Have you ever felt your skin become tight and dry after putting on sunscreen — almost like your skin is desperate for moisture? This is pretty normal and it might make you wonder if your sunscreen is actually making your skin worse instead of keeping it soft and healthy.
Protecting your skin from the sun is important, and you shouldn't settle for anything less than the best when it comes to sunscreen. Your skin is your body's largest organ after all, and it’s your first barrier against the outside world. It makes sense to shield it from the sun's harmful effects (like photoaging and skin cancer).
In this article, we’ll be answering the question: “Does sunscreen dry out your skin?” The short answer is that it depends on the sunscreen you’re using, but other factors can make a difference as well. We’ll also be talking about how you can use light therapy to treat sun-damaged skin, so stick around!
What Ingredients in Sunscreen Can Cause Dry Skin?
Dry skin from sunscreen happens when the ingredients mess with your skin's natural moisture barrier. This can cause it to lose hydration and become irritated. Understanding this will help you pick out and use sunscreens that protect your skin while also keeping it moisturized. Let’s take a closer look at some ingredients that cause dry skin below:
Alcohol (ethanol)
Alcohol is added to sunscreens because it makes them dry quickly, which is great for reducing greasiness, especially for oily skin. However, alcohol can also dissolve the skin’s natural oils and damage its protective barrier. This leads to more water loss and, ultimately, dry skin.
Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid in sunscreen helps exfoliate the skin, clear pores, and fight acne. But it can also disrupt the skin's natural oil balance by removing too much sebum. Overuse or high concentrations can make your skin even drier by breaking down its protective lipid layer.
Avobenzone
Avobenzone is a common ingredient in sunscreen that protects your skin by absorbing UVA rays. It doesn't cause dryness directly, but it breaks down quite quickly in sunlight. This means that it requires stabilizers that can irritate and dry out the skin.
Fragrances (including essential oils)
Fragrances are added to sunscreens to make them smell good. However, they can cause allergic reactions and skin sensitivity. As you can probably imagine, this disrupts the skin's barrier and leads to moisture loss and dryness.
Oxybenzone
Oxybenzone is a chemical filter that absorbs UV radiation to protect the skin. It can cause allergic reactions and skin irritation, both of which can lead to skin dryness. Not only that, but it can interfere with your hormones, which might affect your skin’s ability to retain moisture.
Octinoxate
Octinoxate is used to absorb UVB and short UVA rays. It can cause oxidative stress and damage your skin cells — leading to both skin irritation and dryness. It can also disrupt your hormonal balance, which could negatively impact your skin’s natural oil production and moisture retention.
What is the Difference Between Mineral Sunscreen and Chemical Sunscreen?
Both chemical and physical sunscreens are designed to shield your skin from the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays. However, they differ in several ways, and this might influence your choice. First, let’s talk about the active ingredients in both types of sunscreen:
Active ingredients
The biggest difference between chemical and mineral sunscreens is their active ingredients — the components responsible for sun protection. Chemical sunscreens contain organic UV filters like:
- Oxybenzone
- Octocrylene
- Octinoxate
- Ethylhexyl salicylate
These ingredients can actually harm the environment, especially marine life and coral reefs. Mineral sunscreens, on the other hand, use inorganic UV filters like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These ingredients are generally considered to be more eco-friendly and are recommended as safer alternatives to chemical sunscreens.
How they work
Chemical and mineral sunscreens also protect your skin in different ways (which makes sense, considering they contain very different active ingredients). Chemical sunscreens absorb UV rays and convert them into heat, which is then released from the skin.
Mineral sunscreens, on the other hand, primarily reflect or scatter UV rays away from your skin. However, when mineral sunscreens are made into very small particles (micronized), they can work similarly to chemical sunscreens by absorbing UV rays.
Skin irritation
Naturally, the way these sunscreens work also affects how they interact with your skin. Chemical sunscreens are more likely to cause skin irritation and allergic contact dermatitis. Mineral sunscreens, however, are much gentler because the minerals sit on top of the skin rather than being absorbed.
The Pros and Cons of Zinc Oxide Sunscreen
Like any other skincare product, zinc oxide sunscreen has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, it tends to be a better choice for people with skin sensitivities. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of using zinc oxide sunscreen below:
The benefits of zinc oxide sunscreen
The most important benefit of using zinc oxide sunscreen has to be that it provides broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays. Unlike chemical sunscreens, zinc sunscreen works immediately after you put it on.
It’s also a lot less likely to irritate your skin (no matter what your skin type is). It's an excellent choice for people with sensitive skin — and it’s FDA-approved and eco-friendly, too.
The drawbacks of zinc oxide sunscreen
However, zinc sunscreen also comes with some downsides. One of the main issues is that it often leaves a white residue on the skin because of its mineral content. This can be an aesthetic issue for some people (e.g. if you’re trying to show off your tattoos).
You also need to apply more of it to get adequate protection from the sun in comparison to chemical sunscreens, and it might stain your clothes, too. It also tends to be more expensive, which understandably puts some people off from buying it.
How to Use Light Therapy to Treat Sun-Damaged Skin
People who have spent years in the sun often end up with sun-damaged skin. Fortunately, some sun damage can be reversed, and non-invasive light therapy can help improve the condition of sun-damaged skin.
Sunspots and wrinkles, while annoying from a cosmetic standpoint, are relatively harmless. However, conditions like actinic keratoses are more serious. Although actinic keratoses usually don't cause symptoms and rarely turn into cancer, they need to be examined by a dermatologist — just for the sake of ruling out skin cancer.
If your skin is sun-damaged, there are a few things you can do to treat it. One of the most effective treatment methods is blue light therapy. Blue light therapy has been gaining a lot of popularity lately, and it’s not hard to see why. It uses specific wavelengths of light to heal different skin issues (including acne and sun damage).
Blue light therapy involves using a high-intensity blue light source, like an LED device, to expose the affected skin. This light is believed to stimulate cellular processes and promote healing. In other words, it’s definitely worth giving blue light therapy a try if you spent too much time in the sun during your youth!
So, Does Sunscreen Dry Out Your Skin?
Well, yes. While sunscreen does a great job of protecting your skin and delaying signs of aging, it isn't particularly moisturizing by itself. Beauty experts say that some sunscreen formulas can actually make your skin drier. This is often because mineral sunscreens contain zinc oxide, which is great for shielding your skin from UVA and UVB rays.
However, zinc oxide also acts as an astringent, which can block natural skin secretions like sweat and oil, making dry skin worse. However, this doesn't mean you should skip using sunscreen. If you have dry skin, look for sunscreens that include ingredients like ceramides, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and plant oils. This will help keep your skin nice and hydrated (and protected from the sun, of course).
Final Thoughts
To answer the question of whether or not sunscreen dries out your skin — yes it does. This is why it’s always a good idea to put on moisturizer (and let it soak into your skin) before putting on sunscreen. In fact, applying sunscreen should be the last thing you do during your skincare routine (other than putting on makeup, that is).
Picking out the right type of sunscreen isn’t always easy, especially if you aren’t aware of the differences between chemical and physical sunscreens. They contain different active ingredients, and zinc oxide (the main ingredient in most mineral sunscreens) — despite the fact it’s a better choice if you have certain skin sensitivities — can, unfortunately, dry out your skin.
You may also want to consider doing light therapy if you have sun-damaged skin. Blue light therapy in particular can really help with this. The DermForge LED mask is an excellent light therapy device if you want to do light therapy from the comfort of your own home. Feel free to check out our products and blog if you want to learn more!
