I still find it odd that more companies don’t share their SPF testing results with consumers—or at least the name of the lab they use. I think it seems suspicious that they don’t share these test results. But then I asked my dad what he thought. His answer surprised me and made me consider the other side of things: are companies intentionally choosing not to share their SPF clinical testing results with the public, not because they fear that the test results are illegitimate, but…

Sunscreen is a mysterious topic, riddled with lots of cryptic acronyms…SPF, UVA, UVB, WTF? Plus, it’s gotten kind of a bad rap. Consumer Reports released a controversial study that found that many SPF claims did not hold up against independent, third-party testing. No wonder many people don’t bother to wear sunscreen—the labels are confusing, it’s expensive, it turns your skin white, it smells, and it might not even work.

So remember how I had a sunscreen awakening of sorts last week? The FDA requires manufacturers to provide clinical data in order to back up their SPF claims, but as consumers, we have no real way to verify the quality of the testing labs that the manufacturers use.