Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Cosmetic Industry Resources Calculating Estimated SPF Values

  • Calculating Estimated SPF Values

    Posted by MArchambault on April 3, 2019 at 7:51 pm

    I am working on a project and have been asked to calculate the estimated SPF value.  What is the bets way to do this?  There is a mineral and a chemical option I need to calculate.  I found some information but I didn’t know if there was a resources people typically used for this that they could recommend.  Thanks for the help in advance!

    OldPerry replied 5 years ago 5 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • Microformulation

    Member
    April 3, 2019 at 7:58 pm
  • MArchambault

    Member
    April 4, 2019 at 1:22 pm

    Wow!!  Thank you so much for sharing!

  • Bill_Toge

    Member
    April 7, 2019 at 4:34 pm

    from experience the BASF simulator is excellent for predicting UVA/UVB ratios, but the actual SPF achieved in practise tends to vary depending on the nature of the product

  • gld010

    Member
    April 8, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    Yes, use the sunscreen simulator as a very loose guideline as the thickness and composition of a formula can impact the SPF.

  • MArchambault

    Member
    April 8, 2019 at 2:12 pm

    Thank you all for the thoughtful feedback - I appreciate it.  It was interesting I ran the simulator on a product and it guessed 8 but we had sent it out and got a 15.  I’m assuming boosters, thickness, other raws also affect the product’s rating.  

  • OldPerry

    Member
    April 9, 2019 at 2:39 pm

    Indeed. This is why the simulator should only be used for estimations.

Log in to reply.