5 top cruelty free sunscreens to protect your skin (and the animals)

Ultra Vio­lette vows to ​“make SPF that you (and your skin) will love.” And with hun­dreds of five-star reviews on their web­site and count­less shoutouts across social media, it seems their Queen Screen SPF 50+ Lumin­is­ing Sun Serum is exact­ly that.

The broad spec­trum SPF 50+ sun­creen is oil-free with a glowy fin­ish, designed to feel as luxe as an expen­sive skin­care serum. The milky, light­weight for­mu­la is easy to apply, invis­i­ble on the skin and plays well with both make­up and skincare.

Ultra Violette’s sun­screen is also proud­ly cru­el­ty free. Accord­ing to the company’s web­site, they ​“have vet­ted our sup­pli­ers, down to an ingre­di­ent lev­el and would nev­er work with any­one who test­ed on animals.”

Key ben­e­fits:

• Cru­el­ty free
• Broad spec­trum SPF 50+
• Free from parabens and oxybenzone
• Aus­tralian made and owned

If you’re look­ing for an afford­able cru­el­ty free sun­screen, Bon­di Sands Dai­ly Mois­tur­is­ing Face SPF 50+ Sun­screen Lotion comes in at a fair price point and is read­i­ly avail­able at gro­cery stores and pharmacies.

Offer­ing UVA and UVB pro­tec­tion, this water resis­tant sun­screen absorbs quick­ly into the skin and dries invis­i­bly, mean­ing no greasy or sticky white cast. The for­mu­la also has aloe vera and vit­a­min E for added hydra­tion, leav­ing your skin feel­ing moisturised.

Accord­ing to PETA, Bon­di Sands is con­firmed to be cru­el­ty free and does not test on animals.

Key ben­e­fits:

• Cru­el­ty free and reef friendly
• SPF 50+
• 4 hours of water resistance
• Aus­tralian made

While it may be at the prici­er end of the sun­screen spec­trum, Dermalogica’s Dynam­ic Skin Recov­ery SPF 50 has received rave reviews and many believe it’s worth the splurge.

This cru­el­ty free broad spec­trum sun­screen is enriched with antiox­i­dant-rich white tea to com­bat free rad­i­cal dam­age, as well as hyaluron­ic acid for intense hydra­tion and tripep­tide to boost col­la­gen and improve skin tex­ture. The medi­um-weight for­mu­la eas­i­ly glides onto the skin and sinks in for a seam­less finish.

Der­ma­log­i­ca has con­firmed that it is cru­el­ty free. Accord­ing to Cru­el­ty Free Kit­ty, Der­ma­log­i­ca does not test prod­ucts or ingre­di­ents on ani­mals, nor do their sup­pli­ers, and they do not sell their prod­ucts where ani­mal test­ing is required by law.

Key ben­e­fits:

• Cru­el­ty free
• Veg­an
• Paraben free
• Broad spec­trum SPF 50+

If you’re look­ing for a cru­el­ty free sun­screen that plays well with make­up, Mec­ca Cos­met­i­ca To Save Face SPF50+ Super­screen Oxy­ben­zone Free For­mu­la was designed just for you.

This weight­less, non-greasy for­mu­la works well under foun­da­tion or on top of skin­care prod­ucts, while still offer­ing broad spec­trum SPF 50+ UVA and UVB pro­tec­tion. With a nat­ur­al mat­te and ​‘almost unde­tectable’ fin­ish, it won’t leave the skin with a white cast.

In August this year, Mec­ca respond­ed to a ques­tion on a Face­book post regard­ing their cru­el­ty free sta­tus and stat­ed: ​“We can con­firm that all of our in-house Sig­na­ture Line brands, includ­ing Mec­ca Cos­met­i­ca, MEC­CA MAX and the new­ly launched kit, are all cru­el­ty-free. We are against ani­mal test­ing at MEC­CA, and we do not con­duct, or ask any­one to con­duct, ani­mal test­ing on our behalf.”

Key ben­e­fits:

• Cru­el­ty free
• Veg­an
• Oxy­ben­zone and sul­phate free
• Broad spec­trum SPF 50+

Buy­ing and using cru­el­ty free sun­screen has a pos­i­tive impact in many ways — and not just on your skin! It also:

• Helps to save the ani­mals
  The num­ber one rea­son for choos­ing cru­el­ty free prod­ucts is to save ani­mals from the suf­fer­ing and death asso­ci­at­ed with live ani­mal test­ing. The Humane Soci­ety Inter­na­tion­al esti­mates that around 500,000 ani­mals die each year due to cos­met­ic test­ing alone.

• Sup­ports eth­i­cal brands
  Anoth­er ben­e­fit of buy­ing cru­el­ty free sun­screen is that you’re putting your mon­ey into brands and com­pa­nies that pro­mote and employ more eth­i­cal prac­tices in the devel­op­ment and test­ing of their products.

• Dri­ves pos­i­tive change
  As a con­sumer, you have the pow­er to spark pos­i­tive change with your pur­chas­ing habits. When you buy from cru­el­ty free skin­care brands, you make a state­ment against the com­pa­nies that still choose to test on ani­mals. If enough peo­ple refuse to buy from these com­pa­nies, this can dri­ve real change for ani­mal test­ing laws in future.

At MoleMap, we encour­age you to use SPF 50 sun­screen every day to pro­tect your­self against skin can­cer — and if you can use a cru­el­ty free sun­screen, even better!

There are a lot of myths about sun­screen out there, but we can assure you that it is per­fect­ly safe for dai­ly use. In fact, dai­ly sun­screen use reduces your risk of devel­op­ing melanoma by 50%.

In addi­tion to wear­ing sun­screen and UV pro­tec­tive cloth­ing every day, we also rec­om­mend that you get a skin can­cer check or a com­pre­hen­sive mole check every year to mon­i­tor any changes in your skin. Remem­ber, ear­ly detec­tion is always the best pre­ven­tion against skin cancer.

Make sure to schedule these regular checks at specialised skin cancer clinics for thorough examinations and peace of mind.