[PSA] If chemical sunscreens make your face burn, you're likely sensitive to Avobenzone. You might find success with an Asian chemical sunscreen.

Beauty Tips For Body Care
I've seen this issue pop up in the daily help thread several times, so I thought I'd make a PSA post.Intolerance of (American) chemical sunscreen is a common problem. You get this horrible stinging/burning sensation around your eyes and cheeks. This leads a lot of people to forego sunscreen on their face altogether, or seek physical-only alternatives.First, a little background:There are 2 forms of UV radiation that most sunscreens protect us from: UVA and UVB. The SPF rating is a measure of UVB protection. In the US there is no regulated rating for UVA protection, though anything describing itself as "broad spectrum" will protect against UVA and UVB. UVA is actually very important to protect against: It's the type of radiation primarily responsible for tanning, aging, and skin cancer (while UVB is the primary cause of sunburn).There are only 2 FDA-approved UVA filters in the United States (and Canada too, I think): Avobenzone (a chemical filter) and Zinc Oxide (a physical filter). Unfortunately, some people with sensitive skin have a bad reaction to avobenzone, and it makes their face hurt, particularly around the eyes. Zinc oxide is a viable alternative, but as many of you know, it's not exactly cosmetically pleasing. The FDA is super weird about sunscreens, and for some reason won't allow new ones to be approved.Fortunately, in this glorious age of the internet, we can buy sunscreens from other countries where there are effective, well-studied UVA-filtering alternatives to Avobenzone and ZO. Moreover, other countries have UVA protection rating systems, similar to SPF, so you know how much UVA protection you're actually getting (whereas in the US it's a crap shoot). While I believe avobenzone is still used in some European sunscreens, it is never (as far as I can tell) used in Korean or Japanese sunscreens. Asian sunscreens also tend to be more cosmetically elegant, so they'll leave you less greasy, oily, and without a white cast. There are lots of popular products out there, many of which you can buy easily on Amazon.One thing to watch out for, however, for people with extra-sensitive skin is that many Asian sunscreens contain denatured alcohol, which is used to make the product look nicer on your skin. It's not dangerous, but it can be dehydrating. Fortunately there are plenty of alcohol-free alternatives (My favorite is called Skin Aqua Super Moisture Milk- it cost ~$10/bottle, including shipping).I struggled for years trying to find an all-physical sunscreen that wasn't horrible. Discovering that Asian sunscreens are literally so mild that I can directly rub them on my eyelid and it feels no different than water has been absolutely life-changing.TL;DR: If American chemical sunscreen makes your face hurt, give Asian sunscreens a try.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by marmosetohmarmoset