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Alumina

What Alumina is & what it does

A fine mineral powder used to coat pigments, improve their feel and dispersion, and add a soft, smooth finish. It refines texture.

What is Alumina and what does it do in sunscreen?

Alumina is a fine mineral powder (aluminium oxide) used mainly as a coating and texture aid. It is often used to coat pigments and mineral UV filters, which improves how they feel and disperse and helps prevent unwanted reactions on the skin. It also lends a soft, smooth finish, so its role is about texture and stability rather than sun protection.

Is Alumina a UV filter?

No. Although Alumina often appears in mineral sunscreens, it is not itself a sun filter. It is there to coat and refine the actual mineral filters, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, helping them feel smoother and disperse evenly. The UV protection comes from those filters, not from the alumina.

Is Alumina safe?

Yes. As a surface coating and texture powder it is widely used and well tolerated in cosmetics. It is an inert mineral that stays on the skin's surface rather than penetrating, and it is commonly found in sunscreens and color cosmetics. It is not considered an irritant at the levels used.

Does Alumina clog pores?

Generally no. It is a fine, inert mineral powder used in small amounts to refine texture, not a heavy oil or wax, so it is not a typical pore-clogging ingredient. How a finished product feels on blemish-prone skin depends far more on the emollients around it than on the alumina.

Is Alumina the same as aluminium in antiperspirants?

No. Alumina here is aluminium oxide, an inert mineral powder used to coat pigments and smooth texture, and it stays on the skin's surface. It is different from the aluminium salts used in antiperspirants to reduce sweat. The two are unrelated in both how they work and what they are used for.

Sunscreens with Alumina

We rate 931 sunscreens that contain it, showing the top 10 by overall score:

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