Lately, whenever we see The Ordinary pop up on our Instagram feed, we hold our breath. Hopefully, the post means that the affordable, transparent skincare brand [2] is launching a new item such as its famous £8 retinol [3] or editor-approved £6 hyaluronic acid serum [4]. On the other hand, it could be an erratic post by brand CEO Brandon Truaxe, who runs The Ordinary's social channels. (Truaxe has been criticised [5] for his unfiltered captions and accused of bullying Deciem employees). Thankfully, The Ordinary's latest post is something to get excited about — a new line of SPFs, which the brand has never given us before.
Allure first reported the news [6] that The Ordinary will launch five new sunscreens. According to Brandon's caption, the brand has been hard at work creating SPFs that pass cosmetics regulations in its "homeland" of Canada. He went on to write, "When The Ordinary Suncare is finally in our hands and yours, we can all see our Sun, the star that gives us all life, as our friend again."
The post continued, "I have been an enemy of the Sun and a friend of the Sun in the past few months to learn what should be obvious to all of us: just like anything in life, we just need to learn to respect our Sun, its rays, and its hard work instead of fearing the most life-giving force in our solar system."
Though there's no word on the pricing, given the fact that The Ordinary's products all retail for around under $15, we're assuming all of the options will be fairly affordable. The line will launch later in May.
A quick glance at the post confirms that at least three of the sunscreens will come in SPFs of 15, 30, and 35. That's not super high (many opt for an SPF of 50 or up to 100), but natural beauty enthusiasts [9] will probably cheer that these are mineral (as opposed to chemical) sunscreens.
As Tata Harper [10], founder of the eponymous natural beauty brand and skincare expert, told us last year [11], "Minerals, including zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, are big particles that reflect light, so they don't become less effective over time like the absorbers . . . I prefer mineral sunscreen because of the way it works as a physical barrier and because of the potential health risks linked to chemical sunscreens, particularly oxybenzone, which can affect hormones and cause allergies."
Since mineral sunscreen is a bit thinner than the normal kind, it is recommended that you reapply more frequently — which isn't too tough of an idea to stomach when you chose an affordable option like The Ordinary's upcoming launch.
