As a kid, the feeling of the cold ocean water against the warmth I felt from the sun made trips to the beach the perfect vacation. Before my family made these trips, we would stop at the store to pick up whatever items we needed: sunglasses, beach chairs, and other necessities. I figured that with all the time I would be spending under the sun, I should buy sunscreen. After as much careful consideration as a 12 year old with no prior knowledge on sunscreen could make, I chose a sunscreen from one of my favorite skincare brands. On the day of our trip, I put a small amount on my fingers, applied it to my face, and continued preparing to leave. A few minutes later, I went to the mirror to do my hair. To my shock, my face was completely covered in a layer of white. I continued to rub the residue into my skin to make sure I had rubbed it in properly, but eventually realized that my attempts were useless. The problem wasn’t the way I applied the sunscreen, but with the shade of skin I applied it to. The white cast the sunscreen left behind was painfully obvious on my dark skin. Of course, I was disappointed. How could I have known that something as simple as protecting my skin wasn’t as attainable to me as it was to those with lighter skin tones? Why should I have to put in more time and effort into finding a product that will work for me simply because my skin is darker?

Melanoma is a deadly skin cancer, with thousands of people expected to die from it in the U.S. every year. The leading cause of melanoma is exposure to the UV rays from the sun. A common misconception is that those with darker skin tones don’t need protection from the sun due to the melanin in their skin. Though melanin does offer protection from UV rays, it doesn’t offer enough to fully protect from conditions like melanoma. Even though the proportion of Black people who suffer from melanoma is smaller than other groups, Black people who suffer from melanoma are three times more likely to die than white people who are diagnosed. Yet, it’s difficult to find sunscreens that are meant to protect us from this condition. When Black people aren’t properly represented in the medical field, problems like these can be easily overlooked. A clear example of underrepresentation is how uncommon it is for Black skin to be shown in medical textbooks. Skin conditions like melanoma appear differently on darker skin tones, and when that isn’t shown in the textbooks studied by those who treat us, it makes it harder to diagnose us properly. For melanoma, a late diagnosis means a higher chance of death.

Black Girl Sunscreen, created in 2016 by Shontay Lundy, was formulated to provide people of color a sunscreen guaranteed to protect their skin from the harmful UV rays that can lead to melanoma. Unlike many sunscreens, Black Girl Sunscreen contains natural oils that completely sink into the skin, leaving no white cast for those with darker skin tones. The sunscreen’s natural ingredients work to treat and prevent sunburns, all while soothing and moisturizing the skin for an incredible look and feel. Black Girl Sunscreen has helped eliminate the struggle of finding a sunscreen that is efficient for dark-skinned people. To me, Black Girl Sunscreen represents a step in the right direction. It means bringing awareness to the issues people of color face in the health field and finding solutions. It means working to ensure that products necessary for humans’ health also cater to people of color. Black Girl Sunscreen inspires me to work towards increasing the representation of those with darker skin tones in the medical field, which is imperative to improve the diagnosis of skin conditions in people of color.

 

written by Chinenye Ilodianya

1st Place winning entry for ACL Newspaper Club’s 2023 Genius Gizmos Contest