All the summer sunshine can also mean time for sunburns. Thankfully the store shelves are full of sunscreen to protect our skin and just the smell of it makes me think of summer fun. However, this protector of our skin, is actually a fairly recent invention.
Various cultures across the world have always sought to protect their skin from the sun. Ancient Egyptians used extracts from rice bran and jasmine to protect their skin. The Greeks used olive oil. Some cultures used lead-based cosmetics to keep skin pale, while people in India were using zinc oxide as far back as 500 BC. These cultures were mostly looking to protect skin for cosmetic reasons.
The connection between sun exposure and skin cancer was first recognized in the 1890s by Paul Unna, a German physician. Around this time there were a few sun protection ointments available, but their effectiveness is debatable. By the 1930s and 1940s there seems to have been a clear demand for sun protection as a number of people across the globe invented effective sunscreens. Australian H. A. Milton Blake in the late 1920s, Frenchman Eugène Schueller in 1936, and American Benjamin Green in the 1940s all created sunscreens that became brands still on the market today: HA Milton Laboratories, L’Oréal Ambre Solaire and Coppertone, respectively.
The name that seems most closely associated with sunscreen invention is Franz Greiter, a Swiss chemist and mountain climber. In 1938, Greiter, then a university student, received a sunburn while mountain climbing and decided to develop a cream to protect against sunburns. In 1946 his glacier cream was sold under the brand name Piz Buin, the name of the mountain where he was burned. Piz Buin is still sold today.
Greiter is also credited with creating the Sun Protective Factor (SPF) rating system for measuring sunscreen effectiveness. In 1962, his glacier cream had an SPF of 2.
Sunscreen technology has come a long way since that time. In the 1980s, sunscreen with an SPF of 15 was introduced. Today the FDA won’t allow a product to claim that it prevents sunburns unless it is at least SPF 15. We now have water resistant, sweat resistant sunscreen, and sunscreen made from ingredients that are better for the environment and reef safe, all readily available to keep our summers burn free.
Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.
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