Throughout May, the Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Perfumeries Association (CTPA) is marking its annual Sun Protection Campaign which spotlights ‘accurate information and advice on sun protection products and sun-safe behaviour’
According to research carried out by the CTPA, 88% of UK adults think suncream is important for the health of their and their family’s skin in providing protection from the sun.
However, a recent customer survey of LOOKFANTASTIC customers showed that 35% of respondents actually knew what SPF figures really mean and 3 in 4 admit that they neglect to address sun damage.
To aid increased awareness of the importance of sun safety, the organisation is focusing its efforts on promoting its ‘How Sunscreens Work’ digital resource. The directory covers topics including:
- the different protection levels and how to understand your product’s label,
- the critical difference between sun protection products and skincare/make-up products containing SPF,
- how to protect children from the sun,
- how sunscreens are developed and tested.
On the relaunch of its campaign, Dr Emma Meredith OBE, Director-General of CTPA says: ‘The cosmetics industry is committed to educating its consumers on how to best use sunscreen and, in particular, how to protect children from the sun. CTPA is proud to contribute to public health communications with its annual sun protection campaign.
‘As an industry, we are also driven by science and improving industry practices. The two new internationally approved and validated test methods for determining SPF (Sun Protection Factor) are examples of this innovation, ensuring that consumers can continue to have confidence in the efficacy of their sun protection products.’
The testing innovations Meredith mentions have both been published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), they are:
- In vitro – this method enables the testing of SPFs without human volunteers.
- Hybrid – this ‘this provides a non-invasive optical assessment of the protection provided by sunscreen on human skin, without requiring a physiological skin response’.
This change came after several decades of using the in vivo testing method which was regarded as the benchmark for measuring the SPF of a sunscreen product. It involves applying the sunscreen to the skin of volunteers, then exposing them to an artificial UV source to observe the onset of skin redness.
