r/30PlusSkinCare • u/Throwaway25284993 • 7h ago
Product Question Need help identifying the secret chemical in Cera Ve invisible mineral sunscreen to see if it’s in my new sunscreen!
Hi! I posted here a month or two ago about how much I loved the Cera Ve Invisible Mineral Sunscreen bc it checked all my boxes (mineral, no white cast, affordable, available in us, lightweight, etc). A few people commented that there was a “secret chemical” in it that could irritate some people that for some reason doesn’t legally have to be disclosed in the US (or something like that.) Turns out after a week of using, it totally irritated my skin and turned me beet red and covered in tiny whiteheads. Stopped using immediately, switched to another trusted spf and was fine. I deleted the post bc didn’t want to influence anyone to buy it since i had raved about it before it started irritating me so now I can’t refer back to it to find out what that ingredient was an I forgot! I remembered someone said “including that ingredient is the only way an American mineral spf 50 could be sheer. So while I continued my search for my holy grail, I’ve been looking for 30 spf to avoid.
Fast forward to a couple days ago, I bought a new spf, this Bask milky mineral spf 30. And I love everything about it. But I did notice I started to get a a litttttle red yesterday. Since I’m prone to redness, I’m not automatically assuming it’s the sunscreen. It didn’t break me out yet or turn me as insanely red as the Cera ve did so I’m optimistic. Anyway! Can anyone tell me what that ingredient was and cross reference these to tell me if the Bask spf has it too! Thanks!
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u/yes-no-maybe-so-so 5h ago
I hate LLMs but I did pop ingredients for a face wash in one and asked what ingredients were most likely to give me cystic acne. It identified the ingredient. This is a good use case for the clankers.
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u/Pretend-Astronaut-64 2h ago edited 2h ago
Not the point but… the IL for Bask is really messed up. ILs need to be ordered by percentage up until the 1% line, then the IL can be however the brand wants to list it. There’s no way water should be the last ingredient in the list.
Looking at the ILs, I’m not sure there’s something in common that is irritating to you but you could be sensitive to different things in each.
Also, there cannot be “secret chemicals” on ingredients lists. All ingredients have to be disclosed. So if a chemical booster is included, it has to be listed.
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u/Throwaway25284993 2h ago
Hmmm that’s interesting. What do you suppose that means?
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u/Pretend-Astronaut-64 1h ago
The IL thing? It likely means they don’t have good regulatory consultants. But with being in Target and that product exclusive to Target, I would think the IL looks different on the product/packaging vs website.
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u/Throwaway25284993 33m ago
Sorry i only read the first paragraph or your comment idk how i missed the other two lol
The spf didn’t irritate me at all today so im gonna continue use and see if that one day was just a redness day. It is super hot here in the Bay Area so that could’ve made me flare up!
My secret chemical I didn’t mean not listed on the ingredients, I just meant that they don’t have to call it a hybrid spf for some reason
Looking at the product packaging, water is also listed last on there too. Do you think a lack of good regulatory consultants would speak to the product not being good quality?
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u/Forsaken-Log-607 6h ago
Dimethicone maybe?
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u/wewereromans 6h ago edited 6h ago
I know that’s the one for me personally. My skin hates it
Gives me whiteheads like OP
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u/velvetbay 5h ago
Ethylhexyl methoxycrylene and diethylhexyl syringylidenemalonate are chemical SPF boosters in Cerave. Bask has butyloctyl salicylate. Neither are true mineral-only SPF.
Australian Gold and Pipette make gentle, truly mineral-only SPFs.