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The Difference Between Cheap And Expensive Sunscreens
If you’ve ever stood in the sunscreen aisle and felt completely overwhelmed, you already know how hard it can be to choose the right product for your skin. Considering that we’re supposed to be diligent about wearing sunscreen daily, it’s a product we should go through quickly ― and that makes it daunting to regularly spend a significant amount of money on it. But do more affordable options protect us the same way expensive ones do?
“I would say the most important things to look at in sunscreen are the actual active ingredients,” dermatologist Elliot Weiss of Laser and Skin Surgery Center in New York told HuffPost.
To learn how to understand sunscreen labels, we spoke with Weiss and other dermatologists, who compared and contrasted two similar face sunscreens at two very different price points: one that cost $95, the other $22.
The more expensive sunscreen the dermatologists examined is La Mer’s Broad Spectrum SPF 50 UV Protecting Fluid, which comes in a 1.7 ounce bottle. The less expensive alternative is the ever-popular Supergoop Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50, which much less for more product (2.4 ounces).
Both are SPF 50, intended for daily use on the face or body, and are relatively similar in size.
Surely, the $95 luxury SPF must be higher quality, right? We’ll find that out below.
Why would one sunscreen cost so much more?
When reviewing the Supergoop and La Mer sunscreens, dermatologist Nikhil Dhingra of Spring Street Dermatology saw no significant differences in active ingredients.
“There is nothing that stands out in either of these products, except that the Supergoop comes in at a much more reasonable price point. On the flip side, the Supergoop is laden with pore-clogging oils, which are a big no from me, particularly for acne-prone skin,” Dhingra said. “The La Mer, too, has clogging oils in addition to masking fragrance to impart upon it a luxurious smell, which can irritate and cause allergic reactions to...
