TIL: aerosolized sunblock makes VOC sensors go absolutely bonkers. I put sunblock on to go on the roof and hose off the panels (because its been raining ash?!) and just now noticed that it made the awair voc sensors spike. I guess its probably the propellant?
@Viss best sunblock you can buy has to be imported from EU (illegally), that's what I use for my tattoos. You want the stuff with Tinosorb (there are some variations on this as it has improved over the years, but this stuff turns you into a UV mirror 😊). Go on eBay and you'll find people selling it, look for Avene SPF 50
@h2onolan@Viss that's interesting, tattoos work by your immune system going nuts and pulling the ink into subdermal layers. I wonder if that is related to somehow changing the skin to prevent the factors that cause psoriasis?
@Viss a weird thing i recently learned talking to a person affected by pretty severe psoriasis, they had bad rashes everywhere except where they were tattooed
@Viss that's nothing special, has Avobenzone which is fairly typical
The FDA has been sitting on approving Tinosorb for over 20 years. It's reef safe, unclear why they don't allow it. This stuff is magical and reflects all the UV off your skin. (You could sit next to someone and cause them to burn from the reflected UV, lol)
The previous best option was Doc Martins of Maui, but they had to pull theirs off the market when it was discovered it also affects the reefs. It's been like 5 years and they still don't have a replacement available yet 😭
@feld@h2onolan ive noticed that when i have any kind of even light allergic reaction to stuff, the thick black lines on some of my tattoos get raised and puffy. like if i get a mosquito bite near one or if something in a bottle of contiditoner (this is recent) just doesnt agree with my skin or something. its weird, like a physical indicator my body is annoyed with something
@Viss My understanding is that the PA system is for indicating it can deal with UVA as most sunblocks have only dealt with UVB.
Based on those Supergoop ingredients it's using Homosalate at 5% concentration to get the PA+++ rating and the table in the link below it would be like SPF2 (yes, two) and start losing effect after 45 minutes.
That's pretty terrible if you think about it. It's better than nothing but it's not helping very much with UVA. Blocking UVA seems to be a difficult problem.
Supergoop's only UVB blocking is the Homosalate 9%. Homosalate only covers smaller range of UVB with the best protection at 306nm. That's low, and we know it's not photostable and begins losing efficacy after 45 mins.
Products with Tinosorb are significantly more effective.
Look at the attached graph: HMS is Homosalate. It's the worst product on the market for UVB.