
How eco-friendly is your sun protection?
As global temperatures continue to rise, skin cancer awareness continues to grow. The knowledge which beauty experts share by shining a light on the sun’s role in ageing, protecting our skin from those harmful rays has never been so important. Consumers are warming up to that need, too. Although sales may have slumped when the coronavirus pandemic halted everyone’s travel plans, the sunscreen market is expected to grow by 7% CAGR over the next decade. The ‘wear sunscreen’ meme has finally been absorbed. But while we’re wising up to the need for a daily SPF, how much does the average person know about the ingredients they’re applying and how eco-friendly is your sun protection? Up to 14,000 tonnes of sunscreen are shed into the world’s oceans every year, where common chemicals like oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene can all pose a serious threat to aquatic life. Oxybenzone in particular has been shown to stunt the growth of juvenile coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching and less resilient against the impact of climate change. Concern is so strong that earlier this year, the Pacific nation of Palau became the first country to ban sunscreens containing reef-toxic ingredients. Hawaii will follow suit with a similar ban in 2021. And even if we’re...