra money if you ask me....

also, you should look for ingredients that primarily block out UVA not UVB since UVA is thought to produce more damage than UVB....


UVA: avobenzone, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, etc.....

UVB: octocrylene, octyl methoxycinnamate, and to a lesser extent the last 3 of the above, etc......

i usually go with the titanium or zinc- just make sure its not micronized!
 
#27 ·
@Ray

Basically because of its small particle size (10-30 nm) it penetrates further than the skin, entering into the bloodstream.....titanium dioxide is more toxic than zinc, and even though they coat it with dimethicone it still presents an array of problems....there is an article about this on smartskincare and elsewhere.....I prefer to stay with the zinc coated or uncoated and non micronized titanium dioxide....
 
#29 ·
By EU definition everything under 100 nm is nanoscale. It goes from 0.2 nm to 100 nm. I think US has a similar deffinition, but I'm not sure. After that comes micronized, most physical sunscreens (the effective ones anyway) use 50-60 - 200 nm sized particles or microsize, like Z-cote HP1 which has <0.2 µm size. I haven't actually seen a non-nano/non-micro (the opaque) sunscreen outside movies, are they even manufactured these days?
Coatings are also important, they prevent particles from interacting with other things, so there are less reactions, less free radical generation (that is a big concern with non-coated TiO2) and more importantly they disperse more evenly in sunscreen and on skin, providing better protection. Coated micronized zinc also seems to have broader protection range than plain uncoated zinc, uncoated has a protection range 290-360 nm, coated ones, like Z-cote HP1 have solid protection in the 290-380nm range and then some more protection in the 380-400 nm range. For UVA1 protection it is very important. Coatings are also supposed to prevent nano particles from being pulled into skin by receptors (alto it's unclear to me, I don't think skin even has receptors for titanium, but maybe there are such things, I don't know.).
 
#34 ·
It refers to the electromagnetic scale, wavelength range in nanometers. Ultraviolet radiation is between 10 nm and 400 nm, between 290 and 400 nm are UVA and UVB rays. Above 400 nm starts visible light, and after 750 nm comes infrared radiation. Below 290 nm are UVC rays and so on...
Between 290-320 nm are UVB rays, 320-340 nm are UVA2 rays and 340-400 are UVA1 rays.
Titanium dioxide, the white, opaque one that is not used in sunscreens has a wide protection range, up into the vivible light spectrum, but in sunscreens micronized and nanosized TiO2 particles are used. Those protect against UV rays in the 290-340 nm range, but there are different forms of TiO2 and their protective range differs greatly, for example T-Lite filters protect in the 290-370 nm range, Uvinul TiO2 in the 290-400 nm range, Optisol in the 290-385 nm range.
 
#36 ·
Quote: Originally Posted by happytimes

Ray, someone gave me some Nia 24 sunscreen. Have you ever used it and is it any good? Thanks for all your help? NIA 24 Sun Damage Prevention 100% Mineral Sunscreen - SPF30 at LovelySkin.com


Never used it, but the zinc % is very low. So the UVA protection is not too good.


Quote: Originally Posted by

9.45% transparent, micronized titanium dioxide
3.6 % transparent, micronized zinc oxide
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top