This summer I ran out of favourite sunscreen, Piz Buin, and to my dismay I found out that it is not sold in New Zealand anymore!
I even contacted SC Johnson (the importer) and asked why.
They sent me an email saying “sorry, we weren’t selling enough so we cancelled the product line”.
I couldn’t find a single bottle of Piz Buin in any NZ shops online or offline after a week of searching so I bought a few bottles from a UK website and they just arrived!
It’s my favourite sunscreen for 4 reasons:
- I trust it to keep me from being burnt. I’ve never been sunburnt using it (whereas I’ve been burnt using other sunscreen brands)
- It doesn’t smell terrible (like most sunscreens do), nor is it too perfumed
- It doesn’t turn your skin grey when you put it on (like some other sunscreens do)
- It really is waterproof (I spend the whole day in the sun and reapply only once)
Is it your favourite too?
Well this is your chance because I purchased a few extra bottles (to spread the cost of shipping) and now I’m selling them on TradeMe:
SORRY, SOLD OUT! http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=1603691 SORRY, SOLD OUT!
This sun screen is awesome. And I’m the only person in New Zealand that is selling it. So be quick, because I’m sure to sell out soon.
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Yep, just sold out.
If you are still keen, leave your contact details below, and if I make another order I’ll contact you.
Like you, I was becoming increasing annoyed that I couldn’t get a sunscreen that would stop me getting burnt. I used Piz Buin for years and even their SPF 8, reapplied during the day, was better than SPF 30 in other brands. It didn’t rub off and after a quick google search just now, I discovered why.
Helioplex (the good stuff in Piz Buin) is made by Neutrogena and is a mix of avobenzone and oxybenzone. The problem with most brands (like the Coppertone SPF30 I’m using now) is that avobenzone, while being a very good UV screen, evaporates easily, reducing the efficiency of the sunscreen. Coppertone has only avobenzone in its ingredients, which makes the idea of an avobenzone based SPF30 product technically impossible in NZ conditions.
If the theoretical burn time here in summer was 5 minutes, you’d expect 150 minutes of protect from SPF30. But avobenzone alone can’t last that long under that intensity. Plus you’d be sweating, swimming etc which would reduce protection time further. After an hour, protection has evaporated and you start to burn. You had SPF30 protection, but only for a third of the expected time. It would only be SPF30 if it was winter type sun intensity. This is the problem I have experienced recently.
Helioplex adds oxybenzone to the mix, which stabilizes the avobenzone so it lasts longer. Neutogena brand might be a solution to the loss of Piz Buin. Aveeno also have the same thing, but they call it “Active Photobarrier Complex”. Neutrogena’s parent company are Johnson and Johnson, who previously supplied Piz Buin.
I’ve seen Neutrogena stuff at the super market at affordable prices. I have always been suspicious of the SPF 100+ claims, but maybe there is something to it. I’m going to give it a try. Can’t be worse than what I have.
Let me know how your experiment goes!
Would be really keen to get 2 or3 bottles of Piz Buin in sun lotion
15 medium
Understood. I’ll look into that Greg and get back to you.