As a woman of color, the topic of sunscreen never really came up as a child. Sure, my mom would lather me up with some every once in a while on summer vacation, but there was never a concrete discussion about the importance of it.
Because black and brown people have more melanin in our skin than our white and fair skinned counterparts, we sometimes get the crazy idea that we are exempt from things like sunburn and skin cancer. That’s surely not the case at all! We need to take proper care of our skin now to ensure that we don’t develop any type of complications in the future.
This is why brands like Unsun Cosmetics are important. Unsun was founded by Katonya Breaux, who says on her site that she has “used sunscreen diligently” since she was in her twenties. Breaux, who is pop singer Frank Ocean’s mother, was tired of the white film that would be left on her skin after application, so she took matters into her own hands and created a line of products that catered to people of color. The sunscreen is SPF 30 (which is the dermatologist-recommended amount, as it blocks 97 percent of the sun’s UVB rays), and is made with a mineral tint to avoid the appearance of the white film that drove Breaux mad in the first place.
In an interview with essence.com, Breaux said that Unsun’s beauty efforts are not stopping at sunscreen. She will be releasing five tinted SPF 18 lip balms and an SPF 15 hand cream.
As of today, Unsun’s sunscreen can be purchased on their website for $29. To stay up-to-date on the brand’s upcoming ventures, follow them on Instagram and Twitter @unsuncosmetics.
Written by Evann Webb