Our Essential Sunscreen (Part I)

Thanks to the El Nino effect, we are experiencing a hottest year since 1880, with more sun and less rain. While we are here hoping for the temperatures to come down, lets take a look at the one thing that has always been associated with beach parties, but is fast becoming the one skin care item we can't bear to part with: Sunscreen.

A brief history of Sunscreen

Sunscreen is not a modern concept ,humans have always had a tentative grasping of the harmful effect of sun rays on exposed skin. Back in 5000BC, we were only capable of using physical means to avoid the sun. People started to wear clothes to protect our skin. The Egyptians wear heavy wigs to protect their heads from direct sunlight, the middle eastern people developed their culture of head wraps and full body robes and the Chinese with their elaborately decorated umbrellas.(It's interesting to note the changes of beauty standards across cultures and their relations to the sun. See more in remarks.)

The first to invent topical sunscreens are the Greek.Their athletes found that applying olive oil to skin before heading out for the games helped lessen the degree of sun burnt and also made their skin more supple. Soon, everyone was applying olive oil to their skin. The Egyptians have also whipped up concoctions to help with sunburn, but more as a remedy than a preventive measure. They found that applying aloe vera on burnt skin helps sooth and speed up its healing process. Whitening recipes with jasmine, lupine and rice bran are also used as skin treatment along with the aloe.

Chemical sunscreen has not been developed until the the Australian chemist Milton Blake in 1932. The first sunscreen however, was credited to Eugene Schueller in 1936, the founder of L'Oreal. Some also credit Swiss chemist Franz Greiter with the first invention of sunscreen in 1938. Both concoctions provide little protection with Greiter's Glacier cream having an estimate of SPF 2. In 1940, American Benjamin Green came up with a red petroleum jelly and was supplied to the US troops during WWII but it was sticky and left a red stain. After the war, Green refined the formula and marketed it as copper-tone tanning lotion in 1944. The first sunblock in Asia was invented by Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido with their Sun Oil in 1961.

But why are sunscreens so important? Why do we get sun burnt? (to be con't)

Remarks: A brief brief cultural comparison on beauty shades

Beauty standards have always been explicitly linked to wealth. For the Egyptians, clear bright skins are favored because of its association to royalty. Only people needing to preform manual labor out in the sun got tanned. We observe this beauty concept across Asian and middle eastern countries and is kept till this day. The Japanese and Korean are know for their obsession with unblemished light skin tones.

The concept of a beautiful tan originated in post WWII America. Only the rich can afford beach holidays and they always come back with a golden tan. Coppertone's successful marketing have also helped push the concept of the unattractive paleness along. The healthy glow beauty is then exported to other countries through the rising influence of Hollywood.

Related Topic in CER:

Our Essential Sunscreen (Part II) - The Science and Scaling of things