The white cast!

Where did the sunscreen white cast get its name from?

The white cast or the white mask like appearance that happened when people used the primitive forms of plain mineral sunscreens, got its name from the Kabuki mask!

The Kabuki is a Japanese theatrical art form, where artists wear heavy make up with exaggerated facial expressions, much like a mime show! And the ingredients of this make up included white lead, cornstarch, rice powder among other things. Once people discovered that white lead was very dangerous to health, they moved to zinc powder, and more recently to titanium, to be able to have the white base for the mime makeup. And when zinc and titanium oxides were discovered to have sun protection abilities, the early versions of these mineral sunscreens were so unrefined, that using them reminded people of a Kabuki mask with its white cast appearance.

Since then, there have been multiple refinements in particle size and coating, and complexing with other agents. All of this has helped to reduce the problem of the sunscreen white cast. But for individuals with deeper skin tones, the shade mismatch with mineral sunscreen remains to be addressed, making chemical sunscreens very popular for this group of people. A very good option for those looking to avoid chemical sunscreen for any reason, including not having a white cast, is to explore tinted mineral sunscreens. Let us talk about tinted sunscreens in the upcoming article.