Summers are around the corner and in this season the one cream that should be your part of your daily cosmetic kit is a sunscreen.

Sun is the source of energy on this planet. However, prolonged exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun may lead to sunburn, tanning, premature ageing and in some cases even skin cancer.

So applying sunscreen on a daily basis becomes extremely important. 

However, it is shocking that most sunscreens in the market are full of toxic chemicals like oxybenzone, parabens, Mineral oils, BHT and many others which not only harms the skin but also completely block the absorption of the Vitamin D in the body of which Sun is the major source.

So what choice do we have?

Obviously we want to protect ourselves from the harmful radiations of the sun, but at the same time, we don’t want a toxic sunscreen to damage our skin.

So which sunscreen should you put your hands on this summer? let us find out.

In search of the best sunscreen in the market, I picked up almost 15 sunscreens. Some from the supermarket while others online.

I thoroughly examined the ingredients of each of them and was disheartened to find that the sunscreens which are being used by the maximum Indians are the most damaging.

I do use a toxic sunscreen which I changed during the research of this article.

Sunscreens Categories based on the number of toxic Chemicals Present 

After an in-depth analysis, I have sorted out all these sunscreens into three categories on the basis of the number of toxic chemicals in them.

VLCC, Lakme, Joy, Lotus, Garnier, Nivea & Vaseline

Let us start with Category No.1 which includes sunscreens by VLCC, Lakme, Joy, Lotus, Garnier, Nivea and Vaseline.

These sunscreen creams have around 8 to 10 toxic chemicals present in them. Many of these chemicals have been known to interfere with the Thyroid gland.

Some of these chemicals also have the capacity to cross the skin and get into other tissues in the body.

Basically these sunscreens are the worst in the market.

This Amway’s Attitude sunscreen has 12 toxic chemicals in it. Making it the worst sunscreens available in the Indian market.

If you have been using any of these sunscreens please consider changing it. 

These sunscreen creams do not deserve your hard-earned money as they have many toxic chemicals, cosmetic colours, strong fragrances and harmful preservatives.

Biotique & Patanjali

Coming to category number 2 which includes sunscreen by Biotique and Patanjali.

These sunscreens claimed to be non-cosmetic, and ayurvedic but it does not mention the complete list of the ingredients.

Biotique in their bio sandalwood sunscreen has mentioned only 30% of its ingredients. However, the rest 70% of the Botanical extracts are missing on the bottle.

Patanjali’s sunscreens are even worse. 

The percentage of ayurvedic herbs in their sunscreens is less than 5%. Rest is covered under base materials which are made from Urea, Synthetic colours and Fragrances.

Surely it doesn’t qualify as ayurvedic proprietary medicine.

Since these sunscreens do not mention clearly what exactly they’re made of, not much can be said about them.

Even if you try contacting these brands as I did, they will not give you any satisfactory response.

So all these sunscreens that we have seen can cause more harm than any good irrespective of their SPF number. 

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SPF (or the Sun Protection Factor) is a measure of how well a sunscreen will protect your skin from the UVB rays. The kind of radiation that damages the skin.

In simple words, if you’re skin would normally burn after 10 minutes in the sun, applying an SPF 15 sunscreen will roughly allow you to stay in the sun without burning for 150 minutes.

But that doesn’t mean that the highest SPF sunscreen is always the best choice.

Firstly because the amount of UVB protection from SPF 50 to SPF 100 is not significantly higher.

Another major factor is a person’s skin tone. Although it is true that darker people are less likely to acquire damage to the skin due to the high amount of Melanin.

However, everyone should wear a skin screen irrespective of their skin colour.

But the question again arises, which sunscreen?

Is there any sunscreen available in the Indian market which is free from toxins, which will genuinely protect us from the harmful radiations of the sun?

Yes, thankfully there are quite a few options which fall into category no. 3

Aroma magic, LASS Naturals & Greenberry Organics

Sunscreens by Aroma Magic, LASS naturals and Greenberry Organics Sunscreens are all free from toxic chemicals. 

Not many of us would have heard about these brands but the sunscreens made by them are truly amazing.

Aroma Magic’s SPF-30 sunblock lotion is 100% free of Oxybenzone, Parabens, Alcohols, Artificial fragrances or any other harsh chemicals. It is cheap and best sunscreen suitable for all skin types.

Lass Naturals SPF-30 skin whitening lotion is another budget-friendly option which has no harmful ingredients.

Finally Greenberry Organics Bioactive bright day cream is a perfect blend of ayurvedic herbs and modern-day cosmetics. 

Their sunscreen is free of any toxic chemicals more over the ingredients used are certified organics.

So we have seen that the sunscreens by these brands are nothing to hide as they have mentioned the complete list of ingredients 

These sunscreens are safe and natural in its true sense.

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Also, I want to confirm that whatever I’ve written in this article is not sponsored.

No brand has paid me, Not for the products, not even a single penny. Whatever I’ve spoken above is my personal and honest opinion.

If I missed any sunscreen which you have been using, I would suggest you please compare it with this below list and you would know where it stands.

I hope you find this article helpful, if yes then let me know in the comment section below.