Sunscreen Ranker journal
The sunscreen
journal.
Daily, evidence-led notes on SPF, UV filters, and sun protection — every claim sourced, no cap.
- Trends EWG's 2025 Sunscreen Guide: 4 in 5 Products Still Fall Short Before you grab a bottle this summer, see what an independent review of 2,200+ sunscreens actually found - and why so many score poorly on UVA. Read it →
- Makeup + SPF EWG's 2025 Guide: Only 1 in 5 of ~2,800 SPF Products - Including SPF Makeup - Made the Cut EWG's 20th annual guide screened nearly 2,800 SPF products - including tinted moisturizers and SPF makeup - and only about 1 in 5 cleared its bar. Read it →
- Trends The 2025 'Golden Age of Sunscreen': Why Texture, Not SPF, Drove the Year's Formulas The biggest 2025 SPF trend isn't a new filter - it's formulas that feel like skincare, which is the single best predictor of whether you'll actually wear it. Read it →
- Skin cancer #GetNaked in Times Square: Inside the 2025 Melanoma Awareness Campaign 'Get naked' for your dermatologist - 2025's biggest melanoma campaign made the full-body skin check its rallying cry, and the science backs it. Read it →
- Trends 'Your Sunscreen Is Poison': Inside Primally Pure's 2025 Beef-Tallow SPF Backlash A wellness brand called your sunscreen poison to sell beef-fat SPF - here's what cosmetic scientists fired back, and what tallow can and can't do. Read it →
- Application Spray vs. Lotion in 2025: Is Spray Sunscreen Safe After the Benzene Recalls? After years of benzene headlines, here's why aerosols carried the highest detected levels - and how to pick and apply a spray that's actually safe. Read it →
- Global The US Allows ~16 UV Filters — and Only 7 Are Commonly Used Why does a Korean or French sunscreen feel so much nicer than its U.S. counterpart? It comes down to a remarkably short menu of legal filters. Read it →
- UV science The UVA Gap: Why 2025's New Filter Is About Aging, Not Just Burns SPF only measures sunburn protection — the real story behind 2025's filter news is UVA, the rays that age your skin and slip through many U.S. sunscreens. Read it →
- Formulation The SPF 'Booster' Debate: Is Butyloctyl Salicylate Padding the Numbers? Some sunscreens post eye-catching SPF lab numbers partly thanks to 'booster' additives — here's what butyloctyl salicylate is and why it's controversial. Read it →
- Reef-safe EWG vs. the Industry: How to Read 2025's Sunscreen Safety Scores Sunscreen 'safety scores' shape what shoppers buy — so it's worth knowing what EWG's 2025 ratings claim and why dermatology and industry groups disagree. Read it →
- Formulation EWG's 19th Sunscreen Guide: Only 1 in 5 Passed. Don't Panic. Headlines say only 20% of sunscreens 'made the cut' in EWG's 2025 guide — here's what that number really means for the bottle in your cabinet. Read it →
- Sensitive skin EWG 2025: 80% Fall Short, but 43 Made the Best-for-Kids List Most sunscreens on the shelf didn't make EWG's 2025 cut — here's how to read the kids' list and pick a gentle option for sensitive young skin. Read it →
- Trends Why K- and J-Beauty Sunscreens Own TikTok: The FDA Filter Gap Those weightless Korean and Japanese SPFs going viral aren't just better-marketed — they're built on filters the FDA still won't approve. Read it →
- Application Cloudy Day? Up to 80% of UV Still Gets Through Gray skies feel like a free pass to skip SPF — but most of the UV is still reaching your skin. Read it →
- Skin cancer Don't Tan for Vitamin D: What Dermatologists Actually Recommend The 'but I need the sun for vitamin D' argument is the most common reason people skip SPF — here's why dermatologists say there's a safer way. Read it →
- Formulation Does Sunscreen Expire? The FDA's 3-Year Rule, Explained That half-used bottle from last summer might still protect you — or might not. The FDA has a clear stability standard that settles the question. Read it →
- Skin cancer Melanoma Monday 2025: Why 1% of Skin Cancers Kill the Most Melanoma is a tiny slice of all skin cancers and by far the deadliest — here's the early-warning checklist worth memorizing this Melanoma Monday. Read it →
- UV science Mineral vs. Chemical Sunscreen: Both Mostly Absorb UV The 'physical reflects, chemical absorbs' line you've heard a hundred times is mostly wrong — and the data on so-called mineral products is even messier. Read it →
- Reef-safe Sun Bum Pays $300K and Drops Its 'Reef Friendly' Claim A beach-bag staple just agreed to stop calling its chemical sunscreens reef-safe — the first court judgment of its kind, and a warning about that label on your bottle. Read it →
- Kids & family EU Scientists Say Salicylic Acid Isn't Safe for Kids at Current Limits A new EU safety opinion adds up every product on your child's skin — and concludes today's salicylic acid limits don't leave enough margin for kids aged 3 to 10. Read it →
- Global The EU Just Banned 4-MBC: What It Means for Your Old Sunscreen A once-common UV filter quietly vanished from European shelves on 1 May 2025 — here's why, and how to spot it on a bottle you already own. Read it →
- Global EU Bans 4-MBC in 2025 — Korea Still Allows It. Why? Two trusted regulators looked at the same UV filter and reached opposite conclusions — here's why the EU pulled 4-MBC while Korea kept it. Read it →
- Makeup + SPF On Your Makeup, 'Broad Spectrum' Beats the SPF Number Your foundation's SPF number only tells half the story — 'broad spectrum' is the label term that decides whether it fights aging UVA at all. Read it →
- Sensitive skin On Accutane? Why Your Skin Burns Faster and How to Protect It Isotretinoin can leave your skin burning faster and more unexpectedly than you'd ever expect — here's how to stay protected through treatment. Read it →