# Melanin Sunscreen *Black innovators in sun protection have challenged the myth that melanin makes sunscreen unnecessary by building formulas, campaigns, and scientific evidence that speak directly to darker skin tones and erase white-cast bias from the market.* > Black's Encyclopedia — the sourced record of Black American life. > Portal: Science & Invention · Status: In review · Revised: July 25, 2026 · Revisions: 1 > Canonical: https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/melanin-sunscreen ## Questions this record answers - Do Black people really need sunscreen, or does melanin make it unnecessary? - Who created sunscreen brands specifically for darker skin tones? - How have Black chemists and founders reduced white cast and expanded shade ranges in sun protection? - Where did the myth that Black people don’t need sunscreen come from, and how has it been debunked? ## Summary Melanin does not replace sunscreen; Black skin burns, tans unevenly, and develops skin cancer, and Black chemists, dermatologists, and founders have built sunscreens that both protect melanin-rich skin and correct a market built around lighter complexions. They have led the push to debunk the myth that Black people “don’t need” sun protection, while designing formulas and campaigns that center dark skin as the standard rather than an afterthought. ## Melanin, UV Radiation, and the Myth of Immunity Melanin is a natural pigment that absorbs and scatters ultraviolet (UV) radiation, giving darker skin some additional protection compared to lighter skin, but that protection is partial, not absolute; Black people can and do develop sunburn, photoaging, and skin cancers including melanoma. The widespread belief that “Black people don’t need sunscreen” grew out of medical neglect and racist science that treated white skin as the norm and under-studied disease in Black populations, combined with a cosmetics industry that formulated and tested products primarily on lighter complexions while marketing tanning and sun care almost exclusively to white consumers. Black dermatologists and public health researchers have documented that melanoma in Black patients is often diagnosed at later stages and has worse outcomes, not because melanin prevents the disease, but because patients and clinicians alike internalized the myth that dark skin was inherently protected and therefore did not require screening or sunscreen. In clinical guidance and public campaigns, these physicians have emphasized that melanin may change how damage appears—it can mask redness and make burns look like “just getting darker”—but it does not prevent UV-induced DNA damage or the cumulative effects of sun exposure, reinforcing that sunscreen is a necessary part of care for all skin tones. ## Cosmetic Bias: White Cast and Limited Shades From the mid‑20th century onward, commercial sunscreens were formulated around the appearance and needs of lighter skin, using inorganic filters like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide that are highly effective but leave a visible white or chalky film on melanated skin. As sun care marketing targeted beachgoing and tanning cultures coded white, darker skin tones were either ignored or presented as already “protected,” so companies did not invest in shade-inclusive testing or in the cosmetic elegance of sunscreens on Black skin. The resulting “white cast” made daily sunscreen use socially uncomfortable and aesthetically unattractive for Black consumers, especially in professional and beauty contexts, reinforcing low uptake even among those aware of the medical benefits. Recent material science research has begun to redesign mineral filters—for example, re-engineered zinc oxide particles that maintain UV protection while significantly reducing visible whiteness on the skin—validating what Black users and founders long demanded: protection without masking or distorting their natural color. ## Black-Founded Sunscreen Brands for Darker Skin Tones Black founders have moved from simply critiquing the market to building alternatives, creating sunscreen lines that are explicitly formulated for dark and deeply melanated skin and challenging both medical neglect and cosmetic bias at once. In 2016, American entrepreneur Shontay Lundy launched **Black Girl Sunscreen**, a brand built around the premise that Black women—and by extension, other people of color—need sun protection that disappears into their skin without white cast while honoring natural textures and tones. Lundy has described her own experience of seeing little-to-no sunscreen options marketed to women who look like her, and she framed the company’s mission around increasing sun safety and visibility in communities of color rather than simply selling a product. Black Girl Sunscreen’s formulas rely on blends of organic (chemical) UV filters and emollients chosen so that the lotion goes on clear, works under makeup, and avoids the ashy residue that turned many Black consumers away from traditional sunscreens, turning the absence of white cast from a minor cosmetic detail into a core design requirement. Through campaigns, interviews, and educational materials, Lundy and her team explicitly call out the myth that Black people do not need sunscreen and present their customers’ use of sun protection as both self-care and a corrective to generations of erasure from dermatologic research and beauty marketing. ## Black Dermatologists and Chemists as Corrective Authors Alongside founders, Black dermatologists have been central in correcting the record, publishing guidance on sun protection in skin of color and advocating that dermatology training include specific instruction on diagnosis, cancer risks, and cosmetic outcomes in Black patients. These clinicians have pushed for sunscreen trials and cosmetic assessments that include diverse Fitzpatrick skin types, arguing that efficacy alone is not enough—products must be cosmetically acceptable on dark skin or they will never be used consistently in the communities that need them. Black chemists and formulation scientists working in both major cosmetics houses and independent brands have taken on the technical problem of white cast by adjusting particle size, mixing filters, and incorporating pigments or oils that allow sunscreens to blend seamlessly with brown and Black skin, even when mineral filters are used. In doing so, they transform sunscreen from a product tolerated despite its appearance into something that aligns with Black aesthetic standards, linking scientific problem‑solving with cultural respect. ## Marketing, Education, and the Reframing of Sun Care The marketing of melanin‑friendly sunscreens is itself part of the innovation: campaigns center Black bodies in swimsuits, natural hair, and everyday settings, normalizing sunscreen as a daily tool for Black health rather than an exotic accessory for vacationing whites. Founders like Lundy use social media, interviews, and partnerships with Black influencers and healthcare professionals to deliver direct educational messages—explaining skin cancer statistics, dispelling myths about “too dark to burn,” and demonstrating application on a range of dark tones. These campaigns also confront colorism and the fear that sunscreen or shade-seeking is “acting white” or rejecting Blackness, reframing sun care as an investment in the longevity and beauty of melanin rather than a denial of it. By positioning Black consumers not as an afterthought but as the primary audience, Black-led sunscreen brands and their allied clinicians invert the historic gaze of the industry: instead of asking whether a product works on dark skin, they build it for dark skin and then extend its use to others. ## Origins and Ongoing Debunking of the Melanin Myth The idea that Black people do not need sunscreen emerged from a mix of observable differences in sunburn patterns—less redness, more tanning—in darker skin, combined with racist assumptions that Black bodies were naturally suited for labor under harsh sun and therefore did not require protection or respite. Medical literature for much of the 20th century either ignored skin cancer in Black populations or treated it as an anomaly, which meant public health campaigns, product labels, and physician advice rarely named Black people as at risk, reinforcing community-level beliefs that sunscreen was “not for us.” In beauty and advertising, the sunscreen user was almost always white or light-skinned, while Black people appeared in sun imagery either as background or as already “bronze,” suggesting that melanin was a complete defense and that protection would be redundant. Black innovators and clinicians now explicitly debunk this: they present data on UV damage and cancer risk in skin of color, use clear language that “melanin does not make sunscreen unnecessary,” and embed that argument in products, packaging, and public conversation so that each bottle functions as both protection and a counter-narrative to erasure. Together, these scientific, commercial, and educational efforts reposition melanin not as a shield that excuses neglect, but as a valued trait that deserves intentional, tailored protection—and they name Black people as authors of that shift in sun care history, not merely its beneficiaries. ## Sources 1. Shontay Lundy, “Shontay Lundy, Creator and Founder of BlackGirlSunscreen,” Black Girl Sunscreen (company site bio), accessed 2024. 2. “Shontay Lundy,” Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) member profile, CEW, accessed 2024. 3. Shontay Lundy, quoted in brand education materials, Black Girl Sunscreen, accessed 2024. 4. Shontay Lundy, biographical entry, Wikipedia, last updated 2024. 5. M. P. Pathak and D. A. Pathak, “Sunscreen: A Brief Walk Through History,” Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, 2021, via PubMed Central. 6. “Sunscreen,” general entry, Wikipedia, last updated 2024. 7. America Comes Alive, “The Invention of Sunscreen,” America Comes Alive, accessed 2024. 8. UCLA Newsroom, “UCLA Scientists Develop Mineral Sunscreen Without the White Cast,” UCLA, July 2026. ## Related records - https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/black-girl-sunscreen - https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/skin-of-color-dermatology - https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/sunscreen - https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/colorism-in-beauty-standards --- Cite as: Black's Encyclopedia, "Melanin Sunscreen," revised July 25, 2026. https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/melanin-sunscreen Text under the Black's Record License: cite the record, keep attribution attached, cite the revision date.