Hello everyone. I'm pretty new to this whole skinbiology website and it's products as well as this forum. And am so confused about all this info about sunscreens! I've read through some of the posts and am now throughly confused. All these terms like Anthelios, Vichy, physical sunscreens, chemical sunscreens, estrogenic, Tinosorb, Mexyorl , free radicals, .......

Skinbiology says zinc oxides are okay, but then some of you say (Kathleen, JW) that they dont provide enough protection??? And that zinc oxide's, zinc ions can displace copper ions and reduce skin regeneration and renewal. What about this encapsulation and micronized thing for certain blockers???

Then I read this , which Kathleen posted "To make matters worse, I've come across an article that REALLY has me rethinking the whole sunscreen thing.

If you read far enough, they talk about measuring sunsceen UVA efficacy with PPD. I think is used in Europe now. I was shocked to fnd that ingredients I thought were very good, like zinc and titanium, have a very high drop off level in the higher UV range. In other words, they may only be blocking 20% of anything over a certain NM (for example). It depends on particle size, etc.

This site is recommending Tinosorb and Mexoryl, neither of which are supposed to have any estrogen causing problems.

For the average consumer, this probably does not matter. I was very interested b/c I have pigmentation on my face and it is well known that there can be no hyperpigmentation without sun exposure (in any way, shape or form.)

I am fine with my micronized sunscreens on my body, but for my face, I just ordered some of this Tinosorb stuff from Europe."

Some please help me decide on what to use?????

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skd77, Vichy does not have parabens in it, and if you look at the "cheap Vichy" link under this heading, and read Kathleen's comments, you can learn more. Kathleen is the real sunscreen expert here, so you won't go wrong.

Thank you, Kathleen.

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If I'm the expert, we're in trouble! Truly, I must give credit to where I got the information, including Mag from the YFT forum and Kathy C for being a go between.

But I do appreciate your comment very much. My current project is to try to figure out whether it's true that chemcial sunscreens generate more free radicals than physical ones--but that's WAY off topic here!

Kathleen

Hi I'm new here & I too am confused re the safety of sunscreens. I checked out the ingredient listings on the Vichy Milk Gel & both parabens & fragrance are listed although on the decription they claim not to have any. Can anyone shed any light on this? Also I am curious whether the Anthelios products have a strong fragrance or if it is mild. Finally has anyone tried the Anthelios lipblock? Appreciate any & all help. Jennifer

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Please keep us updated, Kathleen. You provide us with a wealth of info.

Jennifer, the Vichy Lait Extreme 60 (is this the product that you're looking at?) does not contain fragrance, but I believe it cntains parabens. The description and label doesn't quite match. I think that this is an older formulation and that now Vichy is promoting its Capital Soleil line. I'm not sure where you can get reasonable prices on this line. The shipping can be a killer.

Dear skd77,

It's difficult to make recommendations because everyone uses sunscreens for different reasons and have different sets of beliefs and criteria. I am looking for a performance sunscreen that is sweat-and-water-resistant and is safe for me as well as the environment and the marine mammals (or can be used for daily use as well). My research on sunscreens is on-going. Look forward to read what you find as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Jennifer:
I checked out the ingredient listings on the Vichy Milk Gel (on www.physea.com)& both parabens & fragrance are listed although on the decription they claim not to have any. Can anyone shed any light on this? Also I am curious whether the Anthelios products have a strong fragrance or if it is mild. Finally has anyone tried the Anthelios lipblock? Appreciate any & all help. Jennifer

Jennifer,

Here is one link to Vichy that also claims no parabens. The other site with the actual ingredient listing (not a seller, but a person who researches all the sunscreens out there and posts about them) is still not up, but I know that the spray and new gel-cream do not contain paraben. Those are the ones I was interested in, so I made doubly sure! I don't know about the cream, unfortunately, this other site (link above) is also saying no preservtives.

Anthelios--I've only used Fluid Extreme XL for the face and I don't notice any scent. It's a WONDERFUL product but does have parabens. But I limit it to facial use only.

HTH,
Kathleen