While most chemical sunscreens on the market have been cleared for safe use by the FDA, it makes perfect sense as to why people would rather opt for mineral / physical options. A mineral sunscreen sits atop your skin and reflects harmful UVA and UVB rays, and their natural active sunscreen ingredients (typically zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) don’t raise red flags like some chemical ingredients.
Those chemical counterparts work by absorbing into your skin, and then absorbing any UV rays that hit the dermis. They neutralize the UV rays in order to prevent burn and the sun’s photo-aging effects on skin (think wrinkles, fine lines, sun spots, rough texture, etc, not to mention skin cancer). They protect just as aptly as mineral sunscreens when applied thoroughly and correctly, and every two hours (or after a swim/sweat).
So when people have the debate about which is better, it’s rarely one about efficacy. And the biggest red flag of chemical ingredients, oxybenzone (which is known to disrupt hormones), has more or less been banished. Still, those chemical ingredients absorb into the bloodstream, and their presence can sometimes be measured weeks later. That is why the debate is usually won by mineral options.
The key challenge facing mineral sunscreens, though, is creating something that blends fully into the skin, without leaving a chalky white cast. (You know when someone is wearing a poorly engineered mineral/physical sunscreen, even if their skin is pearly white. There’s that matte, chalky layer all over the skin.)
In picking the best mineral sunscreens from the hundreds in orbit, we chose the following baseline: Each has to be pure mineral/physical UV shields (and not a combination of mineral and chemical); each must have a minimum of broad-spectrum SPF 30 (the recommendation of the ADA, FDA, Skin Cancer Institute, and every dermatologist everywhere); and it must not leave an egregious white cast in its wake.
Some of the below are dedicated face sunscreens, some are for the body, and a couple will cover you head to toe. Pay close attention when shopping, because some body sunscreen formulas contain comedogenic ingredients that will clog the pores on the face. Hence the separation between the two.
