Sunscreen...

[skincarekev]

Any chance of Silk Naturals creating an SPF 15 product? Maybe a serum or super light lotion with Zinc Oxide only. There are so few on the market that actually work well. They either are super greasy, clogging, whitening or irritating.

[karen]

Ummm not really. There's a couple of reasons... sun screens are regulated as a drug, and because of the way the regulations are we'd have to be classified as a drug manufacturer, and I just don't want to go there. It's a quagmire of paperwork, and I'm happier making what we already make (and we'd have to about double our prices because the insurance premiums are insane).

The second reason is more technical. A liquid sun screen kind of has to be at least somewhat greasy to suspend the zinc. Typically they use c12-15 alkyl benzoate, a heavy oil, or silicone to disperse the zinc. They're all very shiny and greasy feeling (I use the c12-15 alkyl benzoate on my hair because it shines really well). As a technical issue it's one that I've never really been able to solve.

We do have the Ultra Sheer Zinc powder- which has zinc oxide and titanium dioxide in it (the maximum the FDA allows for a sunscreen). We don't make any claims that it will protect you from the sun, we don't market it that way, we haven't had formal SPF testing done, and we won't. If you choose to use it for sun protection- that's your business. People do like it as a makeup primer, and for my husband I cut it in half with Perfecting Powder and tint it down a little because he won't wear the commercial stuff either. It's sheer enough that he doesn't look like he's wearing makeup, and he likes it better for golfing because it doesn't burn his eyes when he sweats.

I should probably make a tinted version of it for summer....

[skincarekev]

Karen,

I never thought of those reasons. I would not want to do it either with all the government involvement and money. Keep up the great work!