A crowd of chemists came to Edison, NJ on Sept. 12, 2018 for the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ full-day seminar “Extending Your Invisible Umbrella.” This event, chaired by Abhijit Bidaye of Croda Inc., covered UV, HEV, regulations and other key topics related to skin health and sun exposure—and insight into the raw materials used to formulate products to protect skin. As expected at any NYSCC education event, the sold-out crowd volleyed many questions at the speakers, who ranged from academia to suppliers to testing providers to start-up UV monitoring device maker.

After an introduction from Bidaye, Laurie Joseph, PhD from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University opened the conference by addressing skin health and sun exposure. Her presentation was followed by Nadim Shaath, PhD, who heads Alpha Research and Development and is a regular contributor to Happi (read his Sunscreen Filter column here). Shaath presented a critical look at the current state of sunscreen regulations in the US—always subject of discussion among manufacturers and suppliers who have been waiting for action out of Washington, DC.

Additional morning topics ranged from “Formulating Zinc Oxide Under the Current FDA Labeling Requirement,” which was presented by Kobo’s Carolyn Ortiz to “Enhanced Protection in Sun Care: UV and Beyond” from Rhythm Sharma of Croda Inc.  to  “Blue Light: Extending the Horizon of Sun Protection into the Blue,” presented by Luciana Uttembergue of DSM. 

According to Uttemergue, while blue light makes up just 25-30% of daylight, it is indoors too, thanks to LED lights and digital devices.

“Sun exposure is the most powerful, but we need to think about exposure time and distance,” she said about blue light, noting that different digital devices have different intensities of blue light (with smart phones having the highest percentage.)

Following announcements from NYSCC Chair Cathy Piterski about upcoming events (like NYSCC’s sold-out culinary event this month, and its sustainable cosmetics science session in October), Juan Brito of BASF offered advice on formulating with zinc oxide, emphasizing the importance of dispersion. He also outlined the pros and cons of predispersed zinc oxide. Brito was followed by the tag-team of Kristina Kannheiser and Daphne Benderly, PhD of Presperse who jointly discussed “Particulates Offering Multifunctional Benefits—Boosting UV Performance and Soft Focus.

Kacie Murdoch of CRL Suncare then presented “UPF: How Protected Are You?”—and based on the data she presented, the answer is: not as much as you think. Murdoch’s company tested many commonly used products that touted UV protection—sunhats, sunglasses, umbrellas—and found that many did not meet their claims. The most disturbing test result might have been the baby tent that boasted high UV protection, but CRL Suncare testes showed it basically offered no protection.

The final speaker of the day was Dr. Peter Kaplan, who manages clinical studies at Shade, a spin-off from Cornell Tech in New York, which was developed out of postdoctoral research on wearable UV measurements.

According to Shade, UV sensors must behave similarly to the skin; i.e., they must be 1,000x more sensitive to UVB than to UVA. Shade’s sensor is demonstrated to be at least 5x more accurate than other available low-cost UV sensors. 

According to Kaplan, most people have poor UV intuition, their UV behavior is erratic and UV measurement is challenging—consumers don’t really know how much is too much exposure, or when they might be at higher risk.  And the advice given by many dermatologists—to stay out of the sun from 10am-2pm—isn’t always easy to follow when consumers live busy lives.

The goal of the Shade device, according to Kaplan, is teach users how to react when they are exposure to UV levels that are dangerous to them.

Shade’s sensor works in tandem with the Shade app. The app starts with clinical limits of UV exposure known to trigger skin redness for the main skin types. Based on experience, the Shade app can fine-tune a daily limit of UV exposure that works just for the individual user.

“Imagine if you tried to put people on a diet—but didn’t give them the number of calories they should eat, or how many calories were in each food? How do they know what to eat?,” Kaplin asked.
Shade, he said, educates consumers about their personal target number—their “UV diet,” and notifies wearers at 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of their limit, which can lead to better choices about UV exposure.
 
For more information on NYSCC and its upcoming events, click here.