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Okay, so you are not doing alllllll that skincare just to waste your efforts getting sun aging, right? 

You are wearing sunscreen every day like the TikTok girls told you to. But are you wearing the right kind to prevent sun aging? 

Most U.S. sunscreen brands provide inadequate UVA protection, meaning that you might be doing everything right and still be risking early skin aging. It’s especially important if you’ve recently had any skin remodeling, or if you’re sensitive due to rosacea.

This post will review how to protect your skin from solar aging, the best UVA sunscreens, and international UVA sunscreen options.

What is UVA? Why do I need a certain sunscreen?

Pretty much anyone who regularly wears sunscreen is going to be familiar with SPF. It stands for sun protection factor, and it basically shows how much protection a given sunscreen offers. The number stands for how many times longer you can stay in the sun without burning compared to your regular skin without sunscreen. 

(Of course this is different for all of us! I have pretty fair skin and my skin begins to react to the sun within ten minutes. People with deeper skin tones will be able to be out much longer. Of course, we should all be wearing SPF anyway, even if we don’t burn or tan.) 

So SPF is a general measure of the protection against ultraviolet radiation — UV rays. But SPF rating isn’t the whole story. We also need to break those rays down into UVA rays and UVB rays. This won’t get science-y, I promise! 

UVA rays contribute to skin aging, skin sagging, and risk of melanoma, a skin cancer. Some research indicates that UVA radiation also suppresses the immune system. UVA rays are fairly consistent year round, and they can go through windows.

UVB rays lead to skin burning and causes DNA mutations that can lead to skin cancers. UVB rays are much stronger during the summer. They mostly don’t go through glass. 

The UV filters used in sunscreens in the United States overwhelmingly address UVB radiation without paying much attention to UVA. (This is not the case in other countries!) So if you’re using sunscreen daily, being responsible, never getting a sunburn, and not too happy with your anti-aging results…lack of UVA protection may be why. 

Why do other countries have UVA protection and the US does not? 

Politics! 

This is the super short version, but you can read more about our national sunscreen woes here. Pretty much, the US Food and Drug Administration has failed to approve many of the ingredients that are considered to offer the best protection against UVA rays. The EU has eight good sunscreen ingredients to choose from, but the US has only approved three of those, and not the best three that offer the most protection. 

Here’s another crazy part — the US FDA has proposed a system of rating sunscreens between one and four stars in how much sun protection they give against both UVA and UVB radiation. But no one can comply with it, because they don’t have access to the ingredients that would be required to achieve it! 

The last proposal was submitted to the FDA in 2007, which was (checks watch) seventeen years ago. So, here in the states, we’re stuck with fairly limited sunscreen products that are going to have meaningful UVA filters. A lot of what is sold to us as “broad spectrum” isn’t as good as we might hope. The FDA rules for this regulation specify a ratio of UVA protection to UVB protection rather than a minimum effectiveness for UVA! So, broad spectrum sunscreen is a good place to start, but not a perfect answer. 

Best UVA Physical Sunscreens

So, physical sunscreens (also called “mineral sunscreens”) are one of the best and easiest ways to ensure you’re getting one of the best sunscreens for UVA rays. They’re called “physical sunscreens” because the particles physically sit on your skin and prevent the sun from reaching it. 

Okay, I know you’re picturing your friend’s dad with the glob of white cream on his nose. They’re not like that anymore, I promise! 

The two key ingredients for physical sunscreen are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. The benefit of these products is that they offer better protection against UV radiation, and they fully protect against UVA rays. If you are shopping for a product sold in the US, this is the best protection you can get.

(If you’re willing to shop international, you got options. But we’ll get back to that.) 

So here’s the tradeoff with physical sunscreens: most leave a white cast on your face. They are the absolute best protection you can get, but that’s the tradeoff. If you want a cheap physical sunscreen, you’re going to end up with a cast. You can cover it with makeup! But that’s not everyone’s choice. 

Physical sunscreen options

If you are looking for an inexpensive option and you don’t mind a cast because you’re going to put makeup on, this sunscreen will give you excellent protection against UVA rays. I have purchased this one before (I am generally a CeraVe superfan) but won’t re-buy. Even on my fair, cool-toned skin, this cast was there. But I know that when cost is a consideration, sometimes you have to buy what you can afford and make it work.

This La Roche Posay option is a bit more expensive but has a tint to it to address the white cast. The reviews are quite clear that lighter skinned people are happy with the tint and darker skinned people are not. So this is not a universal tint that is going to work for everyone, but it’s a mid-priced option for the people it’s going to work for. 

And then the Ilia skin tint that is so popular is actually also zinc oxide-based! So that’s an option that offers many options at different skin colors and undertones. (Soft summer girls who found this blog through my soft summer posts will be pleased to know that every shade is offered in a cool undertone!) If Amazon is out of your color, you can also get it on the Ilia website, but it costs more. This line is going to offer the same challenges as any foundation would as far as picking your best color. However — it’s inclusive, and there’s going to be a shade that works for everybody. I was skeptical that a skin tint can offer the kind of coverage you would need for UV protection, but the reviews are glowing. 

Best Chemical UVA Sunscreens 

In the US, chemical sunscreens are simply not going to offer as much UV protection as mineral sunscreens are. The active ingredients available to us in the US at the time of my writing this just aren’t going to filter the UV light that causes skin aging as well. And even chemical options billed as “broad-spectrum sunscreen” aren’t doing the same level of UVA protection that Korean and European sunscreens are. The best UVA sunscreen options just…aren’t that good.

But some people prefer chemical sunscreens, and at the end of the day the best sunscreen is the one that you’re actually going to wear. So if chemical-based sunscreens work better in getting your skin protected, let’s look at the broad-spectrum protection available to you!

Supergoop is extremely well known for its sunscreen, and it’s an option that is going to leave you no cast at all. I’ve linked the Play sunscreen here, which is popular, water resistant, and sold in an enormous cost-effective vat. The brand makes many other options — I like the Supergoop Glow specifically, and they also make a mineral option. (The mineral option has a significant cast too.)  This sunscreen has moderate UVA protection despite its PA rating.  The size, the lack of cast, and the water resistance are all selling points, and even though the UVA is not as good as it might be, it’s still better than many other U.S sunscreens. 

This is my standard go-to sunscreen when I have to buy in the States — I prefer a higher SPF number because my personal risk of skin cancer is so high. (It runs in my family!) This sunscreen is specifically designed to prevent premature aging, so I do think it’s one of the better products on the market here. But I couldn’t find a number for the UVA protection factor, and obviously because of the limits to the ingredients available to us, there’s a limit to how good this product can be. 

However: I keep buying it because I don’t notice a significant cast (it does take 1-2 minutes to soak in) and because I like the way it minimizes my skin’s texture. To me, this is one of the better sunscreen options available, and because it is inexpensive I don’t mind reapplying it every 2 hours. 

Best International UVA Sunscreens

BUT the beauty of the internet age is that even if you’re not traveling, you aren’t stuck with the US sunscreens! We have Amazon, and we have Soko Glam! 

I do think it’s important that you know that not all of these ingredients are approved for sale in the US and these same formulations could not be sold by U.S. companies. If that gives you pause, these may not be the best options for you. 

However…the European Union generally has much stricter safety regulations than we do here, and they’re permitting the sale of these ingredients. It’s not clear to me what the holdup is in making a decision on these ingredients, but the U.S Food and Drug Administration has not said that these ingredients are unsafe in some way. They just haven’t approved them for sale. 

So, with that said, let’s look at some options.

Korea is known for sunscreen products that are just a pleasure to use. My knowledge about these products is not complete at all (for that, try r/AsianBeauty) but I can definitely recommend the Etude Sunprise Mild Airy Finish.

This is a lovely sunscreen. It’s so liquid that it feels like it shouldn’t work at all (or at least I feel that way because I’m so used to a sunscreen needing to feel like cake frosting in order to be effective. It feels like it shouldn’t be able to have the SPF value it has. It leaves a really pretty satin finish on the skin. I experience no cast with this sunscreen at all, but a few reviewers do describe a cast. 

When you’re buying international sunscreens on Amazon, CHECK THE SELLER. The link I put in above is directly from Etude, so it’s a perfectly fine product, but the sunscreen I’m about to link below is being sold on Amazon by sketchy stores, indicating a probably fake product. 

(I can’t believe people sell fake sunscreen, but there you go.)

French sunscreens are also known for their excellent UVA coverage. I won’t link this one on Amazon because I couldn’t find a version I was confident was authentic. But, you can get the Bariesun sunscreen from the linked website and also in stores. It contains Tinosorb S, considered to be one of the best sunscreen filters and not approved in the US. My brother travels to Paris annually for a work conference and kindly picks me up a couple tubes, and it is an absolutely terrific product. (I will never understand why La Roche Posay gets so much attention and this one does not!) 

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You look more rested already…