Skincare with Friends 86: Dr Julian Sass (Scamander14) and the Sunscreen Database Plus their Top Sunscreen Picks 

Dr.  Julian Sass has a phd is biomathematics and statistics and currently is director of research and development and education for a skincare brand. He also creates skincare education content for his social media channels, namely on the topics of sunscreens and skincare ingredients. 

We love his sunscreen reviews and we couldn’t wait to ask him a load of questions. We are so grateful to Julian for giving up his time for us, show him some support by visiting his instagram and following.

Tell us how you got into skincare but specifically sunscreen? We tell everyone we meet about the sunscreen database!

Julian’s sunscreen database catalogues products by certain features- water resistance, alcohol, fragrance

When did Julian get into skincare, he had dry skin and acne, in his early 20s trying Lush, Ocean Salt

Julian’s interview with Nadine Baggott- 10/10 Best Spfs Live with Julian Sass

Why do you think that some brands still insist on declaring their mineral sunscreens as having no white cast, even going so far as to use people of colour in their advertising and marketing, when they clearly leave the greyest of grey casts?

Part of this is the marketing team being unaware of how much product should be actually use. It’s a disconnect rather than a anything more underhand.

You donate products that don’t suit you to shelters/homeless charities.

(Not a question just a point, was thinking we can maybe shout out Beauty Banks in the UK for the same thing?) Sali Jones’s BeautyBanks.org.uk, you can donate at some Superdrugs in the UK, TheHygeineBank.com via Boots, ToiletriesAmnesty.org accept new unopened toiletries to shelters and hostels. Julian donates to friends and also local women’s shelters.

Do you see the FDA changing their outmoded stance on their approval process changing in the near future? 

The process is outmoded in that because in the US sunscreens are classed as drugs. In America drugs have to be tested on animals before they get to market. Tinosorb S is going through some alternate testing that will hopefully get through, maybe in 2-3 years.

Julian Sass’s 3 desert island SPF picks 

Julian’s favourite types of sunscreen for darker skin are generally chemical but his favourite facial spf is a mixed chemical/physical-

Overall favourite– Isa Knox UV Sun Pro Isa Knox UV Sun Pro 365 Extreme Sun Fluid £48 for 100ml + 70ml from Stylevana diff to get uk 

For body– Eucerin sensitive protect dry touch £19.50 for 200ml  

For Top ups– the AHC Masters Air Rich Sunstick non shiny not greasy, invisible finish and water resistant

Are there any soon to be discontinued products that you are going to miss? Did you ever get to meet Brandon Truaxe?

Yes! Loved Hylamide, didn’t meet Brandon but saw Nadine Baggotts interview Faves from niod- sdsm, survival, modulating glucosides

Where do you stand on fragrance in skincare? 

Nia: to my mind, it’s a known allergen and I feel that if a brand puts it in their skincare, then it doesn’t have the consumers skin health at it’s heart. But that’s probably just my sensitive  old lady skin skin talking. Julian doesn’t mind fragrance as a rule but finds some sunscreens have a scent that is way too strong.

Eye sting question! Do you have any idea what the thing is that causes the sting? It seems different for everyone. 

We don’t know, it varies from person to person, you can’t necessarily pin it down to a particular ingredient, for example, there are slightly different versions of octocrylene from different manufacturers, and it might be a specific version that causes the problem. It seems to be the older filters that are more likely to cause eye sting issues, like octocrylene, Avobenzone and octobenzene. The newer filters- Tinosorbs and Meroxyls don’t have as many reports of eye sting. You may well be less likely to get the eye sting with a European or Asian sunscreen. All sunscreens are tested for opthamlogical safety

LRP versus Eucerin – who would win?!

Julian prefers Eucerin. La Roche Posay is a great brand and very innovative but the sunscreens tend to be more dewy and greasy. Whereas Eucerin has more choice of finish.

I’ve been involved in creating studies before and they never ended up publishing because I could see flaws in the data or design or because of bias. It’s made me cynical in a way. What are the pros and cons of clinical studies, and how can we spot good vs bad ones? 

All skincare ingredients will have gone through some testing of varying degrees of quality to find out if they have an effect. The ideal is to study the effects of a final product, not just an ingredient. You will find that the bigger brands with more money are more likely to carry out these types of studies and have some data to show for it. Which doesn’t mean that small brands don’t have effective products, they just can’t afford to carry out expensive studies. In Korea, brands have to perform certain studies and pass certain standards before they can display claims like “anti wrinkle”