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What's your favorite sunscreen(s)?
  • rozy
    My very favorite is blistex lip balms for lip because they never hurt or sting, and Banana Boat Baby Sunscreen, it is affordable and never irritates my psoriasis and never stings or outright burns like some sunscreens do to me. I bought Aveeno sensitive (titanium.zinc) but it always leaves some white and still stings a bit but its better than most. I didnt know in the past I was allergic to octocrylene so I can avoid that pain knows thanks to the knowledge from the brains!
  • professorauntie
    1. Kinesys, fragrance-free, spf 30. It has only 7 inactive ingredients and none of them irritate my skin:

    cyclopentasiloxane, octyl palmitate, pvp/hexadecane copolymer, pheynyl trimethicone, tocopheryl acetate, bisabolol, peb/ppg-18/18 dimethicone

    I kind of wish they'd leave out the bisabolol because it's "the primary constituent of the essential oil from German chamomile " (Wikipedia), and I'm allergic to chammomile so I'm afraid I'll develop an allergy to bisabolol (see the PubMed article, "Reactions to Aquaphor: is bisabolol the culprit?" I think bisabolol is used partly as a stealth fragrance in fragrance-free products: "Bisabolol has a weak sweet floral aroma and is used in various fragrances." It's got lots of useful qualities too: "Bisabolol is known to have anti-irritant, anti-inflammatory and
    anti-microbial properties.... Bisabolol is also demonstrated to enhance the
    percutaneous absorption of certain molecules."(Wikipedia).

    It's a really thin formula that spreads well so the bottle goes a long way. It feels oily going on, but then it dries and seems to disappear into my skin leaving a tiny bit of moisturizing feeling.

    2. Coppertone Oil-Free Foaming Sunscreen Lotion, SFP 75, fragrance-free. This is also relatively non-irritating, though again I think they put the benzyl alcohol in there partly as a stealth fragrance. "Benzyl alcohol is a colorless liquid with a mild pleasant aromatic odor. It is a useful solvent" (Wikipedia). It's also a potential allergen: "Benzyl alcohol allergy: importance of patch testing with personal products" (Pub Med)

    It goes on looking thick and white, like shaving cream, but it dries clear and un-sticky.

    Inactive ingredients:

    Water, isobutane, sorbitol, styrene/acrylates copolymer, vp/eicosene
    copolymer, stearic acid, benzyl alcohol, triethanolamine, dimethicone,
    sorbitan isostearate, tocopherol (vitamin e), aloe barbadensis leaf
    extract, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, ethylhexyl palmitate, polyglyceryl-3
    distearate, retinyl palmitate (vitamin a palmitate), chlorphenesin,
    acrylates/c10- 30 alkyl acrylates crosspolymer, disodium edta.

    Both of these are the mildest sunscreens I've found and I'm sure the Kinesys doesn't give me zits. I can't be 100% sure about the Coppertone, because I only use it occasionally for hiking or skiing.
  • rozy
    I'm glad that first one works well for you my skin would be burning like heck from the active ingrediants. I would guess chamomile crap is only in the product in small amounts but the brains will have to answer that for sure.
  • NoahJenda
    I burn very easily. I'm considering trying one of the Tinosorb S formulas, like Anthelios XL SPF 45 Spray:

    Active Ingredients: Octisalate 5%, Avobenzone 4%, Octocrylene 3.5%, Bemotrizinol (Tinosorb S) 3%, Titanium Dioxide 2.6%, Drometrizole Trisiloxane (Mexoryl XL) 1.5%, Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid (Mexoryl SX) 1%.
    Other Ingredients: Aqua, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Diamine/Stearyl Dimer Dilinoleate Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Acrylates Copolymer, Caprylyl Glycol, Tocopherol, Pentasodium Ethylenediamine Tetramethylene Phosphonate

    I have to buy it from Canada, but I'm curious to see how it works for me. 
  • rozy
    I hope it works really well for you! With no irritation!
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