The Best Natural Sunscreen in Australia 2024

When we started Shop Naturally back in 2009, the best natural sunscreen meant basically picking the only one on the market. Fast forward 15 years and there are multiple options available and they're all made right here in Australia, which is great. If something has an SPF rating in our store, it will be registered with the TGA and have an AUSTL number on it.

Learn what sunscreen is right for your family with our 2024 natural sunscreen shopping guide. Summer is awesome & being out in the sun has great benefits for your health, both physically & mentally. It's not the only time of the year that you need sun protection though, so make sure you're protected all year round, especially if you're going to the snow. The sun reflecting off the white snow will give you more of a tan than you may realise.

I've been told by our consulting naturopath that getting 20 minutes of sun on as much of your body as you can in the middle of the day is great for vitamin D production. I've also been told by my optometrist that getting out in the sun is good for looking after your long distance eye sight (who knew THAT one!).

We'll never play that 'fear' game here telling people they need to cover themselves from head to toe everyday in sunscreen, but if you're out in the heat of the day for longer than 20 minutes, (10am to 2pm or 11am to 3pm in Daylight Savings) it is a good idea to protect yourself, whether it be slip, slop or slap.

If you decide to protect with natural sunscreen instead of a chemical based sunscreen, there's a few things to bear in mind.

1. Natural sunscreens (or mineral sunscreens as they're also known) are designed to sit on TOP of your skin as a barrier. The active ingredient is usually zinc oxide, the white stuff we used to put on our nose as kids. Chemical based sunscreens are absorbed by your skin and absorb the suns rays. They need to be applied more frequently than their chemical counterparts.
2. Natural sunscreens are usually greasier than their chemical counterparts that absorb in to the skin. It's just something you need to learn to live with. They're not designed to rub in, and zinc oxide is drying. They need an oily base to hold the zinc.
3. As an ingredient comparison for active ingredients, those we sell have ONE active ingredient of zinc oxide (which is micronised to reduce the white pasty look on your skin) while a typical chemical based sunscreen has the following active ingredients (this list is from the Cancer Council's product):-
   Active Ingredients: Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane 50 mg/g, 4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor 40 mg/g, Octocrylene 20 mg/g, Bemotrizinol 10 mg/g. Preservatives: Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxybenzoates

2024 Most affordable Natural Sunscreen

The one thing chemical sunscreen has over mineral sunscreen is your ability to go and buy a 500ml pump bottle somewhere and slather it over your body for a fraction of the price. Mineral sunscreen just can't be made that cheaply, but some brands are a little better value for money than others.

• Surfmud Ocean Addicts Sunscreen SPF30 125g is $28.95 (or $23.16 per 100ml)
• People 4 Ocean Natural Sunscreen SPF30 200ml is $51.95 (or $25.98 per 100ml)

Note: these prices were correct at the time this blog was written. Please check the product pages for the latest up to date prices.

2024 Best Natural Sunscreen for swimming

At the time of writing this guide, of the 42 natural sunscreen products in our store, 31 of them are water resistant. This is a MUST if you're going swimming. Our shortlist for this category all have the criteria of being 4 hours water resistant and SPF50. Do you really need SPF50? Look, we don't think so. Sure, SPF50 is more protection, but it's not 40% more effective than SPF30. When we did our research for the "Should I Swap to an SPF50 Natural Sunscreen", the difference was significantly smaller than that.

• Little Urchin Natural Sunscreen Clear Zinc SPF50+ 100g ($29.95)
• Surfmud Mineral Sunscreen SPF50+ 125g ($29.95)
• Sunbutter Natural Sunscreen SPF50 100g ($29.95)
• Ethical Zinc Natural Clear Zinc Sunscreen SPF50+ 100ml ($24.95)

The WINNER on price is Ethical Zinc. Our personal pick is the Sunbutter Natural Sunscreen because it's packed in a tin and not a plastic tube and it's the world's first certified palm oil free sunscreen.

Note: these prices were correct at the time this blog was written. Please check the product pages for the latest up to date prices.

2024 Best Natural Sunscreen for babies

Babies really do have delicate skin and choosing a dedicated baby sunscreen is a must. When pharmacist Danielle Glover created the original Simple As That Sunscreen (with the red writing), she knew how amazing it was, but there's one natural ingredient in there, a raspberry seed oil, that could be a potential skin irritant, so she went about formulating a kid specific formula. There's an SPF30 specifically for babies with the yellow writing. We have a top 3 in this category.

• Simple As That Natural Baby Sunscreen SPF30 100ml
• Wotnot Natural Baby Sunscreen SPF30 100g
• Surfmud Surfbaby Sensitive Sunscreen SPF30 125g

You will notice they're all SPF30 and not SPF50. The SPF50 have a higher level of zinc oxide in them, and they tend to be a little thicker to put on and need a little more effort to get off.

2024 Best Natural Sunscreen for sensitive skin

Ever since its release, I have always had a soft spot for the Simple As That Sunscreen. When my MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities) were pretty bad, this was the first mineral sunscreen I used that I didn't react to in some way, either on my skin or the smell. If you have sensitive skin, you can always step to the baby products to get what you need. Outside of that, the 'red' version of the Simple As That Sunscreen, which is the original, is my go-to. At the time, I also gave a tube to a staff member who had a child that reacted to almost everything on the market. He was fine with this one.

2024 Best Natural Sunscreen for the face

You can put any sunscreen you like on your face, but depending on the brand and the price and the ingredients, you can liken it to using sorbolene cream as your daily face moisturiser. It will do 'a' job, but your skin may not feel great. Depending on your budget and the condition of the skin, you may very well get away with this with absolutely no issues. If your skin is a little more delicate, choosing something made for the face will have higher quality ingredients in it that are more suited to the face.

• MotherSPF Mineral Face & Body Sunscreen SPF30 120ml is our winner in this category. It's an expensive body sunscreen for sure, but it's really formulated with the face in mind. Ditch the white cast with their Mother of Pearl tint.
• Simple As That Natural Face & Body Sunscreen is a very close runner up.

Both of these make an ideal SPF makeup primer if you need sun protection under your foundation. Most mineral foundations will give you an approx coverage of SPF10-15 from the minerals, but it's not a given and it's certainly not enough if you're out all day.

2024 Best Natural Sunscreen with a tint

The white cast you can get from the zinc oxide found in mineral sunscreen is one thing when you're at the beach all day, but if you're at a music festival, at the park or at work, the last thing you want is to look pale. There's two ways to fix this.

1. Apply a foundation or BB Cream over your sunscreen
   -or-
2. Use a tinted sunscreen on your face

For ease of use, option 2 is the best. If you want a perfect colour match, choose option 1. Little Urchin have a tinted cream and a stick, Wotnot have an SPF40 BB Cream, Sunbutter do a Tinted SPF50 in plastic free packaging and Ethical Zinc do a light and dark tint.

If you're choosing option 1, there's an absolutely stunning product from MotherSPF called The Mother Of Pearl. You use it over your sunscreen and multi-tasks as a body bronzer and highlighter.