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How do light reflecting minerals work?
As soon as light reflecting minerals are applied to the skin, they bounce back sunlight to protect underlying cells from harmful radiation such as that from UV rays.
What are light reflecting minerals?
The best known light reflecting minerals are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These minerals reflect light well and are widely used in cosmetology. However, due to being oxides, they must be stabilized so that they don’t generate oxygen radicals on the skin. Some cosmetics manufacturers use these oxides in nanometers to ensure they are transparent. This is because the powders are naturally white and if used at too high a concentration, they will color the skin marble white.
No to Nano
The safety of nanomaterials for use by humans has recently been brought into question. This is due to the concern that, given their nanometer size, they can penetrate inside human cells with potentially toxic effects on the cell itself. DermaClub does not recommend their use in dermatological products.
Clays
Clay is an extremely fine sediment consisting mainly of hydrated aluminosilicates within the class of phyllosilicates.
For thousands of years, clays have been used by humans to protect the skin from the sun and, in many communities across the world today, it is still a skincare staple.
There are many advantages of using clays as light reflectors: They can be used to create sunscreen products of a variety of different shades without the use of synthetic dyes, thanks to the naturally wide range of clay colors. Due to the presence of aluminosilicates, clays have inherently soothing and calming properties. For this reason, clays are well suited as sun protection products to safeguard against both UV rays and infrared heat. Clays can absorb water and sweat, and can be packaged compactly, making them an ideal sunscreen for athletes or those swimming. There are many types of clay that include minerals with light reflecting, astringent and soothing properties, such as kaolin, magnesium silicate, mica, montmorillonite and silica. Compounding a mixture of these purified mineral powders produces a powdered compound to be applied to the skin for sun protection. Indeed, all of these minerals can be found in Sun Clay.
