Vanicream Sunscreen, Sensitive Skin, SPF 30 4 oz (113 g)

TOTAL DISSAPPOINTMENT - STINKS

Please bear with me on a this long review, if you are allergic or sensitive - I had a terrible experience with the Vanicream sunscreens.

I love some of Vanicream products,...Read complete review

Please bear with me on a this long review, if you are allergic or sensitive - I had a terrible experience with the Vanicream sunscreens.

I love some of Vanicream products, and when I had to go fragrance-free and watch out for ingredients due to sudden severe allergies, I was so very lucky to find Vanicream, I had no problems with any of their products until now and I let that fool me into being careless when trying their sunscreen.

This is not fragrance free once you apply it. It has no added scent, or an actual purposeful fragrance, however, it stinks like chemicals or metal or both, a very metallic smell that does not go away. It smelled for two days on my skin after three hot showers. Two showers the first day, scorching hot water and first thing the next morning because it still smelled so bad. The third day after another shower, I thought it was gone because I did not smell it-however, I started sweating doing some housework and it was pouring out of my pores with that smell again and I was so sick from it already, I couldn't handle more of the smell. I didn't find out til I used it again that it was the cause of the smell, and the reaction to it.

Why am I so annoyed about this specific product? When a regular company tries to go fragrance free, it is understandable that they would not realize that simply not adding fragrance would not actually make it not smell like anything because if you aren't sensitive or highly allergic or in the business of knowing what happens to people who have this problem - you do your best but don't completely understand true "Fragrance free" is NO SMELL not a lack of added fragrance. It bugs me when it says fragrance free and it isn't but I can understand the lack of understanding-so to speak and therefore recognize that I am taking a risk that it might not be an accurate claim, so I tread lightly.

BUT NOT VANICREAM. This is what they do-this is their business, they absolutely know better and have been very successful at being truly fragrance free with many other products. Especially their soap which is not just fragrance free and free of everything I am allergic to but it actually makes you clean, which many soaps/shampoos/deoderants in that category do not. That is what makes it so completely frustrating.

I realize some people in search of fragrance free may not be sensitive like me, they just don't want additional smells competing with whatever they have on, or they specifically hate sunscreen smells so the fact that it does not smell like sunscreen makes it suitably fragrance free, or they are sensitive like me, just not to whatever is particularly smelling up this product. But for me, it stinks to high heaven once it is on and I am better off with some of the other fully fragrance free sunscreens from other companies or even an occasional one that has a tolerable scent that for some reason doesn't make me sick. This doesn't just smell bad, it made me very sick and made me break out worse than any other sunscreen I've tried since I became highly allergic/hypersensitive to certain ingredients/smells/products/chemicals. It was even worse than Alba, which was really pretty bad.

On top of the stink, everytime I used this (I bought SPF 15, SPF30, Sport, and Face-because I trusted Vanicream so much that I thought there was no way I would have a problem with any of these and was so excited when I saw them because I finally solved my sunscreen problems), everytime I use any of these products I breakout wherever I put it, except my legs. All over my face, my neck, my chest etc. It clogged my pores that took a week to get clean, caused bad breakouts that re-appeared every time I sweat, I got more pimples an hour later. It's just nasty and horrible for my skin. I say "everytime" because I tried them separately because they are a little different from eachother and until I paid close attention, (used each one once-with face and spf15 on body on same day). Each time, the smell was unbearable once it was on my skin but it took that last time to realize it was the Vanicream making me so sick and making me break out, and stinking for days on end. I had assumed it wasn't the Vanicream the first time, it had to be a random reaction to the smell I kept smelling on a particularly allergic day or something. But the Second time, I had all the same problems with the non-sport spf 30 and realized it could be this horrible smell I can't get rid of-my husband even said, aren't you testing a new sunscreen? Could that be it? I waived him off like he didn't know what he was talking about and explained that although something stinks something awful, it can't be the Vanicream-it's fragrance free and the tube barely smells at all - it can't be what is causing all these problems and can't possibly stink this bad once you apply it to your skin. The two uses were a week apart so remembering what I did the week before when this same smell and same reactions occurred was difficult and I just thought I would have realized it if it was the same day I used the Vanicream sunscreen. But the face did me in-the third product convinced me. I was careful this time since I was now considering that it was perhaps the Vanicream-that the smell is strong once it gets applied and rubbed-in and kept track of everything I used, ate, drank, everything like when I try out a product that I am not familiar with (which I should have done with Vanicream in the first place) When the same thing happened a third time, each a week apart, same smell, same allergic systemic reaction, same breakouts that kept getting worse when I would sweat, all the same everything, I knew he was right from the week before when I had all the same problems and could not figure out what caused it all and he was right.

My mild reactions to scents/fragrances/chemicals can be just a terrible pounding headache, nausea, rash etc. or typical allergies-sinus issues, runny eyes, etc But some products (like vanicream sunscreens) give me a full systemic reaction-a few hours after exposure/application I get "heebie jeebies" cold sweats, restless achy legs, shakes, lose all my color and go pale, dizzy/faint-like feeling. No other Vanicream product has ever done this, I thought I was totally safe. When I try a new product, I only use one new product in a 3 day period and carefully track anything physical that happens so I know if it is safe for me or if I should avoid it in the future. Because of Vanicream's reputation and having used it's products before, it never occurred to me that it would have any kind of scent, even the mildest of smells AT ALL, certainly no ingredients that would give me any kind of major reaction. But I was wrong and hubby was right. The smell might not be strong when you open the tube, but when you lather it all over your body, it is much different that taking a slight whiff of a tube with the cap off. Maybe it's not just a quantity of product that makes the smell so strong as opposed to a small opening at the cap, maybe it is a change that occurs when it is applied to the skin, I do not know. I do know that I have only smelled that smell again once since I stopped using it and that was when my sister used it (I gave her all the bottles when I realized I couldn't use it myself) and just a passing smell of it on her at an outdoor gathering and it reminded me of those three miserable times I used it. I hated to remind her when I give her products that make me sick, she should not use them when I come over...I felt so bad about it but it certainly confirmed that this sunscreen was the cause the smell that caused it all.

A terrible lesson learned. As a highly allergic/hypersensitive person-no matter what it says, no matter who makes it, no matter the ingredients listed, test everything as if could make you really sick, as if it smells like the strongest floral scent, as if you know it is full of things you are allergic to. I know now to be careful with ANYTHING new, not just those from regular companies.