What’s Really in Your Sunscreen

The Narrative We Have Been Sold

For years, sunscreen safety has been reduced to two ingredients: oxybenzone and octinoxate. If a formula does not contain them, it is often positioned as a better, safer choice.

That narrative is convenient. Far from the truth, but convenient. 

It creates the appearance of progress without requiring meaningful change. It allows brands to market “reef safe” claims while continuing to rely on a broader group of chemical UV filters that are still in there. They just do not want to talk about the dirty little secret of greenwashing.

They want you to believe the  false marketing. The clean language. The social media hype.

Not the facts!   No transparency!

Hide chemicals under “inactives.”  Use pretty imagery.  Use AI.  Troll your feeds and pull you in with feel good messaging that distracts you from actually reading the label or asking the right questions.

Sound familiar?

Because the truth is, those two ingredients are only part of a much larger story.

The Chemicals Still Hiding in Plain Sight

Even in products marketed as clean or reef safe, it is common to find chemical UV filters such as:

Avobenzone
Octocrylene
Homosalate
Octisalate

They are listed right there on the labels.  Widely used. And largely unquestioned.

Not  ust because they have been fully understood by consumers, but because they have been normalized by the industry.

And I have seen it firsthand.

Over the past seven weeks, I went deep. I looked, doom scrolled and went down the rabbit hole  looking at sunscreen after sunscreen  posts and ads across social media. I read the labels. I checked the ingredients.

I found 28 sunscreens claiming to be “reef safe.”

TWENTY EIGHT!!!!

And all of them were still using chemical filters. They just removed one or two of the most talked about ingredients and built their entire marketing around that.

Or even better, they use the word “zinc.”

Not Non-Nano Zinc. Just Zinc. Zinc is a toxic ingredient.  Non-nano Zinc is the reef and skin safe benchmark. 

Now the why? Because they know most consumers will not question it. You are not expected to understand the difference. You are not expected to ask. You are expected to trust.

So I pushed back.

I commented. I asked questions. I asked for transparency.

Some responses were telling. Some avoided the question entirely. And one of my comments was removed  from Instagram crawlers direclty with a note  that my comment was removed by Instagram for being for calling out a brand directly.

That alone should tell you something.

What These Ingredients Actually Do

Most consumers are never told how these ingredients actually function.Chemical sunscreens are designed to be absorbed into the skin, where they convert UV radiation into heat.

That process happens inside your skin.  Not on the surface.

Studies have shown that certain chemical filters can be detected in the bloodstream after application, raising ongoing concerns about long term exposure.

At the same time, these ingredients do not just disappear. They wash off into the ocean, where they accumulate in marine ecosystems.

This is not about fear.  It is about understanding what is actually happening.

What You Are Not Being Told

There is a bigger conversation that rarely makes it to the front label:

Some chemical filters break down quickly in sunlight and require additional stabilizers
Some have been studied for potential hormone related effects
Some can trigger irritation, especially for sensitive or acne prone skin
Many do not break down easily in the environment once released

None of that is what you see in the marketing.

Why the Industry Still Uses Them

If there are concerns, why are these ingredients still everywhere?

Because they are easy. They blend seamlessly into the skin.  Lower cost. Easier to scale, etc.  and for a long time, that was enough.

But consumers are starting to ask better questions and the answers are no longer lining up with the marketing.

The Alternative That Requires Less Compromise

Mineral sunscreen works differently. Ingredients like non nano zinc oxide sit on the surface of the skin and reflect UV radiation.  They are stable. They do not require the same level of chemical complexity. And they do not rely on absorption into the body to do their job.

It is a simpler system.  And that simplicity matters. 

What to Look For

If you actually want to know what you are putting on your skin, start here:

• Look for non nano zinc oxide as the active ingredient
• Avoid formulas built on multiple chemical UV filters
• Do not rely on front label claims alone
• Read the back of the bottle
• Ask questions

Because sunscreen should not require compromise.

And the first step to protecting your skin is knowing exactly what you are putting on it.

Sun Resposnibly,

Sarah Miller, CEO & Founder, EthoSun