How we choose
What we read, what we compare, what disqualifies a product, and what we deliberately do not do.
This page stands in for a testing program, so it has to be specific rather than reassuring. Here is exactly what we do, what we do not do, and what gets a product removed from a page.
What we actually do
- Read the drug facts panel. Every active filter and its percentage by weight. That box is the only part of a US sunscreen label with regulatory force behind it. How to read a sunscreen label.
- Read the full inactive ingredient list. Most sunscreen reactions come from fragrance, essential oils and botanical extracts rather than the filters, so this list decides every sensitive-skin recommendation we make.
- Compare the regulated claims. Broad spectrum, SPF, and the water-resistance rating — 40 or 80 minutes, which are the only two durations US labels may claim.
- Check reef-relevant filters against the restrictions in force in Hawaii, Key West, the US Virgin Islands, Palau, Bonaire and Aruba. Where reef-safe sunscreen is required.
- Gather published findings from named third-party testers — Consumer Reports, OutdoorGearLab, Treeline Review — and cite them by name and link. Where someone else did laboratory work, that is a strength to point at rather than to launder.
- Weigh all of it against a specific buyer. Not the best sunscreen in the abstract, but the best one for a parent at a pool, or for reactive skin, or for a face you want to look normal.
- Confirm the product is currently sold before it appears on a page.
What we deliberately do not do
- We do not run laboratory SPF verification. No lab, no equipment, no protocol.
- We do not run wear tests. No test panel, no field program, no owned units.
- We do not accept free product in exchange for placement. No brand pays for position, wording or inclusion.
- We do not publish ratings or scores. We have no rating methodology that would justify one, and emitting a score we could not defend would be inventing authority.
- We do not publish prices. There is no live price feed on this site, and a stale number is worse than none. Every product link goes to the retailer.
- We never write "we tested". Because we did not, and it is trivially disproved.
That list is the reason you will not find a score out of ten anywhere on this site. Competitors who outrank us on some terms do run real testing programs — Consumer Reports lab-verifies label SPF across a large sample each year, and OutdoorGearLab verifies UPF with photochromic cards. Imitating their language without their equipment would be a lie, and citing them properly is more useful to you than pretending.
What disqualifies a product
- It is not currently available to buy.
- It is discontinued, or the formulation has changed and we cannot confirm the current one.
- The actives are not published, so we cannot say what is protecting you.
- It makes a claim we cannot verify against the label or a primary source.
- It is not broad spectrum. A product that only prevents sunburn does not belong on a page recommending sun protection.
How we rank within a page
Our top pick is the product that best fits the buyer that page is written for, on the label facts above. It is not the highest-commission product, and commission does not vary meaningfully between products in this category anyway — every link on this site goes to the same retailer.
Where a cheaper product is the better answer, we say so. Value is a protection argument rather than a budget one here: a full-body adult application is about an ounce, and price per ounce is what decides whether people apply enough. A cheap sunscreen used properly beats a premium one used thinly.
How we source claims
| Tier | Sources | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Primary and regulatory | FDA, American Academy of Dermatology, American Academy of Pediatrics, Skin Cancer Foundation, NOAA, EPA, peer-reviewed literature, state and territory legislation | Every safety, medical, efficacy and regulatory claim. Mandatory for anything about infants, pregnancy, cancer risk or what a filter does to skin. |
| 2 — Independent testing | Consumer Reports, OutdoorGearLab, Treeline Review | Comparative performance claims — always attributed by name and linked, never restated as our own finding. |
| 3 — Manufacturer | Brand sites and product labels | Formulation facts only: actives, concentrations, SPF, UPF, water-resistance minutes. Always framed as the brand's claim. |
| Not citable | Reddit, TikTok, blog opinion, AI-generated summaries, other affiliate sites' conclusions | Never a source for a factual claim. |
Where the evidence is genuinely contested — the oxybenzone and coral question, the systemic absorption question — we say so and present both sides. Overstating either direction is a trust failure, and the reader this site is written for wants evidence rather than alarm.
Who this site is for
People who read the ingredient list and want evidence on what is safe for kids and skin. If you want to be told a single product is the best and to stop thinking about it, this is the wrong site — every page here names the trade-off, because every product has one.
How often we revisit
Every page carries a visible "Updated <month year>" stamp. We review buying guides and brand reviews at least twice a year and after any formulation or regulatory change we become aware of, and we date corrections on the page they affect. Editorial policy.