Comparison test of sunscreens: 10 are convincing, 6 are no good at all

A sunscreen that does not guarantee the labelled sun protection is what? For nothing at all. That's certainly the view of Stiftung Warentest. Because if a sunscreen tested by them does not fulfil this evaluation criterion, all other tests are not even carried out and the product receives a score of 5 "inadequate".

This fate befell six out of 20 products tested in the current comparison test by the German consumer organisation. This includes these two products, which can be found in our shop:

Sunscreen

i+m Naturkosmetik Sun spray

Sun spray, SPF 50, 100 ml

3

Sunscreen

Garnier Sensitive Advanced SPF50+ lait

Suntan lotion, SPF 50+, 175 ml, 195 g

30

The other 14 products tested all received the top score of 1, i.e. "very good", for the most important test criterion. In other words, the sun protection factor (SPF) stated on the bottle, can or tube is actually maintained. However, this does not mean that all products scored "very good" overall.

Four of the products tested were rated as "Satisfactory" with scores between 2.6 and 3.0. The decisive factors for the downgrades were critical ingredients that were detected in all products, as well as the inadequate declarations. None of these products are available to buy from Galaxus.

Half are "good" to "very good"

Only two of the 20 sun protection products tested received the top rating of "Very good" with overall scores of 1.4 and 1.5 across all test criteria. Nevertheless, all ten products can be recommended without hesitation. In addition to the actual sun protection they all offer, none of these products contain any traces of critical ingredients. These ten products also received the top score of 1.0 for the second most important test criterion for me.

The products received deductions for the criteria "application" and "packaging". It should be noted that Stiftung Warentest weights these two criteria higher than the critical ingredients.

You can find three of these ten products in the Galaxus shop:

Sunscreen

EUR26,20 EUR131,–/1l

Vichy Capital Soleil Cell Protection Spray

Sun spray, SPF 50+, 200 ml, 245 g

6

Sunscreen

dm Sundance Sun spray

Sun spray, SPF 50, 200 ml

6

Sunscreen

NIVEA Protect & Moisture

Suntan lotion, SPF 30, 250 ml, 289 g

11

We have to add that Vichy's Capital Soleil Cell Protect sun spray received the worst rating of all the products categorised as "good" with a score of 2.3. This is primarily due to the declarations on the packaging, where, according to Stiftung Warentest, not all the information required by the EU can be found. In terms of the other four test criteria, the Vichy sun spray was one of the test winners.

As you can see, there are plenty of sunscreens to choose from. Incidentally, this was also the case in the last major Stiftung Warentest comparison test in 2022:

If you are not only interested in suitable sun protection for yourself but also for (your) children, then you can read here which products you should avoid and which are recommended:

And if you'd rather not rely on an organisation and its lab tests for such a decision because you'd much rather have a mother's recommendation, then it's best to read the tip from Katja:

Although the sun protection factor and its compliance play the central role in the Stiftung Warentest test, and quite rightly so, it is not the only information that is decisive when choosing the right sunscreen: [/dootTranslate

In addition, the best sun protection is useless if you don't apply it correctly. You can read how this works here:

After all this information, are you still sceptical about the reliability of all these tests and statements? Then this is your text: An interview with a proven expert: