DewscopeSunscreen3 min read
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch SPF 55 Review: Cheap, Light, Slightly Dated
A $11.99 chemical-filter lotion with a famously dry finish and an 80 minute water-resistance rating. It still works as an everyday face and body SPF, but it can pill under makeup, sting eyes and has been passed by newer, nicer face formulas.
Our verdict
A reliable, fast-absorbing SPF 55 for the money, and the best-known light lotion in a drugstore aisle. It is a body-first formula: on the face it can pill under makeup and sting if it runs into eyes. If you want the cheapest decent sunscreen, buy it. If you want the best daily face SPF, newer face formulas beat it.
Best forBudget daily SPF for body and a no-makeup face
What we liked
- SPF 55 broad spectrum with avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate and octocrylene
- Dry, non-greasy finish that absorbs quickly
- Water resistant for 80 minutes
- Oxybenzone-free and about $4 an ounce at list
What held it back
- Can pill or ball up when layered with powder or other products
- Stinging near the eyes is a frequent complaint
- Visible streaks on deeper skin if rubbed in thinly
- Four chemical filters, so not ideal for very reactive skin
Walk down any US drugstore sunscreen aisle and this blue-and-white tube is already in your hand. It has been there for about two decades, which makes it the control sample for every newer, fancier SPF. The question is whether the control still holds up as a daily face sunscreen, or whether it is now just the cheap default.
Our answer: it still does the job it was built for, and it is a better body sunscreen than a face one.
What the label actually says
The back of the tube lists four active filters: avobenzone at 3 percent, homosalate at 10, octisalate at 5 and octocrylene at 10. Together they make a broad spectrum SPF 55 lotion that the maker rates as water resistant for 80 minutes. Neutrogena also leads with its Helioplex technology, which is its name for stabilising avobenzone so that the UVA filter does not break down quickly in sunlight, and with a dose of vitamin E.
What it does not contain matters to some shoppers. The maker says it is free of oxybenzone and PABA, so it avoids the filter most often named in reef-safety debates, although it still uses chemical filters. If you have rosacea, a reactive barrier or a stinging history, a mineral formula is a safer start.
