2020 was definitely the year of discovering new information, and the world of skincare experienced some of this. Beauty influencers and consumers alike had fallen in love with the Purito Centella asiatica sunscreen. Finally, a non sticky, non greasy, and smooth feeling sunscreen had hit the market. It offered beneficial ingredients that helped soothe redness, and hydrate the skin. Protecting your skin from the sun had never been so easy with this $14 SPF 50 sunscreen from Purito. Not only was it helping treat the skin, but protecting from UVA and UVB rays at a high sun protection factor. Until the truth came out.
Some independent cosmetic chemists were fascinated how an SPF was so high and yet the consistency of the product was so enjoyable. They decided to do research and experiments on the formulation of the product. Three independent chemists did tests to see the effectiveness of the sun protection ingredients and what they found was a travesty. The product that influencers from the east and the west were obsessed with was a lie. The SPF was only 19. Humans need around an SPF 30 to be effective enough to protect skin from the sun, and this product didn't even reach that. The chemists published their findings and suddenly influencers everywhere were apologizing for promoting this ineffective product.
At the time when this all went down, I had severe acne and I was on medication for it. This medication tends to make your skin more sensitive to the sun, so sunscreen was a must for me. I was using this exact product as my main sunscreen at the time of my treatment. It felt different than any other sunscreen and I had never thought that this renowned sun lotion wasn't even the SPF that was listed on the bottle. When I found out I immediately bought a different one. I couldn't help but wonder how this could have affected others who were at risk in the sun, people prone to skin cancer, or simply sensitive to the sun.
In the end, the Purito company did a good job at damage control and PR. They released a public statement acknowledging the situation and offered an apology, then took down the product from their site to be reformulated. However, because they are a Korean brand, legal troubles in the US were not really an issue because the FDA in the US accepts different sunscreen filters and the ones Purito used were not accepted in American brands. Soon other Korean skincare companies who offered sunscreens were also being independently tested, and some of them didn't respond as well as Purito. One brand decided to just completely deny any of the results and say that they were simply being targeted by competitors. Others said the science was false. The result of this conflict of Korean sunscreens is that avid skincare lovers tend to avoid K beauty sunscreens that don't have a lot of research behind them, and avoid sunscreen filters that are uncommon in the US.
Sunscreen is incredibly important for the health of your skin to prevent aging and other damage, and it is especially important for people who have acne. Purito made a big mistake by listing such high claims on their bottles and ruined it for the whole Korean skincare market when it comes to sun protection. Science is not a linear process, there will always be new discoveries coming out and brands need to focus on this before listing claims.
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