Sunscreens Formulation and efficacy testing

It took a long time for the harmful effects of sun exposure to become known to the general public and even to scientists. For example, Auguste Rollier (1874 – 1954), convinced by the work of his predecessor Finsen, opened one of the first heliotherapy centers in Leysin, Switzerland, in 1903.

The first sun protection products (SPPs) are relatively recent, dating back only to the 1930s. This was a time of euphoria over paid vacations, when people were unaware of the sun's harmful effects on the skin and wanted, above all, to tan. It's commonplace to attribute much of the bronzed complexion trend to Coco Chanel. It's more likely that the beautiful Josephine Baker, who made her name in 1925 in a show she starred in, "La Revue nègre", played a leading role. Various personalities from the artistic world, such as the poet Jean Cocteau, fell in love with the coppery complexion... and helped to promote what has been called "the joys of tanning", joys that were quite ephemeral compared to the effects that would later be highlighted. If we look at preparations from this period, we see that they were tanning preparations, and the filters most commonly used were derivatives of p-amino-benzoic acid (PABA) and tannic acid. The galenic forms are extremely limited in variety, and almost all are oils.

It was during the Second World War that Red Vet Pet (RVP) was first used, a simple (!) preparation that became part of the soldier's basic...