The secret “illegal” ingredient in the best sunscreens

Yesterday I told you all about the Sunscreen Innovation Act and how the EWG is pushing us to get safer sunscreens by skipping safety testing. (It’s a long story, follow the link above and you’ll see what I mean.)

By now we know that the law DID pass which hopefully means we’ll see these “superior” European ingredients on the U.S. market soon. But wouldn’t it be awesome if you could get some of these European ingredients right now? Well you can, sort of.

The secret sunscreen ingredient

As noted in yesterday’s discussion, the laws that govern approval of ingredients for Over the Counter products like sunscreens make the process very ponderous. There is, however, another way to get a sunscreen ingredient approved that bypasses this process: companies can petition the FDA to approve a new sunscreen active as part of a New Drug Application. This NDA “backdoor” is not used very often because it’s an expensive process and it limits the types of formulas in which the active can be used. But this is exactly what cosmetic giant L’Oreal did back in 2006 with their patented ingredient “Ecamsule.” Ecamsule not only provides stronger UVA protection but can also be used in formulas which are longer lasting and which have a better skin feel.

So, armed with data from Europe, Canada, and other parts of the world, L’Oreal won U.S. approval for a few, very specific Ecamsule-based products. Sound too good to be true? There is a catch: First of all, it’s expensive so you can expect to pay considerably more for products containing this secret ingredient. Second, you may have a hard time finding Ecamsule products. That’s partly because L’Oreal is limited in the number of different formulation in which it can be used but it’s also because Ecamsule goes under several different names. It’s also known as Mexoryl SX, Anthelios SX, and the ever popular terephthalylidene dicamphor-sulfonic acid. To make things even more tricky, L’Oreal sells these products under the guise of some of their non-L’Oreal brands like La Roche-Posay and Vichy.

Still, if you’re aching to try sunscreen formulas that are not allowed under the OTC monograph, here are links to a few L’Oreal Ecamsule sunscreens. (Note: If you actually buy any product after clicking our link please be advised that we received a microscopic commission from Amazon. Trust me, it’s not a lot of money but I just thought you should know.)

Top 5 best sunscreens with Ecamsule