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The Best Reef-Safe Sunscreen

By Nancy Redd
Updated
A tube of Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 sunscreen pictured with a tube of Thinksport Sunscreen SPF 50+.
Photo: Marki Williams

Although no sunscreen has been proven totally safe for aquatic wildlife—wearing a rash guard or other protective clothing while you snorkel is the best choice for coral as well as for your skin—some formulas are friendlier than others.

After researching the issue and testing 15 sunscreens that claim to be reef safe, we’ve found that Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 and Thinksport Sunscreen SPF 50+ have ingredients that scientists recommend in a reef-safe sunscreen, plus feel nicer and cost less than competitors.

Everything we recommend

Our pick

This formula includes ingredients that are thought to be safest for reefs. It rubs in easily, feels nice on skin, and doesn’t leave a white cast, though it does have a strong, fruity scent.

Runner-up

This sunscreen also uses non-nano zinc oxide, but it is more difficult to rub in than our pick and is more likely to leave a white cast. This sunscreen also has a strong, fruity scent.

What to look for


  • No oxybenzone

    Along with octinoxate, this active ingredient found in some chemical sunscreen formulas is banned for sale in some coastal areas.

  • Non-nano

    Reef-safe sunscreens are made with non-micronized versions of the active ingredients zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide.

  • SPF 30+

    A sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher is recommended by the American Academy of Dermatology.

  • Water resistance

    Even if you don’t plan to sweat or swim, water-resistant sunscreens have better staying power on skin.

Our pick

This formula includes ingredients that are thought to be safest for reefs. It rubs in easily, feels nice on skin, and doesn’t leave a white cast, though it does have a strong, fruity scent.

The main active ingredient in Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 is non-nano zinc oxide, the most coral-friendly option available in the US. Zinc oxide sunscreen might conjure images of lifeguards with white noses, but this one rubs in the clearest of those we tested with minimal effort. Once on skin, Thrive’s Bodyshield SPF 50 feels less greasy than many other sunscreens. This sunscreen typically costs about $4.30 per ounce ($3.80 if purchased in three-packs), which is less than the price of many of the other reef-safe sunscreens we considered, but much more than our other sunscreen picks.

Runner-up

This sunscreen also uses non-nano zinc oxide, but it is more difficult to rub in than our pick and is more likely to leave a white cast. This sunscreen also has a strong, fruity scent.

Thinksport Sunscreen SPF 50+ is also formulated with non-nano zinc oxide, but it’s a thicker formula that is less translucent on the skin. Many testers—particularly people with darker-hued skin—said this sunscreen left a white cast on their skin. This sunscreen costs around $3 per ounce in the largest-available size (6 ounces), which is less than our top pick.

We spoke to two scientists who have researched the effects of sunscreen on sea life: Craig Downs, executive director of the nonprofit Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia; and Roberto Danovaro, PhD, a marine ecologist at Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy. We drew on research from our main sunscreen guide, for which we spoke to nine dermatologists, a skin cancer educator, and a cosmetic chemist. We also read peer-reviewed papers on how sunscreen affects sea life.

If you’re headed on a reef-themed scuba or snorkel excursion, or even just to a beach in a region that’s home to coral habitats, you’ll lessen your environmental impact by using a sunscreen that skips ingredients studies have shown to be harmful to reefs in large quantities. In particular, some sunscreen ingredients can help viruses destroy corals faster, leading to bleaching, according to a 2008 paper published by Roberto Danovaro and colleagues.

The reefs most vulnerable to sunscreen damage are those in highly trafficked areas without a lot of water turnover, like coastal reefs or atolls (circular reef structures left behind after a coral island sinks), the authors of the paper note.

Some such locations and guided tours may even require reef-safe sunscreen. As reported in The New York Times, both Hawaii and Key West, Florida voted to ban the sale of sunscreens containing two ingredients found to be harmful to coral: oxybenzone and octinoxate. The laws took effect January 1, 2021. Hawaii’s state parks urge beachgoers to forgo certain ingredients, and a chain of hotels in Hawaii provides guests with complimentary reef-safe sunscreen. In Mexico, federal regulation requires use of reef-safe sunscreen in a handful of protected areas. And the nation of Palau became the first country to ban any reef-toxic sunscreen that contains any one of 10 prohibited chemicals.

More people are choosing to be as cautious as possible and use reef-safe sunscreen all the time, not just for reef safety. “Reef-safe sunscreen’s main ingredients are zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide, and they are the only sunscreens the FDA regards as generally ... safe and effective” at this time, said Dr. Lawrence Eichenfield, chief of the pediatric and adolescent dermatology division at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.

However, no sunscreen is foolproof when it comes to sea-life safety. Though good reef-safe sunscreens avoid ingredients that have been clearly demonstrated to cause damage to reefs in large doses, they may still contain trace amounts of the offending substances. Plus, scientists disagree about whether the replacement ingredients are actually safe for sea life.

Beyond that, reef-safe sunscreens, like all mineral sunscreens, are generally pricier and harder to rub in than their chemical and combination counterparts, making them potentially trickier to use on a daily basis to best protect your skin from UV rays. Note that chemicals from sunscreen aren’t the main source of worry for reefs—that would be climate change, a phenomenon bolstered by lots of other choices we make every day.

People testing different reef-safe sunscreens.
No coral or faux cacti were harmed in our testing. Photo: Rozette Rago

No label denotes a totally reef-safe sunscreen, and it’s unclear if such a thing exists. “Reef safer” is probably a better way to describe the options available.

In October 2016, Haereticus Environmental Laboratory executive director Craig Downs set out to create a reef-safe sunscreen label to affix to sunscreens that passed a toxicity test in his lab. But as the applications and samples from companies rolled in, he found that even sunscreens that met the mark in theory contained impurities and unlisted ingredients that have been known to cause damage to reefs.

That said, a few factors still help ensure that a sunscreen is safer for reefs than the competition.

  • Minerals only: The only two ingredients in a reef-safe sunscreen should be non-nano zinc oxide or non-nano titanium dioxide. Some sunscreens use a combination of the two. Particles under a hundred nanometers (in this context, considered “nano”) can be bad news for sea creatures that ingest them, like brine shrimp, and in turn the things that eat the shrimp. (Danovaro is still concerned about non-nano zinc oxide, but in the US it’s the best option we have.)
  • Water resistant: All sunscreens wash off in water, but the better they are at sticking to your skin, the less they will wind up in the ocean with the reefs.
  • Lotion, not spray: Each time you use a spray sunscreen at the beach, some ends up on the sand, which in turn ends up in the ocean. Most mineral sunscreens are lotions, anyway.
  • No parabens: These preservatives are another virus-assisting, reef-bleaching culprit. Sunscreens with parabens can be hard to identify, as parabens are often not listed in the ingredients. If a sunscreen advertises aloe or another plant component, it likely contains preservatives needed to keep that plant fresh, Downs told us, so don’t get those formulas if reef protection is your priority.
  • Free of other ingredients that may harm coral: Downs compiled a small slew of chemicals that aren’t great for reefs in Haereticus’s HEL List. In addition to oxybenzone and parabens, the list includes octinoxate, octocrylene, triclosan, para-aminobenzoic acid (known as PABA), camphor, and microbeads or other small bits of plastic.

Once an FDA-approved sunscreen passed these requirements for being reef safe, we considered the following factors:

  • SPF: The minimum SPF experts recommend to protect your skin is 30, though higher is preferred to make up for user error.
  • Price: For sunscreen to work well, you need to reapply—a lot. Experts recommend a shot-glass amount of lotion every two hours and after you come out of the water. We sought to find a sunscreen that wasn’t a ton of money per application (with reef-safe sunscreens, each full-body application can easily cost upwards of $6).
  • Size: Hauling one or two large bottles of sunscreen for a family day at the beach is easier than packing a bunch of small tins.
A tube of Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 sunscreen.
Photo: Marki Williams

Our pick

This formula includes ingredients that are thought to be safest for reefs. It rubs in easily, feels nice on skin, and doesn’t leave a white cast, though it does have a strong, fruity scent.

The Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50’s main ingredient is non-nano zinc oxide (23.5%), which experts say is the most sea- and coral-friendly active sunscreen ingredient available in the US. Our test panelists favored it over similar broad spectrum, water-resistant formulas for a few reasons.

It’s easy to apply. Thrive lotion rubs into the skin almost as well as chemical sunscreens, and it feels less greasy than many other lotions.

It doesn’t make skin appear chalky. None of the panelists who participated in our brand-concealed testing noted a white cast on their skin after application.

Mineral sunscreens are generally much harder to rub into skin than chemical sunscreens and leave more of a white cast. But we found that Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50 rubs in more like a chemical lotion than other reef-safe formulas we’ve tried. Video: Marki Williams

Thrive sunscreen’s SPF 50 rating is appealing because the minerals in physical sunscreens are not as efficient at repelling UV rays as chemical filters are at absorbing them, according to Dr. Henry Lim, a Detroit-based dermatologist and Skin Cancer Foundation spokesperson. Experts recommend looking for formulas labeled SPF 30 or more.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

This sunscreen only comes in one size (5.8 ounces) and typically costs about $4.30 per ounce ($3.80 if purchased in 3-packs), which is less than the price of many of the other reef-safe sunscreens we considered, but much more than our other sunscreen picks.

Thrive’s formula includes a strong, fruity-smelling added fragrance that takes quite a bit of time to dissipate, which bothered some testers.

A tube of Thinksport Sunscreen SPF 50+.
Photo: Marki Williams

Runner-up

This sunscreen also uses non-nano zinc oxide, but it is more difficult to rub in than our pick and is more likely to leave a white cast. This sunscreen also has a strong, fruity scent.

Thinksport Sunscreen SPF 50+ also fits our requirements for a reef-safe sunscreen: It’s made with non-nano zinc oxide (20%), it’s water resistant, and it’s a lotion. The formula is also paraben free and water resistant. Although it doesn’t feel as good or look as nice on skin compared with our pick, Thrive Bodyshield SPF 50, it is much more widely available. At around $3 per ounce in the largest-available bottle (6 ounces), this formula is less expensive than many reef-safe sunscreens we’ve considered.

Although Thinksport sells three versions of its sunscreen, they all have the same base formula; only the fragrances differ. The baby and kids versions are identical and have a slightly sweeter and—in our opinion—more off-putting, artificial smell than the original Thinksport sunscreen.

This formula feels slightly greasier than the competition. Video: Marki Williams

Each Thinksport variation comes in both family-size (6-ounce) and travel-size (3-ounce) bottles. Compared with the travel-size versions, the family-size bottles cost slightly less per ounce. Since each application of sunscreen requires about a shot glass’s worth of the lotion, a single person can expect to easily use up an entire 6-ounce bottle on a daylong trip to the beach.

Like many zinc-oxide-based sunscreens, the Thinksport lotion can leave a noticeable white cast. However, as we’ve found while panel-testing dozens of sunscreens over the past few years, some people find this opacity beneficial: It helps them to see where and how much they’ve applied.

Thinksport’s formula contains added fragrance, which gives it a strong, fruity smell that didn’t appeal to many of our testers.

Customer and test panelist reviews are mixed for All Good Sport Sunscreen SPF 30, a physical formula that contains less of the active ingredient than our picks, and it is comparatively more expensive, even in its largest size.

Testers with darker skin loved the All Good Tinted Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30, a reef-safe, face-specific formula. Its paint-like pigment was visible on testers with lighter skin.

Australian Gold Botanical Sunscreen SPF 50 leaves a whitish cast and has a polarizing scent.

Babo Botanicals Baby Skin Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 feels and smells good. But it’s almost double the price of our pick.

The highly rated Banana Boat Baby Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50+ left a strong white cast on most skin tones.

The Bare Republic Mineral Body Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50 has a watery, separated consistency that makes it difficult to apply.

Blue Lizard calls many of its sunscreens “reef friendly.” We like Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50+, a pick in our main sunscreen guide, though it contains nanoparticles of its active ingredients, which may be harmful to some aquatic wildlife in large quantities.

Testers either loved or hated Goddess Garden Sport Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50, which rubs in easily and has a strong cinnamon scent.

The near-odorless Hawaiian Tropic Mineral Skin Nourishing Milk SPF 50 rubs in easily and feels great on skin, but it’s more expensive than the other physical sunscreens that we recommend and only comes in a 3-ounce bottle.

Hello Bello Kid’s Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50 has the same active ingredient (20% non-nano zinc oxide) for around half the cost of our pick, but it’s frequently out of stock.

The most affordable of our mineral sunscreen testing pool, SPF Rx Sunscreen SPF 40—which is also available in a gallon jug—is heavy-feeling and chalky-looking.

TotLogic Sunscreen SPF 30 is also slightly more matte than our runner-up pick. It smells fruitier, too.

Shannon Palus contributed to reporting in 2018. This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.

  1. Craig Downs, executive director of Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, phone interview, May 1, 2018

  2. Roberto Danovaro, PhD, marine ecologist at Polytechnic University of Marche, email interview, May 1, 2018

  3. Mehmet Ates et al., Comparative evaluation of impact of Zn and ZnO nanoparticles on brine shrimp (Artemia salina) larvae: effects of particle size and solubility on toxicity, Environmental Science: Process and Impacts, November 28, 2012

  4. Roberto Danovaro et al., Sunscreens Cause Coral Bleaching by Promoting Viral Infections, Environmental Health Perspectives, April 1, 2008

  5. Lawrence Eichenfield, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, phone interview, April 23, 2021

  6. Dr. Henry Lim, MD, former president of the American Academy of Dermatology, email interview, June 26, 2019

Meet your guide

Nancy Redd

Nancy Redd is a senior staff writer covering health and grooming at Wirecutter. She is a GLAAD Award–nominated on-air host and a New York Times best-selling author. Her latest nonfiction book, The Real Body Manual, is a visual health and wellness guide for young adults of all genders. Her other books include Bedtime Bonnet and Pregnancy, OMG!

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