If it were up to Supergoop! founder Holly Thaggard, we’d be living in a world where “everyone loves sunscreen”.
She launched the suncare brand in 2007, after a close friend became diagnosed with skin cancer and she learnt about the damage brought about by sun exposure. Realising that people didn’t wear sunscreen because it left their skin a “icky, sticky mess”, she set out to create one that made them feel both clean and good.
Thirteen years on and with more than 40 products in its line-up, Supergoop! has become the first name in sun protection. A former schoolteacher, Thaggard’s passion for children and education has helped her company power through the Covid-19 pandemic with new offerings such as CC Screen 100% Mineral CC Cream SPF50 (available here).
Featuring a formula improved from CC Cream from 2012 – more shades! Higher SPF! No more toxic D5 silicones that can harm our oceans! – it reflects her dedication to the mission of reducing the occurrence of skin cancer by encouraging people to protect themselves against it by wearing sunscreen every day.
Following are highlights from Thaggard’s Zoom interview with A Magazine.
#1 More is more.
To maximise the benefits from your sun protection, consider creating a wardrobe of 3 or 4 different sunscreen products and layer them one over another depending on your daily needs. What’s important therefore is to select the products to suit your skin type and lifestyle. But what’s tricky is, what’s right for my skin may not be for yours.
For example, if you have acne-prone skin, you might want to start your routine with Zincscreen 100% Mineral Lotion SPF40, which can double as moisturiser because it has a clean and lightweight formula. Follow this with Unseen Sunscreen SPF40 – it is oil-free, offers a velvety finish, and can be used as a primer before foundation.
That’s why we launched the Supergoop! Product Finder. It’s available on our website and recommends a suite of products based on several questions you answer. Skin is our body’s largest organ so I’d like to encourage everyone to take better care of it.
#2 The shade of your sunscreen doesn’t exactly match that of your skin? It’s OK.
We worked on Supergoop! CC Screen 100% CC Cream SPF50 for more than 3 years, trying to enhance its formula comprising non-nano zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and apple and Irish moss extracts. It comes in 15 “flexible” shades. These have been created to adapt to different skin tones within the same shade family. So you pick the shade based on your undertone – the colour from underneath the skin surface that determines your skin’s overall hue.
All 15 shades don’t just blend beautifully; they also help conceal imperfections and reduce hyperpigmentation brought about by excessive UV exposure. The work is not done, nonetheless, and we hope to expand the number of shades to 20 soon.
#3 Sun protection is as important as handwashing.
One thing the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us is that we need and value our time outdoors. We never realised how much we enjoyed walking, running and having fun with our loved ones outside! Every moment we cherish under the sun, we also must take responsibility and opportunity to protect ourselves against skin cancer.
That’s why my team and I will continue to help create awareness of sun protection and sunscreen among the younger generation. Through Ounce by Ounce, we work with schools throughout the US to bring Supergoop! SPF products to classrooms and encourage children to wear it daily. It’s way easier to teach a 5-year-old than a 25-year-old to embrace a habit, yes? As a parent, I’m also aware that my kids constantly look at me to be a good role model. So in 2021, I’ll continue in my mission to help educate others about the importance of sun protection.