A few weeks ago, I travelled to Hayman Island in the Whitsundays (my first time) to meet with Louise Laing and her husband Austin Laign-Herbert, who are the co-founders of People4Ocean sunscreen. Louise is also a respected marine biologist, currently working as the lead Reefscape Operations Coordinator on the KAUST Coral Restoration Initiative in Saudi Arabia.
Louise’s experience and expertise caused them to launch one of Australia’s first ‘ocean-friendly’ sun care brands, known for its mineral-based sunscreen, but also its purpose to protect and preserve ocean health (People4Ocean works ongoing with non-profit organisations).
Our oceans are living, breathing ecosystems that sustain life far beyond what most of us can even comprehend. We know sun protection is vital — especially living in Australia — but there’s also been a lot of discussion in the industry as to what constitutes an ‘ocean safe’ formula. Back in 2015, Hawaii banned the use of popular chemical filters (including oxybenzone, which was the recently contested in the Australian market) because of the direct link to coral bleaching — some of the industry is following suit, but it’s still a nuanced and important topic.
I was able to speak with Laing about ocean safe sunscreen, what it means and if we should be considering it when we’re choosing an SPF. She offered an informed, deeply considered perspective on how small changes in our daily SPF choices can help safeguard the seas we love.
To begin, tell me where the idea for People4Ocean came from?
It came from personal experience. Back when I was living in the Seychelles, I was part of a team growing corals in a nursery. At work it was common to wear as little sunscreen as possible to protect the young coral. Around the same time, in 2015, research came out of Hawaii highlighting some of the direct links between coral toxicity and sunscreen ingredients, specifically oxybenzone and octinoxate. Hawaii actually banned the two ingredients nation-wide.
This started a lot of conversations in the wider industry, but also made us think about sunscreen formulas personally and how they impacted our oceans and reef ecosystems. We looked for zinc-based options and, as you probably know, there can be a lot of trade-offs. Zinc is chalky, it can be sticky and hard to apply. We [my husband, team and I] were prepared to deal with all that, because we’ve witnessed damage to our coral reefs and we deeply care, but we realised consumers wouldn’t have the same opinions. People want sunscreen that’s seamless, light — they want sunscreen you can’t feel or see. So we decided it was necessary to pioneer something new.
There’s a lot of reasons why some people prefer zinc-based sunscreen, ranging from the environmental reasons you listed to skin issues such as sensitivity…
Yeah, exactly. Initially when we were buying and trying everything out there, we noticed most of the zinc-based formulas were marketed for babies and young children because zinc-based sunscreen is generally preferred by professionals for sensitive skin. It has soothing properties.
The conversations were similar when I was pregnant, actually — a lot of the ingredients in standard chemical-based sunscreens are suspected endocrine disruptors, meaning they can affect your hormones. It made me consider the fact that if I don’t want to use these products while pregnant, why would I want them at all?
The only issue, as you mentioned, is that zinc can be not as nice to use. I think of the thick zinc my parents used on me as a kid…
Zinc use is more entrenched in Australian culture: cricketers and surfers use thick white zinc sticks because it stays on in the waves or beating sun. It’s fine outdoors or for sport, but it’s not really suitable for every day…
So tell me about your product philosophy and what you mean when you call it ocean or reef conscious sunscreen?
The parameters were that the formula had to be ocean conscious — and yes, we’re cautious of the phrases ‘reef safe’ or ‘ocean safe’ — but our principle is that we don’t include any ingredients that have been proven to cause harm to our oceans in any way. We did a lot of research and vetting during the formulating phase, and I’m really proud with where we ended up.
Reef safe is a big statement to make, and it’s often used by brands as a marketing tool. People4Ocean being ocean conscious is more of a principle. There’s a lot of nuance around it. We have never and will never make statements like, ‘this product will never affect the reef’, because it’s too hard to quantify. And coral reefs are very sensitive, they’re subjected to so much stress from humans and the environment.
We strictly avoid anything that has been proven toxic to corals or marine environments in any capacity. Not just coral but animals — there’s been studies conducted on urchins, mussels, clown fish, dolphins, turtles. There’s been impacts detected on all these species. in the context of chemical sun filters.
That’s really concerning…
A lot of people live on the coast and expose themselves to the sun, and there’s also a lot more education around the importance of sun protection. But at the same time, we’re seeing the long-term implications of SPF ingredients in our oceans. Research has shown that sunscreen chemicals are pretty much in every single environment on Earth. You can find them in the Arctic Circle, on the Reef and in the tropics. They’ve been detected in Dolphin placenta in New Mexico… it’s because they don’t biodegrade.
So what do you use in your formulas?
There’s not a lot in our Bioactive Shield, it’s a very small ingredient listing for a sunscreen, actually. Chemical-based sunscreen formulas for instance can require filters, stabilisers and preservatives so they don’t degrade, water, fragrance to cover the scent of the filters and emollients. It just ends up being a lot of ingredients.
We use non-nano zinc oxide, because of the possibility that marine filter feeders, such as oysters, could potentially absorb the tiny particles of nano zinc. We don’t take that chance. Zinc oxide is broad spectrum, it’s been used cosmetically for years, and it’s recognised as safe and effective worldwide.
Our formulas are also water resistant, and water free. We also use micro algaes in most of our formulas, as they protect the skin from oxidative stress. But because they’re micro algae, they can be grown and harvested sustainably in ponds and lakes. We’re using what nature gives us.
Your brand is also known to support other not-for-profits that support ocean and reef health, proving it’s a bigger issue than any one business can tackle…
Yeah, it’s important to us as a sunscreen brand, and also to me as a marine biologist. It’s also a bigger conversation in beauty because almost all pipes eventually leave to the ocean. Even in densely populated areas, cities are connected by river ways. In some remote or third world locations, resorts are expelling grey water right into the ocean. This is the reality. I think the beauty and personal care industry should be seriously considering this in terms of their formulations.
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People4Ocean SPF 50+ Mineral Bioactive Shield
