Sunscreens For People Who Hate Sunscreen: City Edition

When it’s unbearably hot and humid (“air you can wear” as it’s known in the American south) the last thing you want to do is apply sunscreen to a damp and sticky face.

But apply sunscreen you must, both as protection against cellular damage that can mutate into skin cancer and for vanity’s sake, to keep your skin from mottling and wrinkling up like an old leather shoe. Sunscreen is so powerful it can even reverse the passage of time because (louder for the people in the back) wearing sunscreen allows your skin to heal from any prior damage instead of just compounding it. This from a 2016 study in the Journal for Dermatalogical Surgery.

And If you are truly sunscreen averse, especially during these dog days of summer, the three ‘best of breed’ lotions (pictured above, top to bottom) deliver on lightness with protection.

Garnier Ombrelle Ultra Light Advanced SPF 60 face lotion, $18.99, Shoppers Drug Mart, is a high SPF, broad spectrum screen (i.e. it protects against both UVA’s aging and UVB’s burning rays) that is so pleasingly lightweight, you will actually use it. And the non-sticky lotion absorbs into skin immediately so it’s perfect under makeup.

Because Shiseido Oil Free Urban Environment Oil Free sunscreen SPF 42 $45, Sephora.com, is oil-free, it’s perfect for those brutal days when your skin is unpleasantly slick. It plays the clever trick of actually hydrating your poor depleted skin while leaving a soft suède-like finish, so you can look fresh while everyone around you is melting.

Burt’s Bees SPF 30, Gentle Day Lotion, $29.99, Well.ca, is perfect for anyone whose skin reacts to temperature extremes by immediately going scarlet. This mineral, paraben-free lotion is gentle gentle gentle, and restores your moisture barrier and calms redness while protecting skin against UVA and UVB damage.

Sport Sunscreens For People Who Hate Sunscreen

Is this a trend? I have friends who use mineral sunscreen on their faces and chemical protection on their bodies. It’s like the sunscreen version of being mostly vegetarian but still enjoying a barbequed hamburger in the summer.

I have no horse in this race as I am an equal opportunity sunscreen user and will go to any lengths to protect my skin from UV rays. Chemical screens are, admittedly, much easier to wash off. The tenacity of mineral sunscreen is something to behold. I use a gentle exfoliating cleanser, like Tatcha’s Rice Polish, $84, Sephora, to remove it.

This sunscreen duo, above, is a perfect summer pairing for full-on protection when you’re out being active. Vichy Idéal Soleil SPF 60 Sport sunscreen, $29.95, Shoppers Drug Mart, is sweat and water resistant for 80 minutes and the light lotion formulation absorbs virtually instantly when applied (it feels like sorcery. No lie.) It leaves a faintly satin finish on your skin which is the polar opposite of those 1980s tanning oils that sat on your skin like you’d been dunked in a deep fryer. If you basted yourself with Hawaiian Tropic or Bain de Soleil during regrettable backyard teen tanning sessions you know what I mean.

I handed the Blue Lizard Sheer Lotion Face SPF 50 Mineral sunscreen, $22, Shoppers Drug Mart, off to a friend for her to test out on the water. She swims in Lake Ontario year round (impressive, right?) and wants a high SPF face sunscreen because her olive skin freckles quite easily, so anything under 50 SPF is a no-go. Blue Lizard, from Australia, home of the world’s most discerning sunscreen consumers, is also water-resistant for 80 minutes and while it “goes on white, it does sink in after about a minute” and most importantly “doesn’t migrate into eyes” which is critically important when you are in the water or sweating on a bike or tennis court.

These two are perfect for a day on the water (Lake of Bays, Ontario.)

Skincare with Sunscreen Included For Those Days When You Just Can’t

Maybe it’s the incessant heat that can grind you down or just the tyranny of having to take care of yourself like a grown-up, but there are some mornings when even after two large coffees, the thought of applying skincare and then sunscreen is just all together too much. For those times, hybrid skincare-slash-sunscreen gets it done in one step: not only protecting skin against the sun’s damaging rays, but helping it heal pre-existing damage. It’s multi-tasking for the lazily inclined.

The trio above protect skin from UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays, absorb quickly and contain premium skin-building ingredients. And with added skincare ingredients, you might feel more inclined to reapply your sunscreen during the day knowing you’re getting a vitamin or antioxidant boost along with sun protection.

Clockwise from upper left: Vichy LiftActiv Collagen Specialist Daily Anti-Aging Moisturizer spf 30, $61.95, Shoppers Drug Mart, protects with broad spectrum SPF 30 while providing serious skincare with vitamin C to boost radiance and peptide to build collagen and elastin, all in a light, ‘cosmetically elegant’ (I love that expression) lotion formula.

Garnier Green Labs Pinea C Brightening Serum Cream spf 30, $23.99, Shoppers Drug Mart, ticks all the good-for-you boxes. It provides the skin brightening of a vitamin C serum (get a start on reversing any summer sun damage) and a broad spectrum 30 spf sunscreen all in a soothing cream. Oh, and it comes in a 100% recycled plastic bottle.

Prevage City Smart Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 50 $88, Shoppers Drug Mart, is perfect when you really need a bit of skin-tone evening and a light tint. This gold medal winner (well, in my mind it should have won some award) contains antioxidants to prevent free radical damage and perk up dull skin, and anti-inflammatories to sooth and repair. And its soft tint counteracts whiteness from the mineral formula while subtly evening out skin tone.

Olay Regenerist Mineral SPF is Your Holy Grail Non-Whitening Sunscreen

Olay Regenerist Mineral SPF is Your Holy Grail Non-Whitening Sunscreen

There’s nothing like trying to run out the door, but being stuck in front of the mirror, rubbing in mineral sunscreen. The “hey, I’m a mime!’ white cast it leaves is annoying on pale faces and completely untenable on darker skin.

We put up with the whitish finish and load up on bronzer and blush to look less corpse-like because mineral has its benefits over chemical sunscreen (it’s instantly protective the second you apply it - no 20 minute wait, and if you have sensitive skin, it’s less likely to sting.)

But Olay Regenerist Mineral SPF 30 sunscreen (Shoppers Drug Mart, $44.99) is a non-whitening revelation. It’s a light lotion containing micronized zinc oxide that rubs in quickly, so you couldn’t sport Elle Macpherson’s striped 80s ‘zinc nose’, even if you tried.

But like a late-night tv ad that says ‘wait, there’s more!’ Olay Regenerist Mineral SPF 30 has added benefits. Because it was created by the obsessives at P&G (I am a longtime fan of their next-level attention to detail) not only does it go on easily to protect your skin from damaging UV rays, but it’s a twofer that also tackles existing damage with powerful skin-building peptides to stimulate collagen production and Vitamin B3 to smooth texture and minimize large pores.

Which means you don’t have to apply your skincare and then your sunscreen, because your healing skincare ingredients are in your sunscreen. Saves time, saves money and you aren’t piling on layers of product.

A+.

Neutrogena Sunscreen Mist Makes It Easy To Stay Protected

Keep this by your side for the remainder of the summer

Of course you’re diligent with sunscreen in the morning, after you shower. That’s the easy part. It’s when the sun is at its highest and it’s time for your lunchtime sunscreen re-up when it all falls apart. Who wants to get their hands all sticky adding a layer of goo to an already heat-dampened face?

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face Sunscreen is a fine mist, so it’s easy to apply as your critical midday top-up, no face-touching required. Reapplying sunscreen throughout the day will protect you from dark spots and expensive IPL (intense pulsed laser) spot-removing treatments down the road, so why wouldn’t you?

At 100 mls, it can go in your carry-on (I’m not, but some of us are flying) and it’s small enough to slide into your straw summer tote. And arguably not that important, but very important to me, the delicate fragrance is nicely ‘chi-chi beach club with white chaise longues’, so you get an olfactory reward for using your sunscreen.

Mineral Sunscreens That Won’t Leave You Ghostly White

Did you correctly identify the vintage sunlamp tanning goggles?

I’ve always felt faintly uneasy advocating for expensive sun care, because for sunscreen to work you need to apply it liberally and often. But we tend to be somewhat miserly with expensive creams unless we are JLo, who made her rep as a beauty product libertine who coats herself head-to-toe in Crème de La Mer.

Nowadays, mineral sunscreens are increasingly the first choice of people who don’t want, or react poorly to chemical screens (they can sting sensitive faces) or prefer a cream that does its work at the skin’s surface, bouncing the UV rays off like a disco ball (chemical sunscreens absorb the harmful rays and convert them to harmless heat.) But some mineral screens come loaded with good intentions, but not necessarily the nicest formulas, so they sit thickly on skin, all whitish and heavy.

If you want a highly effective, broad spectrum mineral sunscreen that disappears into skin with no white cast, after only the most cursory rubbing, Alumier MD Clear Shield Broad Spectrum SPF 42 ($48), Dermalogica Invisible Physical Defense SPF 30 ($77) and REN Clean Screen Mineral SPF 30 ($48) might cost a bit more, but they will make you disproportionately happy.