To claim an SPF value on your product, you have to run a test using human volunteers. This takes both time and money – and there’s a big risk that your product won’t have the SPF value you are shooting for. So you might find yourself having to reformulate costing even more time and money.
Naturally, people look to lab tests to try to get an idea of what SPF value they have before shelling out on the testing. But up until now there hasn’t really been a test that is particularly reliable.
This might be about to change with a new SPF test technique about to get approval which seems set to radically improve the reliability of predictions. This is going to make the development of sunscreen products considerably easier and cheaper.
It works by applying the product to plastic plates which have been prepared and treated in a very specific way. They are then irradiated under controlled conditions. So the clever bit is getting the treatment and conditions just right to predict how a large scale trial would turn out.
At the moment it is still in its early stages and these things always have something of a learning curve associated with them. And it isn’t impossible that the promise won’t be fulfilled when it gets out into the real world.
But if it turns out to work, it means that sunscreen products could become much easier for small businesses to develop.