I have normal to oily combination skin. I have been using oily sunscreens because the non-oily ones aren't good enough as sunscreens and the spf moisturizers aren't as good either. I wash my face and exfoliate, but still have these bumps under my skin and neck and chin, it feels like milia or clogged pores underneath my skin. I get cystic acne and pimples normally especially when using these sunscreens. The sunscreens are natural and don't contain chemicals except for physical blocks. Can someone give me advice or help on this and are those bumps harmful? I don't see them, but when my skin is damp I can feel them under my skin, lost and lots of them.

Hi MV,

Some sunblocks use much heavier and sometimes hydrogenated oils that can cause some clogging. Often, they also include other chemicals that could cause the reaction as well. I am curious about how you exfoliate and the potential reaction from that process as well as the other chemicals these exfolients use in their formulation.

Have you checked everything you are using on the EWG Safe Cosmetics website?

regards,

Bob

I use the top two sunblocks on the EWG skindeep report, so yes I have checked them, but luckily I found sunforgettable a great powder sunscreen.

Hi MV, I am a little familiar with the Sunforgetable product. Albeit there is a lot of contraversey regarding Titanium Dioxide, I am curious what the balance of the ingredients are in their product. We looked at making a powdered version using only ZnO, but we could not find any safe carrier powders that could assure an even application and protection. Can you point me to the ingredient list?

Regards,

Bob

Hi Bob. I use the sunforgettable All Clear.
It has bismuth oxycloride, but it doesn't aggravate my acne too much, not like UV Naturals and Badger which is what I used before. My skin is still a little bumpy, but I used a stronger bar soap, mask and benzoyl peroxide at least 1x a week. I have less bumps and acne now that I use powdered sunscreen. The sunforgettable has micronized titanium 12% and zinc oxides 12% but isn't absorbed into skin, so the product claims. It lies on top of the skin. Good sun protection according to EWG skindeepreport.

http://www.dermstore.com/product_Sunforgettable+Brush+%...-+All+Clear_4688.htm

http://www.dermstore.com/product_Sunforgettable+Shaker+...-+All+Clear_7671.htm

http://www.colorescience.com/
and

As far as the coating you might have to call the colorescience #, I think that the products comes with a piece of paper that says what coats it, but I don't know where I put it. They can also send you free samples of the product with free s&h.

The only bad things about the products is you have to pat it in, it has bismuth oxycloride and mica and that you have to be careful not to breathe it in because I don't know how dangerous that is for your lungs. Oh and the brush can be a little irritating. But compared to cream sunscreens this is #1 for oily/acne prone skin as far as I know.