The Surprising but Obvious Reason Baby Sunscreen Is Better Than Your Regular Stuff

My skin is Drake-level sensitive and when in doubt about ingredients, the safest route has always been baby products. For example, Johnson's Baby Head-to-Toe Wash, which has a lovely hypoallergenic fragrance and is dye-free/soap-free, has always been a go-to. It's ridiculously gentle.

Finger, Lip, Skin, Forehead, Shoulder, Wrist, Joint, Gesture, Temple, Neck,

So with summer approaching, I began to wonder if I should be going the baby-safe route for sunscreen. For one, nothing on this earth is more precious than baby skin, so having the same kind of no-nonsense shield over my own skin has to make it a solid anti-ager. And then there's the broke-girl appeal of it being more economical. But at what cost? For clarity on the matter, I asked Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, founder and director of Capital Laser & Skin Care and assistant clinical professor, Department of Dermatology at the George Washington University Medical Center.

"Baby sunscreen and sensitive skin formulations of adult sunscreen both use the active ingredient of zinc and maybe titanium," she explains. "This is a physical sunscreen ingredient in that it sits on the surface of the skin and doesn't get absorbed through the skin, which is why it's safe for babies. The only difference between the baby formulations and the adult version is the cosmetic 'elegance' of the product. The adult version has smaller particles of zinc or titanium so they go on clear and not whitish."