Black Girl Sunscreen – The Revolutionary Sunscreen Made by and for Women of Color

Growing up, personally, I hated cream sunscreens because of the annoying white cast it would leave on my skin. Even if I rubbed it in, it still seemed fairly visible. 

Then, I only used spray-on sunscreen, which made my skin feel stiff and sometimes sticky. 

My sunscreen options were super limited until I discovered what I like to call, the best sunscreen I've ever used. 

Black Girl Sunscreen.

Created in 2016, by a black woman named Shontay Lundy, Black Girl Sunscreen is created with women of color in mind. For years, sunscreen has been tailored to light-skinned individuals, leaving behind a white residue on those with darker skin — Lundy said enough.

Her goal was to, “start the conversation globally around sun safety to educate and protect melanin beauties worldwide.”

For the majority of my life, I’ve heard other black people say that they don’t need to use sunscreen because darker skin can protect from UV rays. A blog post from Black Girl Sunscreen states the opposite.

While having more melanated skin, there is a level of protection against UV rays, but not all of them. Lundy shares that darker skin only provides up to SPF 13 whereas SPF 30 is what is needed to fully protect skin from harmful UV rays.

When I first heard of this product a few years ago, I wondered if it actually worked because many sunscreen brands claim not to leave a white cast on the skin. 

However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it did. 

Photo by Garren Pryce, courtesy of Black Girl Sunscreen.

When first using the product, it looks like a regular white cream sunscreen, but the color fades away once rubbed into your skin.

I started wearing it underneath my makeup which I found to be helpful, or even without makeup. I like to use a matte primer or a loose powder on top to get rid of any excess shine. 

While the product doesn’t necessarily feel greasy, it does still have that kind of shine that most sunscreens have. But if looking shiny isn’t your vibe and putting powder on top of it feels like an unnecessary step, I recommend trying their matte version called Make It Matte™ SPF 45.

I recently tried it and was awestruck by it. I no longer had to use my primer on top of the sunscreen because it was a clear, gel matte version of the original product. 

Though I haven’t tried it on underneath makeup yet, it leaves your skin protected and looking smooth just on its own. 

I think this product and brand in general is very important for women of color. We finally have a sunscreen that specifically caters to our various skin tones. 

Though the word “girl” is in the product name, don’t be fooled because Black Girl Sunscreen is inclusive to all catering to men and kids of color.

Along with the original and matte sunscreens, Black Girl Sunscreen has a variety of products to choose from to protect melanated skin, including a protective lip gloss. 

Black Girl Sunscreen is available on their website, at Target, Ulta Beauty, Amazon and Walmart.