What were the earliest forms of sun protection?
Ancient Egyptians used extracts of jasmine, rice bran and lupine to block the sun, while ancient Greeks turned to olive oil, according to Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. In Japan, women used lead or mercury-based powders around AD 700., and in the 1600s, European women wore velvet face coverings and applied lead-based cosmetics to keep their skin pale. Wide-brimmed hats and parasols date back to ancient Egyptian and Chinese civilizations, and zinc oxide was used in India as a sun protector in 500 B.C. Native Americans used pine needles, flowers and sunflower oil.
When was sun block invented?
A German doctor developed a quinine ointment in 1891 to guard from UV radiation, according to the Smithsonian Institute. In 1896, German physician, Paul Unna, made the first correlation between skin cancer and sun exposure. In 1910, Unna’s chestnut extract-sunscreen paste was sold as Zeozon, later used during World War II by German forces.
In the late 1920s, according to a Baylor University journal, Australian chemist Milton Blake invented a “sunburn preventative cream,” which led to his founding of Hamilton Laboratories in 1932, which continues to make sun care products.
What were the first commercial sunscreen successes?
French chemist Eugène Schueller, founder of the cosmetics company L’Oréal, commissioned his team to develop a product to fight sunburns, according to Britain's Science Museum. In 1936, the product Ambre Solaire, using benzyl salicylate, hit the market, though it was more tanning oil than sunscreen.
Many also credit Franz Greiter as an early inventor of sunscreen. The Baylor University journal credits the Swiss chemist with creating Glacier Cream (aka “Gletscher Crème”) in 1946, inspired after receiving a severe sunburn while mountain climbing in 1938. The cream was sold under the still-existing brand Piz Buin, named for the mountain where he received that fateful burn.
Benjamin Green, an American pharmacist and veteran, developed a thick sun protector called “red vet pet” using red veterinary petroleum worn by World War II soldiers, the Baylor journal notes. Later, Green added cocoa butter and coconut oil and went on to found Coppertone.
