Zinc Oxide ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is primarily used as a mineral UV filter, helping provide broad-spectrum sun protection by scattering and absorbing UV radiation. It can also act as an opacifier, colorant, and skin-protective agent in creams, balms, and makeup.
What does Zinc Oxide do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is primarily used as a mineral UV filter, helping provide broad-spectrum sun protection by scattering and absorbing UV radiation. It can also act as an opacifier, colorant, and skin-protective agent in creams, balms, and makeup.
Is Zinc Oxide clean?
This ingredient is generally accepted in clean-beauty frameworks and is usually well tolerated on skin, including sensitive-skin formats. Main points of scrutiny are particle size, surface coatings, and inhalation exposure in loose powders or sprays.
Is Zinc Oxide sustainable?
This material is mineral-derived, so its footprint depends on mining, refining, and particle-processing practices rather than agriculture. It is inorganic and not biodegradable, but it is not expected to bioaccumulate like many lipophilic synthetic compounds.
Is Zinc Oxide COSMOS-approved?
It is permitted under COSMOS-natural and COSMOS-organic standards when it meets the standard’s mineral and processing criteria, with added attention to nano grades and coatings. From a Green Chemistry view, it scores well for low skin reactivity and stability, but less strongly on renewability and biodegradability.
How does Zinc Oxide work chemically?
This compound is an insoluble inorganic mineral made of metal and oxygen ions in a crystalline lattice, used in non-nano and nano particle forms with surface treatments chosen to improve dispersion and reduce photocatalytic activity. In sunscreens, use levels commonly range up to regulatory limits around 25% depending on market, and formulators must manage particle dispersion, whitening, viscosity, and compatibility with film formers.
Last updated 2026-05-13