Hi Josh,

I saw your post on another topic regarding the ineffective UVA protection resulting from the avobenzone and octoxinate combination in sunscreens. I'm quite bummed by this, as I went through my Sephora Sun Safety kit and found that a number of them contained this combination, including the two that were my favorites! I looked a little further and I've found this mentioned on other sites (though one site said that formulations that contain octocrylene will stabilize the other two ingredients--I haven't looked further into that claim because my two favorites do NOT contain octocrylene and I care less about the others).

My question for you is--does this combination give one next to NO UVA protection, or is it just not something I would want to depend on in the summer? Are they sufficient for a rainy Seattle winter, perhaps? It seems like a waste to toss these, but I also want to protect my skin.

Thanks for any help you can give,

S