Body

invisible zinc

September 11, 2009

I have a thing for sunscreen - I am pedantic about applying it - and I get twitchy when I’m out in the sun too long. When I go to the beach I have an arsenal of paraphenailia - umbrellas, kaftans, sarongs, hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, chairs… I like to cover up as much as possible. I blame it on the countless beauty seminars I’ve sat in where the one mantra that’s been drilled into me time and again is that sun exposure equals premature aging (and skin cancer).

But not just any sunscreen will do - I’m quite fussy when it comes to what I apply to my skin. I’ve learnt that the only ingredient to really block the sun is zinc oxide, which unfortunately also leaves a white film on the skin (disastrous for photos). In the past I have favoured Dr Hauschka and New Zealand’s Dr Teresa Cattin’s Faceworks sunscreen (which I took on my honeymoon to Thailand and never got burnt… not once… plus my skin smelt divine).

Now I have a new favourite, and I’m excited because it appears to be FINALLY available here. I first saw Invisible Zinc advertised in an Australian Vogue. Two things piqued my interest; the fact that it claimed to be Invisible AND Zinc. How ingenious if this could be, I thought. I had to try it out. I sent my mother on a wild invisible-zinc goose chase when she was visiting Melbourne to bring some home to me. After hunting high and low (it had sold out) she found it. It was my sunscreen of choice last summer and I diligently slathered it across my face, chest, neck and back. Every Day. While I lay by the pool, or waddled around the beach. I never, ever, not once, got burnt. Not even the slightest. In fact, so effective was this sunscreen that my sun worshipping husband refused to wear it. He didn’t want to get burnt, but he did want a tan. He complained that Invisible Zinc prevented him from getting a tan (he did start using it again the day the back of his neck got red).

It works. It is pleasant to wear, it doesn’t appear too white (it does a little bit - so not really completely invisible but not as bad as other zinc based products). But most importantly, it seems to actually block the treacherous UVA and UVB rays.

Invisible Zinc uses a ‘world patented form of Zinc Oxide that has been milled down so it is no longer visible to the naked eye.’ Given all the controversy over nano-technology (do those nano particles slip into the bloodstream and give us cancer? more about that later), Invisible Zinc offers broad spectrum protection. It’s even safe enough to use on babies.

These products do not fall in the cheap category, but they’re not horrendously expensive either. While Zinc Oxide is a natural ingredient that provides a physical block from the sun - it reflects the suns rays, this is not a ‘natural’ sunscreen as such - these products still have preservatives (diazolidinylurea and phenoxyethanol) and so are not a completely natural product. However Invisible Zinc doesn’t contain Oxybenzone, an ingredient in the hot seat for its potential to be absorbed through the skin.

There are a few products in the range - face and body sunscreen, a tinted daywear in light or medium, brush-on tinted daywear, environmental skin protector, junior roll on lotion, 4 hour water resistant sunscreen, tinted lip and cheek balm and a new environmental repair serum. All the products have an SPF 30. Prices start at $19.99.

Aussie supermodel and known sun worshipper Elle MacPherson is the face of the brand and she says, ‘if this product was around when I was in my 20s I wouldn’t have the sun damage I have today - now my beauty routine is simple - I brush my teeth, I put on Invisible Zinc - It’s an everyday essential.’

Make it your everyday essential and avoid getting sundamage like her.

Tamsin xo