The Future of Inclusive Sun Care and SPF as a Beauty Essential

Sun protection is no longer a seasonal afterthought, it is becoming a daily essential in wellness, beauty, and preventative health routines.

As SPF becomes a year-round habit across age groups and skin tones, consumers are demanding more from their sun care. The new wave of SPF innovation is defined by inclusivity, skin compatibility, and sensory appeal, not just protection. Today’s wearers want no white cast sunscreen that works on dark skin, supports sensitive skin, and feels as good as it protects.

Following our recent articles about reef-safe innovation in mineral and natural SPF and the rise of new SPF product formats, this next chapter in sun care explores how formulation is evolving to meet the needs of a broader, more diverse audience.

Today’s formulators are reimagining SPF through a modern, skin-first lens. They are designing products that work effortlessly for everyone, from Gen Alpha children building lifelong sun habits, to consumers with melanin-rich skin looking to avoid white cast, to individuals managing acne, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or healing tattoos.

Ingredients such as lightweight oils, barrier-supportive butters, soothing waters, and gentle waxes are playing a key role in this shift, offering both functional performance and natural sensorial appeal.

Join us as we explore how sun care is evolving, and how natural ingredients and innovation are helping brands meet diverse needs with smarter, more wearable SPF products.

How Gen Alpha and Gen Z are building lifelong sun care habits

Gen Z played a crucial role in repositioning SPF as a beauty and wellness essential. Now, Gen Alpha is set to normalise SPF from the start, viewing it as an integral part of self-care, preventative health, and part of their everyday routine. This informed approach is largely a result of social media influence, where Gen Alpha learns from Gen Z siblings, creators, and a broader wellness culture.

While Gen Alpha spans a wide age range, from infants to mid-teens, it is primarily the older group, tweens and early teens, who are starting to engage with skincare choices and influence product preferences. With sun care being a top category for innovation among these teenagers and younger Gen Z consumers, brands are focussing on skin barrier protection and leading the way in SPF for this generation.

According to Georgia Stafford, Senior Analyst at Mintel, the biggest opportunity is in securing sun care as a daily essential for Gen Alpha, adapting long-term usage and brand loyalty.

These consumers want products that are inclusive, leaving zero white cast even on deeper skin tones. They also prioritise a weightless feel, instant blending, and a glowing but not greasy finish. Lightweight ingredients such as olive squalane and cucumber water offer excellent cooling properties.

They are looking for products that are easily reapplied and absorbed, without pilling, leaving a white cast, or feeling sticky. And sensory issues may have need to be considered by formulators to create products that don’t have too much of a texture. Butters such as refined mango butter provide a soft feel and help stabilise solid SPF formats like sticks, without overwhelming the skin.

UK brand, Indu, caters specifically to teen consumers with a range of products including their Everyday Hero SPF50+ Sun Protection Moisturiser. Their products are informed by a committee of teens, ensuring they meet the needs of young skin, including ease of application and hygienic pump packaging to reduce contamination risk. Their approach is about education, learning and improving, focussing on informing teens about proper application rather than scaremongering.

However, successfully marketing to this demographic requires appealing to both the child who will use the product, as well as the parents making the purchasing decisions. The ‘Sephora kids’ phenomenon highlighted concerns around young children accessing products unsuitable for their skin, emphasising the need for brands to emphasise safety, education, age-appropriate solutions, and the need for brands to focus their education to prevent young skin barriers from being damaged. Emphasising safety is key to winning over parents, focussing on practical, no-fuss solutions such as sunscreen sticks that are quick, clean, and natural-looking.

Beyond age, effective sun care must address a myriad of specific skin conditions and concerns, ensuring that sun protection is accessible and comfortable for everyone.

How to avoid white cast from sunscreen on melanin-rich skin

A long-standing issue in sun care, particularly with mineral formulations, has been the white cast, which is especially noticeable and frustrating on deeper skin tones. The industry is making significant efforts to overcome this, recognising that inclusivity should be a standard.

Brands are actively reformulating and innovating to create invisible or sheer SPF products. For example, The Ordinary discontinued its Mineral UV Filters SPF 30 due to consumer feedback on its thick texture and white cast, subsequently launching the new UV Filters SPF 45 Serum. This serum uses a blend of chemical filters to create a lightweight, comfortable sunscreen that leaves no white cast.

Texture and wearability matter just as much as protection, as a sunscreen that feels good and layers easily is one people are more likely to use every day, which is crucial for long-term skin protection. Oils such as jojoba and buriti, rich in natural pigments, can help tone down visible residue and improve blending in mineral-based formulations. Ingredients such as sea buckthorn oil not only support tone evenness but also offer antioxidant benefits, while rose water refreshes and hydrates without interfering with pigment dispersal.

Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) and the role of sunscreen

For darker skin tones, particularly individuals with Fitzpatrick skin types III to VI, preventing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) caused by trauma or sun exposure is a critical concern. These skin types are more susceptible to PIH due to increased size and quantity of melanosomes and eumelanin.

‘Prevention of Post‑Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation in Skin of Colour: A Systematic Review’ (2025), found that regularly applying sunscreen, especially formulations mixed with other anti-inflammatory ingredients, was a successful prevention technique for trauma-induced PIH. In two studies, applying sunscreen for two months resulted in a 98% and 100% success rate in preventing PIH. While the research highlights the effectiveness of photoprotection, it also points to an educational gap, where individuals with darker skin tones may lack awareness regarding the significance of sunscreen usage. The review also highlighted an educational gap and emphasised a lack of inclusion of Fitzpatrick skin type VI and called for greater diversity in PIH prevention studies.

Ingredients such as tamanu oil and cacay oil are gaining popularity for their barrier-repair and regenerative qualities, while chamomile floral water offers soothing, brightening support to combat inflammation-triggered pigmentation.

Can sunscreen cause acne? What to look for in non-comedogenic SPF

For many with acne or sensitive skin, there’s a lingering fear around sunscreen, raising questions like can sunscreen cause acne or does sunscreen cause acne? For these people, finding a sunscreen that doesn’t exacerbate breakouts, or irritation has always been a challenge. The emphasis on non-comedogenic and hypoallergenic formulations is growing and search queries like ‘what is the best sunscreen for sensitive skin?’, ‘what is a good sunscreen for sensitive skin?’, and ‘what are the best sunscreens for sensitive skin?’ are rising steadily. The rise of lightweight, non-greasy textures across new SPF formats, such as mists, gels, and serums, directly addresses these concerns. And formulators are increasingly choosing ingredients that soothe and protect the skin barrier without clogging pores, such as aloe vera juice, cucumber extract, and marula oil, as seen in scalp mists.

Sunscreen and tattoos – when can I put sunscreen on my tattoo?

Sun protection is not just about skin health, it’s also crucial for tattoo aftercare and longevity. Tattoos, while covering the skin, offer no inherent protection from UV rays. The skin is still susceptible to UV damage from the sun and UV rays can cause tattoo colours to fade over time.

For new tattoos, consumers often ask, ‘when can I put sunscreen on my tattoo?’ or  ‘can you put sunscreen on a new tattoo?’ and experts recommend waiting until the tattoo has fully healed as sun exposure should be entirely avoided until the skin is fully healed. Afterwards, water-resistant sunscreens with an SPF 30 or higher and broad-spectrum coverage are essential. Brands such as Mad Rabbit Defend Tattoo Sunscreen and BLUE LIZARD Active Mineral-Based Sunscreen Lotion are specifically marketed for tattoo protection, highlighting the growing recognition of this niche but important need. The key is to prevent fading, peeling, and blistering, which can significantly affect the tattoo’s appearance.

Candelilla wax (a vegan beeswax alternative) and refined shea butter help protect the tattooed area while maintaining skin hydration, and lavender water, known for its antimicrobial properties, can enhance the longevity and clarity of tattoo pigment.

O&3 Thoughts

The industry’s commitment to making SPF an effortless part of daily life is evident in the growth of format innovation. The common factor across these innovations is the focus on sensory appeal. When sunscreen feels good on the skin, consumers are far more likely to embrace it. This push for enjoyable and effective sunscreens is transforming sun protection from a chore into a desirable and essential part of everyday beauty and wellness routines that are inclusive for everyone.