Are you using sunscreen on your lips?!

Just asking, because I… don’t really use a lipbalm with spf. Yet. Ahem.

Unsurprisingly, dermatologists agree that you should: lips are apparently the one area that most people don’t use sunscreen on. Consequently, lips are a common place for skin cancers (Prevention.com), and, on top of that, are susceptible to sun damage just as every other part of your body: in fact, even more so. The skin on your face is about five times as thick as the skin covering your lips. UV light damages collagen, which leads to wrinkly and thin lips. The thin skin on your lips is also very quick to be damaged by sunburn.

We’re all totally convinced that we need a balm/lip treatment with SPF right now, right? I mean, I am. But finding the right SPF to protect your lips is difficult, like the search for the right sunscreen for your face – but on steroids.

Problem 1: the right filter

Mineral or chemical? As always, mineral filters (Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide) will very likely leave a white cast, and white lips aren’t a cute look outside of Vogue editorials. They also will very likely dry out your lips. On top of that, mineral filters mostly rely on forming a thin film on your skin to protect you properly. Very likely, though, you’ll be talking, eating, drinking, kissing… and how will that film hold up?

Chemical filters though will very likely bring up the perennial question: are they safe?! Especially on your lips. You’ll very likely heard numbers like ‘women will ingest 7 pounds of lipsticks in their lifetime!11111’. (It’s all wrong, btw. The number is closer to 1,5kg in your whole life – read more here and here.) But nevertheless: you’ll very likely ingest some of the products you put on your lips. And while I’m perfectly fine with the regulatory body of the EU telling me that the sunscreen filters I use are safe to put on my face, well – what about actually EATING them?

Ingestion of sunscreen filters

Here’s what I learned after a few frantic days of googling and talking to my significant other who has a doctorate in chemistry.

The European Chemicals Agency implemented the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), ‘the strictest law to date regulating chemical substances’ in the world. It came into effect in 2007 and ‘addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment’ (here). Meaning: they test all chemicals you use daily, be it a sunscreen filter or dishwashing soap. They also test if substances are safe if ingested, no matter if they’re supposed to be ingested or not. So: yes, in all possibility the sunscreen filters you use were tested if harmful when ingested.

But do you actually ingest a lot of sunscreen filters?

Let’s look at one of the filters in the lipbalm I just bought, Uvinul+, which is a great filter for high UVA protection with high photostability. It can be used up to 10% in formulas worldwide except for the US and Canada. (Incidecoder). (My balm contains Uvinul A Plus, Avobenzone, Iscotrizinol, and Tinosorb S.)

What I’m trying to find out is how much you’ll ingest of this filter, and if that could be dangerous. (I won’t do this with every filter, because this is extremely difficult for me as I’m severely math-challenged.) Let’s start a little thought experiment.

What I don’t know is how much of Uvinul+ is actually in my lipbalm, because in the EU, different to the US, manufacturers don’t have to especially mention the amount of active ingredients in a cosmetic product. I have, though, Paula’s Choice’s sunscreen I use on my face, and know that there’s around 20% of active ingredients in the formula. There’re four filters, and totally unscientifically I’ll assume that there’re about 5% of Uvinul+ in my lipbalm.

Lipbalm with spf

One application of lipstick amounts to 0,008g as we’ve established in this post. Not all of those 0,008g (8 milligram) will actually end up in your stomach: some of it will end up on the rims of glasses, some ingredients will absorb and a layer will very likely just stay on your lips.

The data sheet for Uvinul states:

“Virtually nontoxic after a single ingestion. Virtually nontoxic after a single skin contact.  LD50 rat (oral): > 2,000 mg/kg”

That means that in rats they tested this on an amount of less or up to 2 milligrams per kilogram of body weight was non lethal. The effects on rats is comparable to human bodies for this purpose.

1,2 milligram of Uvinul will end up on my lips after one application. A person could ingest up to 140 milligrams (I’ll randomly assign a median weight of 70kg to that person) and not suffer any ill effects.

There’re variables in this example I can’t say anything about. Accumulative and long-term effects are some of them. But I’ve to admit that I feel rather assured by these numbers.

(And hey, did you expect to read something about European Union regulations in a post about lipbalm today?!)

Problem 2: application and re-application

Let’s go back to application issues. You’d apply a lip product with SPF exactly like one on your face: Apply it generously. Let it dry. THEN use your regular lipstick or gloss over it, like you would apply a foundation over sunscreen. (Which means carefully as not to damage the protective layer.) For re-application, do the whole thing again.

Problem 3: it smells nice… but is drying!

Not only do you want to avoid photo sensitising ingredients like citrus oils, but also lip plumping ingredients like menthol or camphor, as they may irritate and dry out your lips. You should look for a good mix of humectants and emollients in your balm, just like with any other moisturiser you use on your face.

Problem 4: It’ll go off after 12 months

Just like regular sunscreen, after being open for 12 months, you should chuck it. It’s likely that by then, the filters won’t work as well as they did when freshly opened. So maybe don’t buy the luxury option?

What about you? Do you use sunscreen products on your lips, or will you start now?