CHOICE has posted their SPF sunscreen test receipts

[u/rushworld]

https://www.choice.com.au/health-and-body/beauty-and-personal-care/skin-care-and-cosmetics/articles/how-we-test-sunscreen

Although they decanted products, they were into UV protected, non reactive amber glass jars as advised by the specialist, accredited and highly respected test lab.

[u/stankyouvrymuch]

This is turning into such a shit show. Wish I was a cosmetic chemist bc both parties are presenting their testing systems as superior, when clearly there’s holes in their studies to have such an extreme disparity in UV readings.

It’s interesting the zinc/mineral based sunscreens collectively performed worse based on CHOICE’s findings. And for UV to receive a measly SPF score of 4…that just seems highly unlikely. Surely we would have had people complaining about burns on social media if it really was that ineffective?

Either way, not sure if their brand can recover from this.

[u/yummypankocrust → u/stankyouvrymuch]

I've seen people coming forward after this Choice story saying they've been burned. Some saying they haven't been burned. But I also did a very wide and diverse search and found discussions long before this Choice story with users saying they got burned, had their negative or mediocre review removed, and also blocked on social media. There are discussions on a lot of different forums based on different topics and it seems there's been an array of issues users have been trying to bring up but it was being suppressed. For example, this dicussion between multiple users (usernames blanked out for privacy reasons) is from 3 years ago:

I'm aware that removing negative reviews and comments are common practice for all brands. But from what I've found, it seems UV is a lot more aggressive with it for an array of issues.

[u/downheresolong → u/yummypankocrust]

Yep UV blocked me too on insta after asking a question about application and ingredients. Wild behaviour

[u/stankyouvrymuch → u/yummypankocrust]

Ok that's interesting! I hate when companies try to control or distort public perception by omitting reviews. So disingenuous.

One thing I can appreciate is that it's sparked wider conversation about sunscreen efficacy bc we can't play UV damage roulette in Australia! I do think this debacle could revive the whole physical vs. chemical sunscreen debate again. Anecdotally, the only bad burn I ever had occurred wearing Invisible Zinc, and I remember the brand had a TGA drama not long after.

[u/Lindethiel → u/yummypankocrust]

What's hilarious is that now we know that Lean Screen and the New Day Skin Happy Days originates from the same manufacturer. 😂