Sky and Sol Sunscreen and Tallow-Based Products: A Deep Review
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Have you heard of Sky and Sol? I feel like the company didn’t exist and then overnight it was everywhere. If you’ve been on TikTok, you’ve probably seen people testing, reviewing, and even eating Sky and Sol sunscreen… Yes, I saw a video of a woman eating Sky and Sol sunscreen…
If you’re looking for a review on Sky and Sol sunscreen and tallow products, buckle in. It’s a bit of a long one. I started investigating the company due to some concerns I heard about the safety of the products and quickly became consumed by deep trails of information. Let’s get into it. Here’s what to expect from this article:
What does Sky and Sol claim about their products?
Are Sky and Sol product claims legitimate?
What Does Sky and Sol claim about their products
Sky and Sol makes some pretty hefty claims about their products. This woman ate the sunscreen because Sky and Sol claims their products are completely safe, nontoxic, and edible-grade (I’m not familiar with that term but assume they mean food-grade). They also claim that their products will help with blemishes, acne flare-ups, rosacea, and skin irritation, that their ingredients are sourced sustainably and that they are more nutrient dense than other companies, and that their products are reef-safe.
Perhaps their biggest claim: “Our products are the cure, not just treatment, restoring skin’s natural balance without dependency.” Wow, that’s bold.
Are Sky and Sol ingredients safe, non-toxic, and “edible-grade?”
Let’s take a quick look at the ingredient list, because that’s what this mostly comes down to.
Sky and Sol Face and Body Sunscreen:
tallow, non-nano zinc oxide, beeswax, propolis, olive oil, and shea butter.
Sky & Sol Day and Night Moisturizer:
lanolin, tallow, aloe vera, beeswax, shea butter, green tea extract.
These ingredients seem fantastic. They are non-toxic, should be food-grade (though you won’t see me eating any of them…), and definitely check the boxes for what one would generally consider safe. So safe, I would put any of these ingredients on my son.
I’ll highlight, in case you’re unfamiliar, the use of non-nano zinc oxide. Very simply, chemical sunscreens absorb UV rays to prevent damage. They are also very absorbable through the skin. A lot of the chemicals used in chemical sunscreens have been shown to be unsafe/not the best. We won’t get into that here. Zinc oxide, on the other hand, is a physical barrier to the sun, meaning it keeps the sun from even hitting your skin, like an umbrella. This is part of why it’s more difficult to achieve an invisible appearance with zinc oxide; it’s a physical barrier and it is white. Zinc oxide is also generally deemed completely safe, especially since it basically just washes right off.
As for non-nano zinc oxide, that just means that the particle size of the zinc oxide is not as small, which theoretically makes it less likely to absorb into the skin (which isn’t a huge concern in the first place, but obviously everything absorbs to a certain extent unless washed off). Nanoparticles are small, some of the smallest. A lot of zinc oxide on the market is nano-sized. Not everybody cares about this, but if you are someone that tries to avoid nano-sized ingredients (and there are legitimate arguments for this), this is a good option.
I can’t personally speak for the combination of the ingredients. When ingredients are combined, their impacts and effectiveness can be altered. For instance, bleach and rubbing alcohol. Very common, well-used products that most people understand the effects of and choose to use or avoid. But mix them? Chloroform. A no-go. But given none of these ingredients are synthetic chemicals and are mostly oils, I don’t see why there would be any problem here. Plus, I mean, people aren’t dropping dead from using Sky & Sol yet.
Are Sky and Sol ingredients sourced sustainably and superior in quality?
The only sourcing information I could find was that they source their tallow from 100% grass-fed and -finished cattle in Australia. Generally sourcing from grass-fed animals is sustainable and of the highest quality. I won’t get into this today because it’s a whole other topic, but I find this to be an amazing point for Sky and Sol and I’m a big proponent for regenerative agriculture, which grass-fed livestock generally complies with.
As for the rest of the ingredients, they give no information about where they come from on their website. However, when I reached out to them for more information, this is what they said:
“Ingredient Sourcing: We take great care in sourcing our ingredients from the best locations around the world. Besides our tallow from Australia, here’s a bit more detail:
Jojoba Oil: Spain
Beeswax: Germany
Propolis: Brazil
Non-Nano Zinc Oxide: Germany
Shea Butter: Côte d'Ivoire
Olive Oil: Spain”
I’m not sure how anyone could verify the claims that sourcing from these regions ensures the quality of the ingredients. Someone probably can but it’s definitely out of my wheelhouse. Could they be high quality? Maybe. Could they be sustainably sourced? Maybe. They give a lot more information than a lot of companies out there but I find this claim to be difficult to support. This is the kind of thing I would want to see more data on.
Are Sky and Sol products reef-safe?
I’m not an expert on this, but based on the information I could find in my research, they do appear to be reef-safe, which is amazing.
Do Sky and Sol products help skin issues?
Claiming to improve blemishes, acne flare-ups, rosacea, and skin irritation is big, one may even say risky. There are other companies that say the same thing, I’m not implying it can’t be true. But it is lofty.
There’s no real way for me to confirm or deny if their products achieve this. They are a new company and there’s no research on the efficacy of their products. However, we can research individual ingredients. The main one we will focus on is tallow, because that’s the stated main character of these products that are supposed to provide the skin benefits.
There is not a wealth of research on tallow. It exists, but it isn’t as thorough as I would like. But that’s all a part of research. Everything takes time and the increased use of tallow in the West is a relatively new phenomenon, so the research will take a while to catch up.
I was able to find this helpful review of recent research on the claims of the benefits of tallow that supported several positive skin impacts. First, they found that tallow appears to be a highly effective moisturizer, which is very beneficial to several skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. And, because it is generally non-irritating, it is likely to be helpful for those conditions as well, since they tend to make individuals more sensitive to skin irritants. They also found that tallow appears to have anti-inflammatory impacts, which is generally helpful for skin health and could improve issues like rosacea. Finally, they also mention some testing around the use of a tallow-based herbal soap that appeared to have anti-infection properties.
The final point is somewhat weak. For one, I don’t know what anti-infection really means and they didn’t clarify. I would assume they mean anti-bacterial, which is generally helpful for reducing acne, but I can’t be certain. Additionally, it’s unclear from this review if that benefit has anything to do with the tallow or the herbs. They do mention that the soap was less drying than others, which again, may help people with skin conditions heavily related with dryness.
Back to Sky and Sol. These findings are positive for Sky and Sol products. It does appear possible that the use of tallow in their products may improve your skin and that their claims may be supported. To an extent. Again, I find them a little extreme and I always think you should take claims like that with a grain of salt.
The last point I’d mention is user reviews. Research is important but it’s not the only measure available to us. I highly support the use of user reviews in conjunction with scientific evidence. The reviews users are giving Sky and Sol are very positive. People say the products feel amazing, they’ve improved their skin, or that they can simply use Sky and Sol sunscreen whereas other products bother them. That’s great!
Sky and Sol does share negative reviews so I assume they are being honest about the reviews they receive. Most of their negative comments on the sunscreen had to do with packaging, concerns or that the product left a white stain (though most say it doesn’t), or that it became flaky. One review said this is not a good fit for black skin, though I would want to see more reviews like this before considering it a widely applicable concern. The negative comments on the moisturizer were minimal, with a couple people saying it didn’t work for them.
So overall, Sky and Sol products do seem to work for people and may have some of the benefits described.
“Our products are the cure, not just treatment, restoring skin’s natural balance without dependency.”
I know you’re probably tired of me saying their claims are a little big. But THIS comment is a large part of my issue with Sky and Sol marketing. Most of this is just marketing fluff and could be misleading to a lot of customers.
As explored thoroughly in the previous section, Sky and Sol products appear to work for a lot of people with and without skin issues. However, Sky and Sol claims to be a CURE to skin issues, which I have a bit of a problem with. I think you should always be wary of someone saying that their product is going to fix your problem.
This is a big issue especially in the natural living world. Green tea will heal your brain, tallow will heal your skin, wild-fermented probiotics will heal your gut. There are so many things that genuinely do have AMAZING impacts on various body systems, including the things mentioned. But you should always take a second, closer look when someone is saying something like this and, again, take it with a grain of salt. The body is so much more complicated than that and silver-bullet solutions are usually crap.
May Sky and Sol products help you? Maybe. But there is so much more to healthy skin than the moisturizer and sunscreen you use. It’s highly unlikely these products have any impact on difficult acne. And it’s possible at best that these products are helping the other issues they state. The only thing I’ll give them is that these products likely aren’t hurting most people with skin issues. You may see some improvements in your skin from using Sky and Sol products, but they’re not going to cure legitimate skin issues.
Be wary of marketing. This line won’t disqualify Sky and Sol to me, but you best believe I’m not just going to take it at face value and you shouldn’t either.
Other Considerations
Sky and Sol Products Are Manufactured in China
I’ve seen some concerns running around about Sky and Sol products being manufactured in China. These concerns mostly revolve around the idea that products made in China are not subject to the same regulations and testing requirements as the US employs and therefore you may not be able to ensure the safety of the products.
This is a valid concern that is somewhat difficult to research. It is clear that regulations in the past were somewhat lacking in China, at least compared to the standards of the modern user. However, over the last 5 years, China has made a lot of updates to their laws around cosmetics and beauty products manufacturing that have improved their ability to ensure safety.
But I found something more interesting in my research on this issue. This FDA report on Sky and Sol sunscreen tells us the product is “manufactured, distributed, or labeled by Guangzhou Fantesy Biotechnology Co.,Ltd.” I dug a little deeper into this and found that this is a company registered and operating in China. I also found some other interesting products associated with this company that don’t seem to fully align with Sky and Sol’s product philosophy.
After a bit more digging and communicating, I was able to get to the bottom of it. Check out this post for the whole scoop on Sky and Sol manufacturing.
Limited track record for safety and testing
Sky and Sol states the following on their website: “certified SPF tested,” “stability tests,” “water resistance testing,” “FDA regulation compliant,” and “3rd party testing.” These statements are somewhat arbitrary and could mean nothing/be lies. However, it tends to be relatively difficult to get products to market without any testing and the FDA does claim to ensure regulation complaints on product imports, so we are going to assume they are reliable claims.
When I reached out to them for more information, this is what they said:
“Our products undergo rigorous testing with third-party laboratories in New York to ensure the SPF values are accurate and that the zinc oxide is evenly dispersed throughout the formulation. This helps us guarantee that you’re getting consistent, reliable protection with every application.”
Product testing is always important, but I want to highlight the importance of testing sunblock that uses zinc oxide as its active ingredient. Without getting too deeply into a chemistry lesson here, zinc oxide is a highly charged particle, wanting to share electrons to even out the charge. This basically just means that zinc oxide particles like to stick to each other.
As we stated earlier, zinc oxide sunblock works by physically blocking the sun. Think of the zinc oxide as your SPF shirt you wear to cut the grass or swim at the lake. If your shirt has a hole in it, the sun is going to hit your skin there and you will get sun damage. Zinc oxide works the same way, essentially. If the particles are sticking together instead of spreading an even coat over your skin, then there will be holes and your skin will be exposed to sun damage.
This isn’t just a hypothetical issue. As I said, it LOVES to stick together and clump up and make holes. It will naturally do so unless stopped. Without chemicals to force it to do what you want, you’re stuck with carrier oils, such as jojoba or coconut. These can be perfectly effective, but it’s difficult to achieve. This is why it is not recommended to try to mix your own zinc oxide sunblock at home. The chance of getting the formulation to work (not have holes) is pretty low. It requires quite a lot of trial and error to get it right, as well as testing to confirm you got it right.
As you can see, it’s very important that zinc oxide sunblock (Sky and Sol sunscreen is the company’s main seller) is well tested. They say they are, and I hope it’s true. Product testing can be pretty costly, so it can be difficult for smaller, new companies. Big, reputable companies have track records for testing that you can see as well as the resources to afford testing. You can be confident. Sky and Sol is new. There’s no track record and who knows what their resources are.
Sky and Sol packaging
The original packaging of Sky and Sol products is an aluminum tube with an epoxy resin coating on the inside. Aluminum obviously is not something you want in contact with your products because it tends to leach more easily into other substances than other things. There is mixed evidence on the dangers of aluminum but most consider it to be worth avoiding. Luckily, the epoxy resin should completely eliminate any chance that aluminum is getting into your product.
However, the epoxy resin coating raises some questions for me. As with other points in this review, it doesn’t disqualify the product to me. But epoxy resin formulations typically involve formaldehyde and are just generally nasty. When you mix the parts of epoxy resin you have to wear a filtration mask because those fumes can cause some damage. Once hardened though, resin doesn’t pose a big risk as an aerosol and doesn’t seem to leech badly.
It’s not entirely clear what resin Sky and Sol is using because there are several options out there, but this is what they said when I asked them about it:
“Regarding the aluminum packaging, we use a BPA-free bio-resin to coat the interior of the aluminum tube.”
I’d think it’s likely a phenolic resin because that is popular for use in lining aluminum for cosmetic products. Most sources report that phenolic resin is food safe once cured, though they may emit low levels of formaldehyde. Testing shows that the emissions appear to be within the level considered safe.
A lot of people avoid anything formulated with formaldehyde, myself included. Because of this, I would be hesitant to choose Sky and Sol products that come in aluminum tubing simply because there are other options out there. However, the packaging is not necessarily going to hurt you and if you’re comfortable with potentially low exposure to formaldehyde, then the products may work for you. They also have the brown paper packaging available, and I highly encourage you to go that route if you are going to buy Sky and Sol sunscreen or other products.
Tallow sunscreen is expensive!
Sky and Sol sunscreen can cost anywhere from $25-$50 depending on what sales they’re running. For a 3 oz tube! If you are good about applying your sunscreen (and you should be!), this is going to add up FAST.
I assume the price point here comes from the tallow because tallow products are generally pretty pricey. Tallow is not cheap to make. This may change as it becomes more popular, but right now you can expect to pay quite a bit for anything that contains tallow.
Simply put, there are other sunscreen options out there that are just as effective at providing the sun protection you need for MUCH less. You do not need tallow in your sunscreen. It would be a dream to be able to use tallow sunscreen every day, but at the rate my family uses it, that just isn’t practical or financially responsible.
If you are considering using Sky and Sol products, you can use our code FAMILEE at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. Head over to Sky and Sol’s website to check out their products.
Sky and Sol dupes
Sky and Sol released a statement lately that there are a lot of Sky and Sol sunscreen dupes running around that are not what they appear to be. They may not have the same chemicals, may not be safe, and certainly aren’t from Sky and Sol. Unfortunately, when products are successful, there will be dupes, especially when that success happens fast. Be vigilant and check that what your buying is the real deal, especially on Amazon!
Summary / TLDR
Overall, Sky and Sol sunscreen and tallow-based products appear to be safe, effective, and well-received. They make large marketing claims that are not all supported and I encourage all readers to be wary of their expectations of these products as well as their belief in all the claims Sky and Sol makes. However, the product formulation is clean, there is decent support for the benefits of tallow to the skin, and again, the mass majority of people who use it say they love it.
It’s worth keeping in mind the lack of clarity around the regulations Sky and Sol follows as they are manufactured in China and they are a new company with little track record. In the same vein, we don’t know a ton about their testing procedures though they do report “rigorous testing” to ensure safety and efficacy. Additionally, their aluminum tubing is not the best for those that prefer to completely avoid formaldehyde exposure.
Finally, Sky and Sol products are expensive because tallow is expensive. For a tiny 3 oz tube of Sky and Sol sunscreen, you can expect to pay an average of around $35. There are a lot of effective and completely safe zinc-oxide sunscreens out there that cost a lot less. (If you do want to try Sky and Sol, use code FAMILEE at checkout to save 10%)
All in all, I’d be comfortable recommending Sky and Sol sunscreen and other products with the caveats mentioned above. I hope to see Sky and Sol move their operations to the US some day, from an ethical and brand philosophy standpoint, but I feel confident in the safety and efficacy of the products. Personally, I would stick to products that come in the brown paper packaging, which is currently only their sunscreen.
If you are someone who also cares about product philosophy and brand consistency, I’d take a look at our further review on Sky and Sol manufacturing and related product concerns.
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