Ambre solaire enfant — ingredient safety report

• Irritation:Drying and barrier-disrupting in high-alcohol formulas with regular use.

Denatured ethanol gives products a fast-drying, weightless feel, but as a leading ingredient it degrades the skin barrier with repeated use — a poor match for dry, sensitive or eczema-prone skin.

• Allergy risk:Rising cause of contact and photoallergy, especially in children.
• Environmental impact:Accumulates in aquatic life; degrades into benzophenone over time.

A stabilizing UV filter that can degrade into benzophenone as products age, and an increasingly reported allergen — replace old tubes of octocrylene sunscreens.

• Allergy risk:Degradation products can cause photoallergy when unstabilized.

The main UVA filter in US sunscreens. Safe when properly stabilized, but it breaks down in sunlight into potentially sensitizing fragments in poorly formulated products.

• Environmental impact:Synthetic polymer counted as a microplastic under the EU restriction when in particle form.

A common film-forming polymer scrutinized under the EU's microplastics restriction; skin safety itself is well established.

• Irritation:Occasional transient stinging or redness on sensitive skin.

A mild food-grade preservative usually paired with sodium benzoate; well tolerated by most skin types.

• Environmental impact:Not biodegradable; accumulates in the environment via wash-off.

The workhorse silicone — inert and non-sensitizing on skin (even FDA-approved as a skin protectant), with persistence in the environment as its main criticism.

• Environmental impact:Poorly biodegradable; can remobilize heavy metals in waterways.

A metal-binding stabilizer that is safe on skin at the tiny amounts used; its criticism is environmental persistence.