Is a perfect sunscreen for darker skin tones a myth?

White cast, sweat melting it off our face, and chunky creams—surely we deserve better

We’ve always been told to wear sunscreen. Okay, but which one? The one that makes me look like a Kabuki performer? Or the one that makes me look like I’ve just stepped out of the sauna? Sunscreens for darker skin tones have been an ignored category for years, but thankfully brown and black CEOs like Deepica Mutyala of Live Tinted and Shontay Lundy of Black Girl Sunscreen are not only introducing and owning the category and setting new standards, but also making many, many dollars while doing so. More importantly, their success in cutthroat markets are making homegrown Indian brands take notice, that sunscreens for brown skin aren’t just pipe dreams.

Darker skin tones are more prone to pigmentation, a concern that almost every dermatologist addresses in India. Tropical climates like ours also mean a higher exposure to UV rays, and urban populations have eschewed old-school (and highly effective) sunscreens like umbrellas, hats and clothing that covers skin in favour of comfort and style, leading to more and more skin problems, including photo-ageing, photo-sensitivity and melanomas. So why has it taken us so long to develop something exclusively for us?

The solution to the problem

Sunscreen is a fairly new phenomenon for us. Despite being a nation largely obsessed with the idea of white skin, we have baulked (correctly) at the white cast of mineral sunscreens. What is unfortunate is the dominance of such inelegant sunscreens in the market. Thanks to e-commerce, we’ve had access to the more evolved varieties, largely from Japan and South Korea, who have perfected the efficacy and delicate balance of what a product needs to do, how it should feel and how accessible it is in terms of pricing. Despite the SPF measurement controversy a few years ago, South Korean sunscreens have die-hard fans in India. The good news is that India has stepped into the fray, and we’re finally looking at the billions around us, developing something exclusively for our large variety of skin tones and challenging weather conditions.

When the brand Dr Sheth introduced a mineral sunscreen last year, social media fiercely detested it. It was a thick mineral sunscreen that left a ghastly white cast. It was quickly recalled and the brand took a year to reformulate it, introducing a ceramide- and vitamin C-enriched sunscreen earlier this year—to rave reviews. “We made mistakes,” says founder and CEO Dr Aneesh Sheth. “We didn’t test it on enough darker-skinned people, and we didn’t wait to get enough consumer feedback before launching it. We were in a rush. That’s why we took a year to launch this one.”

FAE Beauty, a young cosmetics and skincare brand, took a more careful approach. “First we spoke to a group of 200-300 potential consumers to understand pain points with sunscreen,” says Karishma Kewalramani, founder, FAE Beauty. “We found regular consumers of sunscreen worried about white cast and the amount of sweat it would cause,” she says. “The white cast is typically caused by mineral sunscreens, or physical blockers, and the sweating is usually the result of chemical sunscreens. So we thought of building a hybrid formula that offers both protection and meets consumers somewhere in the middle without compromising on the SPF factor. Simultaneously, we had to make it a really pleasant, usable experience.” Dr Sheth’s team pursued the same aim and realised their own labs weren’t equipped to formulate it by themselves. They had to partner with a larger lab and create their hybrid formula.

Thanks to the rightful demand of transparency, consumers want to see certifications—and FAE Beauty has happily complied. “The sunscreen community is very, very, very well aware of what they’re buying. So transparency is definitely the way to go,” says Kewalramani. Their website proudly displays a Boots Star rating, a UK-based test that measures a sunscreen’s protection (they scored 4 out of 5 stars) as well as a SPF report of a test conducted in Taiwan, which verifies their claim of SPF protection of 50. Dr Sheth’s just received a similar certificate that they will be uploading on their website soon. But why do we need to step outside India to test efficacy? “Indian labs have different technologies to measure SPF, and sometimes we would get different results from different labs,” explains Kewalramani.

The problem with regulation

India’s fairly unregulated market (there are very few standardised bodies to test the efficacy of beauty products) means there’s a flurry of products promising healing, protection and dazzling effects, with almost no testing to check their effects on skin. In our blind obsession with ‘natural,’ ‘green’ and ‘clean,’ many forget that even natural products can be harmful, and that laboratories and regulatory bodies exist for a reason—to protect us. The chemicals used in sunscreens are regulated by cosmetics and drugs regulatory bodies. In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) lists the permitted UV filters which cosmetic products may contain. But there is no maximum SPF rating. However, in 2019, a plan was announced to adopt two international standards to determine the SPF and UVA protection in cosmetic sunscreens.

“It’s not a blame game,” says Dr Madhuri Agarwal, a Mumbai-based dermatologist of Yavana Aesthetic Clinic. “There’s a lot of development which has happened over the last few years and people are still figuring out what works and what doesn’t. For example, some UV filters are blacklisted in Europe but still considered safe for the US market.” Formulation is tricky business. Tests conducted in vitro (in labs outside of an organism) have their limitations. “When testing, one square centimetre of sunscreen is put on a plate, and then the UV resistance is measured. It’s a vague method because somebody can put a thick layer, somebody can put a thin layer. We definitely need more SPF standardised testing. And that is going to happen, it’s inevitable,” says Dr Sheth.

Even in vivo tests (conducted on organisms) aren’t the holy grail. “As humans, we go through a lot of dynamic processes, so we really don’t know how much is affecting us,” says Dr Agarwal. Fear-mongering based on a few tests has turned half-baked knowledge into the ten commandments. We are discovering wonderful and horrific things about the effects of our lifestyle every day, and every day is a choice we make—as informed as possible, considering our circumstances and personal quid-pro-quos.

So what’s the trade-off here?

The gold standard—a sunscreen that feels good, is effective, affordable, water-resistant, doesn’t leave a white cast, doesn’t skin on skin like an uncomfortable layer, doesn’t make you excessively sweaty? We aren’t there yet. Dr Sheth’s Ceramide and Vitamin C sunscreen and FAE Beauty’s SPF Juice tick many of the boxes but aren’t water- or sweat-resistant. “We had to make a trade-off,” explains Dr Sheth. “Making it water- or sweat-resistant turned it oily and sticky. I’d rather have someone apply it twice than put it on badly. It’s not that we can’t have it all, it’s just that the market is so new, it will take us a while to get there.”

Both Dr Sheth’s and FAE Beauty’s sunscreens are hybrid formulae, a mix of inorganic and organic filters. However, they seem to trigger less allergic reactions than usual—a slightly more common occurrence with organic filters. Neither use the controversial oxybenzone or octinoxate. Both use the physical filter titanium dioxide (Dr Sheth’s uses zinc oxide too), but neither have any white cast. They also have dimethicone, the silicone-based polymer that makes the product ‘feel’ fluid and ‘soft’.

The secret trick

“It’s like brushing your teeth,” says Dr Agarwal. “You need to be consistent with applying sunscreen. You might buy SPF 70 or 100, but if it’s lying on your shelf, it doesn’t make sense. So even if you apply SPF 15, it’s okay, but make sure you’re using it daily. Secondly, reapply your sunscreen.”

As with all new beginnings, these are exciting times—especially when you find yourself reaching for a product that not only makes you feel good but also protects you. Plus it’s made in India, for Indian skin tones. Surely world dominance can’t be that far off.

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