Attitude mineral baby

Sure, any sunscreen is better than no sunscreen — and there are plenty of ways to add to your kid’s sun protection using clothing with SPF. But there’s no substitute for sunscreen, and it’s a known fact that not all sunblock is created equal. Every year, the Environmental Working Group digs up all the details on commercial sunscreens for kids and gives them a rating based on safety. They take into consideration product packaging, the usability of each sunscreen and the amount of harmful chemicals used in the product. For instance, EWG filtered out products with ingredients that it considers worrisome, like formaldehyde-releasing chemicals.

The watchdog nonprofit researches, scrutinizes and tests hundreds of sun protection offerings with one goal: to tell consumers which sunscreens specifically marketed for use on babies and kids belong on children’s skin and which ones are better left on the shelf.

So, before you put a bottle of sunscreen in your cart (it’s the perfect time to stock up as May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month), make sure you flip it over and check the ingredient list to ensure you aren’t rubbing an ineffective sunscreen with troublesome ingredients onto your child’s skin. We’ve taken the EWG’s recs into account and have rounded up some of the best and safest sunscreens out there right now, for your little one’s sensitive skin.

From Pipette’s non-nano zinc oxide sunscreen (celeb mom-approved!) to plenty of your favorite brands available on Amazon and Ulta Beauty, you’ve got plenty of gentle and effective sunscreen picks to choose from for your kid and baby. Take a look, and play safe!

Our mission at SheKnows is to empower and inspire women, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Target is a SheKnows sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

A version of this article was originally published in May 2016.

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Ingredients (INCI)

How to I find a suitable SPF for my skin tone?

Sun Protection Products - Instructions & Warnings

The first main difference is that while TiO2 gives a nice broad spectrum protection, Zinc Oxide has an even nicer and even broader spectrum protection. It protects against UVB, UVA II, and UVA I almost uniformly, and is considered to be the broadest range sunscreen available today. 

It's also highly stable and non-irritating. So much so that Zinc Oxide also counts as a skin protectant and anti-irritant. It's also often used to treat skin irritations such as diaper rash.

As for the disadvantages, Zinc Oxide is also not cosmetically elegant. It leaves a disturbing whitish tint on the skin, although, according to a 2000 research paper by Dr. Pinnell, it's slightly less white than TiO2. Still, it's white and disturbing enough to use Zinc Oxide nanoparticles more and more often. 

We wrote more about nanoparticles and the concerns around them here, but the gist is that if nanoparticles were absorbed into the skin that would be a reason for legitimate health concerns. But luckily, so far research shows that sunscreen nanoparticles are not absorbed but remain on the surface of the skin or in the uppermost (dead) layer of the skin. This seems to be true even if the skin is damaged, for example, sunburnt. 

All in all, if you've found a Zinc Oxide sunscreen that you are happy to use every single day, that's fantastic and we suggest you stick with it. It's definitely one of the best, or probably even the best option out there for sun protection available worldwide.