Cellnique Paramedicals Derma Whitening Daytime Protection {Product Review}

Price: 57$ (Rs 3000 around) for 30ml

Ingredients

Pros

- its a mineral sunscreen as well

- spreads easily and is not too creamy

Cons

- it leaves a lot of white cast!!!

- pretty expensive!! 

- the pump didn't work for me :( 

My Experience

I am always on the look out for Zinc Oxide based sunscreens. So, this one caught my eye. I liked the packaging with the pump for the squeeze tube but, unfortunately, the pump didn't work for me. I had to screw open the pump and squeeze out the sunscreen. 

The sunscreen is white in color and light in texture but enough creamy but again, not too creamy. And, depending on various days, I needed extra moisturizing sometimes and sometimes not. The light texture of the product allows it to spread easily and evenly on the skin.

But, there is a huge hitch in this. Since it has both Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide (I don't know the ratios), the product leaves a lot of white cast on the skin which is very annoying. I have tried using the product on my arms as well and same issue there. 

And, it is definitely expensive for 30 ml of a product which would probably last two months!!! It needs to be reapplied because its a combination of mineral and chemical sunscreen. I wish they do something regarding the white cast. Also, I didn't see any whitening or lightening of my skin tone.

PS: Product sent by brand.

Do sunscreens prevent tanning? {Reader's Query}

Sunscreens are essentially made to prevent the sun's rays to harm your skin and trigger skin cancer. But, depending on the strength of the sunscreen, it might have tanning prevention abilities. 

Physical Sunscreens

Predominantly used physical sunscreen agent, Zinc Oxide, is a broad spectrum sunscreen which protects skin from both UVA and UVB rays (both types). Generally, it helps a lot in preventing tanning. But, there is a loop hole here. The abilities of the sunscreen depends on the strength of its protection. For example, if you are using a spf 15 sunscreen, it filters out 92% (rounded figure) of the sun's rays and still allows 8% to go through. Those 8% of the sun's rays can still harm the skin. 

Similarly, when talking about Titanium Dioxide, it filters out all UVB rays but only half of UVA rays which reduces the strength of the sunscreen considerably. In spf 15, 8% of rays are still passing through to the skin and also, UVA rays are separately affecting your skin because the sunscreen can't block them. Also, Titanium Dioxide is responsible for generating free radicals in the body unless it is coated.

Chemical Sunscreens

The major issue with chemical sunscreen is the stability factor. The chemical ingredients breakdown on exposure to sunlight. Yes, that's a contradiction to the function of the product. That's the main reason why a sunscreen has to be reapplied after every two hours. Also, they have a tendency to generate free radicals in the body which can also trigger cancerous reaction within the body.

Also, let me say here that the "Helioplex" of Neutrogena is a stabilising formula (read this post for more details) to prevent the breakdown of the chemical sunscreen ingredients which makes its sunscreens effective on a longer length of time. But, again the strength of sunscreen decides the amount of rays passing through to the skin and they can cause tanning. 

Also, a sunscreen which doesn't have PA ratings gives no protection against UVA rays so still your skin is vulnerable to tanning and aging. PA ratings gives protection against the UVA rays and spf gives the protection strength against the UVB rays so a sunscreen needs to have both these factors mentioned for it to be a broad-spectrum sunscreen.

Recommended Sunscreens:

MVO Moisturizing Face Screen
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock

Related Posts:

Do layers of sunscreens help? 

Sunscreen and Myths 

Dark and Dull Skin in summers 

Zinc Oxide vs Titanium Dioxide

Is my sunscreen working?

Surfaces and Radiations

What are UV Radiations?

What Sunscreen should I buy?

Sunscreen Ingredients

Use sunscreen 365 days a year

How much sunscreen do you apply?

Sunscreen: Role in anti-aging Skin Care

PS: Just checked out that Hermes stores are there in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. Btw, any one has idea if there is a Hermes counter / Store in the Dubai airport, those duty free ones???

Zinc Oxide vs Titanium Dioxide {Sunscreen}

[Source:holistickid.com]

So, we talked about physical and chemical sunscreens in this post. I explained that I do not prefer chemical sunscreens because they produce free radicals in the body. So, now, we come down to physical sunscreens. Now, there are only two ingredients which has the properties of being physical sunscreens - Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.

Now, do you remember my post on the sunscreen breakout problem?? It was posted quite long back. In that post, I had simply stated that a sunscreen with Zinc Oxide will solve the breakout problems. Why did I not state anything regarding Titanium Dioxide? Let's see if I can explain it.

Zinc Oxide

It is the best broad-spectrum UV filter known till now. And, it doesn't cause any allergic reactions on the skin too. In fact, Zinc Oxide is pretty good for acne skin because of its anti-bacterial property. It just sits and disperses the light falling on the skin without allowing it to get to the skin surface. It doesn't get absorbed by the skin. But, there are certain downsides to this ingredient. 

Zinc Oxide is notorious for leaving a white cast on the skin. The Zinc Oxide sunscreens are thick and a little powdery in texture which might leave a powdery cast on the skin. These sunscreens do not blend on the skin very easily too. It takes a little getting used to the texture of the product. 

Titanium Dioxide

So, you might have heard the debate whether Titanium Dioxide is poisonous or harmful to the skin or not. Ok, so let me first say, this is the second best ingredients for sunscreen but it doesn't give a broad-spectrum protection. It lacks UVA spectrum protection. And, it is also known to be allergic to the sensitive skin. Well, Titanium Dioxide is one of regularly used ingredients in mineral makeup and if mineral makeup breaks you out, Titanium Dioxide allergy might be one of the factors. Even Titanium Dioxide leaves a white cast like Zinc Oxide.

So, let us first say how this ingredient protects from sun's rays. It uses both absorption and dispersion methods. So, yup, you might ask me if it doesn't produce free radicals? Well, I have been trying to hunt down for that answer and this is what I found: http://personalcaretruth.com/2011/01/does-titanium-dioxide-cause-free-radical-damage. Well, check out the article for detailed explanation. 

Does Titanium Dioxide produce free radicals?

Well, there are two types of Titanium Dioxide which can be used in the products - Rutile and Anatase. These are the polymorphs of original Titanium Dioxide and thus, differ in certain properties. So, as it comes out, rutile is less photoreactive than anatase form because it has highest refractive index of all the known minerals and it also has high dispersion properties which means that rutile Titanium Dioxide reflects the UV light more than absorbing it. 

Now, you need to be concerned about which form is present in your product. So, the answer given is that generally it is the rutile form which is more commonly used but in case of doubt, the manufacturer of the product should be contacted. Not a very good answer but the summary is that you need not be bothered about the absorption because it is very less likely to damage the skin.

What would I choose?

Well, my answer would be Zinc Oxide as it is broad-spectrum and more effective but I definitely wouldn't mind Titanium Dioxide in mineral makeup. That would add some sun protection to the makeup you are using.