A Decision to Not Carry Sunscreen

Photo by Tara Winstead

I've spent hours and hours of my skin care career researching and trialing facial sunscreens. I had settled on carrying the original Blue Lizard facial formula with Octinoxate, 5.5% and Zinc Oxide, 8%. It has an SPF profile very similar to the beloved (in its day) Obaji sunscreen but at a more accessible price point. Plus it had vitamin E, green tea and caffeine. They even sold it in 5oz bottles which I recommended for the body over their body formulations. I eventually added their "reef safe" all mineral facial formula, which had a more matte finish, for the purists and most sensitive. Then came the pandemic when Amazon became an authorized seller. Eventually a new "sheer" formula was added that I haven't even tried.

Rather than trying to appeal to all the characteristics clients are looking for in a facial sunscreen formula, I'm stepping out of carrying it all. It's like trying to keep up with stand-up comedians on Netflix but without the laughs. I know Diane at Fine Feather in Grandview Heights OH carries Suntegrity, another brand I favor, as well as others that are "clean."

It's a complicated subject that is only becoming more so. Dermatologists like to say the best sunscreen is the one you'll use. I'm guessing that is an oversimplification but simplification is a direction in which I am headed nonetheless. Cheers.