Alicia Lartey adds more food for thought. “Our definition of Black is very broad as well. My Blackness is not the same as my mum’s Blackness, who has more melanin than me, so she wouldn’t burn as quickly as I do in the sun. The rapper Ice Spice, for example, I would categorize on the Fitzpatrick scale as 1-2, meaning she’s very, very light but is considered Black. So I do think that there are certain nuances,” she adds. In recent years, SPF made with Black and darker-skinned people in mind has become more prevalent on the market. Black-owned brands such as Black Girl Sunscreen and inclusive products such as Supergoop!’s Unseen Sunscreen ensure our communities are given adequate protection without having to deal with the dreaded white cast, and Black skincare content creators, such as Janet (@skinandbase) and Okikiola Emaleku (@theskinpriest), are doing the Lord’s work when it comes to encouraging daily sunscreen use in our communities. Happily, Lartey also reports that large strides are being made within the beauty industry to alleviate the “medical distrust” that many Black people have about some of the skincare advice aimed in our direction. For example, there are now many Black experts in the sunscreen formulation field.” “We have many Black experts in this field,” she says. “When I do product development, they so many Black people that I meet behind the scenes.”
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