🌞 The Trust Issues Part 2:

PSA: This isn’t just another clean-beauty rant — we’re unpacking how #cleanwashing hijacks sunscreen labels, why it matters for your health and for our future generations, and how The Sunscreen List™ cuts through the SPF BS

Because babes, sunscreen should save your skin — not sell you spin.

Cleanwashing. The Cleanwashing Crisis:

Babe. Mamas, Bubs. Everyone who cares about what goes onto little bodies and your own... Let’s have it out: you can spend years blending organic smoothies and buying BPA-free bottles, but if you’re lathering chemical sunscreens all summer, you might be undoing all that hard work. ❤️💔❤️🩹

This is the scoop, bae: The latest SPF Working Sunscreens being marketed for their proven Sun Protection, but let me tell you babes, about...

🚫 The Chemicals You Didn’t Sign Up For:

• Oxybenzone, Octocrylene, Homosalate, Avobenzone → not just sitting on your skin, they get into your blood. Researchers are linking them to hormone disruption (ever feel like blaming your hormones? wellp…) and fertility concerns.
• PFAS / perfluoroalkyl substances (‘forever chemicals’) → slip through skin, stick around, and never break down. Global build-up is real, and seafood is re-introducing these chemicals back into our bodies. 
• Heavy metals → lead and cadmium have been detected in sunscreens — even ones marketed for kids. Low levels, yes, but there’s no safe dose for developing brains. This might be the scariest one of all.
  

👉 None of this is tightly regulated. None of it is trustworthy.

 
Image of SPF 50+ working sunscreen oozing out chemicals that can cause harm to us harm our children's' cognitive and physical development, and the reef, yet are still listed as safe by regulatory authorities. Image: ChatGPT

🪸☣️ From Greenwashing to Cleanwashing

First came the fake “reef-safe” labels. Now it’s “clean” and “dermatologist-approved” stickers with no real proof. Cleanwashing is the new greenwashing — when safety is branding, not substance.

Photo of swimmers and snorkellers on a reef. Photo, by Kelly.

 

The Rise of "Cleanwashing" in Sunscreen Marketing

When sunscreen tests flop, which is happening overseas now too, the headlines heat up and induce panic buying. And what happens next? The shelves fill with the same brands, just with shinier marketing. “Reef-safe,” “ultra-natural,” “extra-gentle” — the products may do these things - our concerns are the elements (toxins) that are not in the media release.

Call it what it is: Untrustworthy SPF claims.

Recent SPF tests are being conducted in Australia by independent companies after multiple reviews are finding lower SPF numbers than labels claim. 
Infographic of In Vivo sunscreen test explanation by  Lakmē Skin.

 

✊🏻⚡ The Revolution Underway

This isn’t just about one dodgy formula. It’s an anti-chemical revolution. The industry knows change is coming — and the ones who adapt will survive.

At The Sunscreen List™, we back the innovators rewriting the rules. No nasties. No excuses. Our SunSafe® certification means proof, not panic.

The Sunscreen List™ is more than a marketplace partner — it’s an education channel, proudly home to SunSafe®: the new certification for safer sun products.

Every sunscreen on The Sunscreen List™ goes through our independent SunSafe® process — six layers of testing across skin, sea, and science. If it’s on The List™, it’s the real deal.

The question now isn’t if they’ll react — it’s how fast. Because the next wave of sunscreen isn’t about SPF arms races, it’s about trust, transparency, and formulas families can actually believe in. And we’re here for it. 

 

☀️✅ See the tick, trust The List™ 

 

 

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Catch up o the start of the sunscreen scandal: 

The Trust Issues Part 1

Catch up on The Trust Issues PART 1 - The SPF Scandal and The Sunscreen List™ is certifying safe sunscreens with the SunSafe® tick.

 The Trust Issues Part 1a

Dive deeper into The Trust Issues - Part 1a - What Sunscreen Labels Don’t Tell You and what exectly are the sunscreen tests?

🔎 References You Can Trust

• PFAS skin absorption study — Birmingham University 2024

• Lead + heavy metals in sunscreens — Lead Safe Mama 2025

• UV filters in blood plasma — JAMA Clinical Trial

• TGA safety review on actives — TGA Report 2025