The sun in Hawaiʻi hits harder than the sun most visitors grew up with. The UV index in Honolulu tops the chart through summer. A long afternoon in the water at Waikīkī or Kāʻanapali will burn you straight through the clouds.
Then there are the rules. Since January 1, 2021, stores in Hawaiʻi cannot sell sunscreen with oxybenzone or octinoxate.
Maui County went further on October 1, 2022 and allows only mineral sunscreen, meaning zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, or both. Hawaiʻi County, the Big Island, followed on December 1, 2022.
Those laws bind the stores, not your beach bag. Nobody at the airport is checking your tube. The reef does not care about jurisdiction, though, so we pack mineral for every island and skip the guesswork.
One more thing before the list. “Reef safe” on the front of a bottle is marketing with no legal definition behind it.
Flip the bottle over and read the active ingredients. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide only, ideally labeled non-nano, and you are covered on Maui, on the Big Island, and anywhere else with coral.
Every pick below is mineral only, still sold as of this writing, and priced from the maker’s own website. We lean toward brands you will see in beach bags around Oʻahu, and we call out the tradeoff every time there is one.
Related: Hawaiʻi Packing List, Hanauma Bay Snorkeling, Ko Olina Lagoons
1. Kōkua Sun Care Hawaiian Natural Zinc Sunscreen SPF 50
Start here if you want one tube that handles the whole trip. Kōkua Sun Care comes from an Oʻahu family, Robin and Tatyana. They spent five years and three labs getting a 25 percent non-nano zinc formula to rub in close to clear.
It is rated water resistant for 80 minutes, the longest claim the FDA allows on any label. The company formulated it not to sting eyes, which you will appreciate the first time your keiki rubs a wet face and keeps swimming.
The Hawaiʻi ingredients are the reason it earned the top slot. Noni, Hawaiian spirulina, plumeria extract, macadamia nut oil, and kukui nut oil come from local farms, so part of your money stays in the islands.
Price runs about $33 for the 3 oz (89 ml) tube and $14 for the 1 oz (30 ml) travel size, the steep end of this list. Buy the small one first if you are unsure, then size up once you know your skin likes it.
2. Little Hands Hawaii Body & Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 35
Parents, this one is for the keiki who fights every single application. Little Hands Hawaii is a Hawaiʻi family that still makes every batch itself, and the formula is built not to sting or run into eyes.
The 3.4 oz (100 ml) tin is about $22, uses 23 percent non-nano zinc, and is rated water resistant for 80 minutes. It comes in Original white plus four tints, from Light Neutral to Dark.
The tint is the trick. A tinted zinc cuts the white cast that turns kids into little ghosts in every photo.
Two cautions. The tinted versions can stain clothing, so treat them like foundation and spot clean before washing. And the tins sell out on the company site now and then, so check the retailer list or order early.
That 3.4 oz size is exactly the carry-on liquid limit, so it flies in your personal bag. The 1 oz (30 ml) face stick is about $18 and belongs in the glovebox for the day somebody forgets.
3. Mama Kuleana Reef Safe Sunscreen SPF 30
Heading to Maui? This is the local one.
Mama Kuleana is made in small batches in West Maui with 13 percent non-nano zinc, shea butter, and coconut oil. It ships in a compostable jar instead of a plastic tube.
The jar solves a problem for anyone who hates the pile of empty tubes at the end of a trip. Screw the lid back on, and when you are pau, the whole thing goes in the compost.
The tradeoff is water resistance: Mama Kuleana is rated for 40 minutes, half of what most picks here claim. It fits a lazy morning at Kāʻanapali better than a two-hour snorkel at Molokini. Reapply every time you towel off.
About $21 for a 50 ml (1.7 oz) jar. Shops across Maui stock it, along with a few on Oʻahu and the Big Island, so you can grab it after landing.
4. Raw Elements Face + Body SPF 30 Tin
This is the surfer’s sunscreen, thick as cold butter and built to stay put. Raw Elements was started by an ocean rescue lifeguard more than 25 years ago, and the 23 percent non-nano zinc formula is rated water resistant for 80 minutes.
The 3 oz (85 g) tin is plastic free and recyclable, about $22.50. There is a tube version too if you prefer squeezing to scooping. REI and Target both carry it, which helps when the company site runs out.
The thickness is the downside. Warm it between your palms first or it drags across your skin, and expect a visible white layer for the first few minutes. Surfers wear that layer on purpose.
Pack it for the days you are in and out of the water from morning until pau hana. Think Sharks Cove in summer, a full day at the Ko Olina lagoons, a surf lesson in Waikīkī, or a boat day off Kāʻanapali.
5. Badger Sport Mineral Sunscreen Cream SPF 40
Four ingredients. That is the whole label: zinc oxide, organic sunflower oil, organic beeswax, and sunflower vitamin E.
Badger keeps it that short on purpose, and this was the first sunscreen formula to earn the Protect Land + Sea certification. That certification means more than the words “reef safe” on any bottle. An independent lab tested the finished product against a list of chemicals known to harm marine life, and the product passed.
The 2.9 fl oz (86 ml) tube is about $19, and the 22.5 percent zinc formula is rated for 80 minutes. It is unscented, so what you smell is beeswax, and not everyone loves that. Badger has been family owned in New Hampshire since 1995.
Grab this one if your skin reacts to everything. Fewer ingredients means fewer things to react to, and the 2.4 oz (68 g) tin version skips plastic entirely.
6. Thinksport SPF 50+ Mineral Sunscreen
Families on a budget, here is your bottle. Thinksport sells a 6 fl oz (177 ml) family size for about $24. Per ounce, that is roughly a third of the price of Kōkua or Mama Kuleana.
The formula is 20 percent non-nano zinc and rated for 80 minutes. Thinkbaby is the same idea in a bottle aimed at babies, and Costco has carried the spray version as a two-pack.
Two things to know. It goes on thick and white, so rub it in well. And sprays of any brand are a poor fit for a windy Hawaiʻi beach, where half the bottle ends up on the sand, so stick with the lotion.
Where it wins is volume. Dermatologists say a full adult application takes about 1 oz (30 ml), so a 6 oz bottle is six real applications. Buy two for a family week and you will never ration it on a wiggly toddler.
7. Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50+
Forgot sunscreen entirely? Blue Lizard is the mineral bottle you can find at Target and the big drugstore chains across the islands. The cap changes color in UV light to nag you into reapplying.
The actives are 10 percent zinc oxide plus 8 percent titanium dioxide. The lotion is thinner than the pure zinc creams above and can look chalky on deeper skin tones.
It is fragrance free and rated for 80 minutes. The 3 oz (89 ml) tube is about $15, and the 5 oz (148 ml) tube costs a little more.
One warning straight from the label: it may stain some fabrics. Let it set before you pull on a rash guard or climb into a rental car with light seats.
There is a Kids version and a Baby version if you want the same idea in different packaging. Blue Lizard has been a dermatologist staple for more than 20 years, so your pediatrician will recognize the name.
8. Stream2Sea Water Sport Sunscreen SPF 30
Snorkelers and divers, read this one twice. Stream2Sea says it is the only mineral sunscreen tested on freshwater fish, saltwater fish, and coral larvae. The test results sit on the company website for anyone to read.
The active is 8.8 percent non-nano titanium dioxide with no zinc at all, which is unusual. It tops out at SPF 30 and feels lighter and less greasy than the zinc creams, with the same 80-minute rating. The company also says it will not burn your eyes when the mask floods.
The 3 fl oz (90 ml) tube is about $19. There is a tinted SPF 20 version and a 16 oz (473 ml) pump for households that go through a lot of it.
Pick it for boat days, since many snorkel and dive operators ask guests to arrive wearing mineral sunscreen and to leave sprays at home. That is partly for the reef and partly for the slippery deck. This one was made for that crowd.
9. All Good SPF 50 Sport Mineral Sunscreen Butter Stick
Noses, ears, tops of feet, and the back of your neck burn first in Hawaiʻi, especially on anyone wearing slippers all day. A stick fixes that in ten seconds without greasing up your hands, and this is the stick to get.
All Good packs 25 percent non-nano zinc into a coconut oil and beeswax base with calendula, and the 2.75 oz (78 g) stick is about $18. Rub it in for clear coverage or leave it white for the lifeguard look. It is rated for 80 minutes either way.
Heads up on the coconut oil base. It goes hard in a cold car at Haleakalā sunrise and soft in a hot one at Waikīkī.
Warm it on the back of your hand before applying, and go easy on the twist-up when it is hot. Do not crank it all the way out in August!
All Good is a certified B Corp out of California. The company also makes an SPF 30 lotion and a smaller SPF 30 sunstick if 2.75 oz is more than you need.
10. Sun Bum Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion
Sun Bum is the brand you will see in nearly every drugstore and surf shop in the islands, so the mineral line earns a slot for pure findability. Land without sunscreen and you can have this in hand within an hour of leaving the airport.
Read the label, though, because the Sun Bum Original line uses chemical filters. Those are legal under the statewide law but not on Maui or the Big Island. You want the tubes marked Mineral, which use 20 percent zinc oxide as the only active.
The 3 oz (89 ml) lotion is about $17.50 and fragrance free. The tradeoff is water resistance. The current tube lists 40 minutes, so treat it as a walk-around and pool-deck sunscreen and reapply after every swim.
There is a Mineral SPF 50 face stick too, and Baby Bum is the fragrance-free mineral version for the small ones. Pair any of them with a rash guard for real water days.
How to Pack Sunscreen for Hawaiʻi
Plan on 1 oz (30 ml) per adult per full-body application, the shot-glass rule, and reapply every 80 minutes in the water. A family of four on a beach-heavy week goes through more sunscreen than most people pack.
Carry-on rules cap liquids at 3.4 oz (100 ml). Put the big bottle in a checked bag or plan a Target, Costco, or Longs run after you land. Resort-area convenience stores carry mineral options, but a small tube there costs a lot more than the same tube at home.
Add a rash guard or UPF shirt for long water days. It cuts the skin you need to cover roughly in half and saves you a lot of zinc over a week.
Keep every tube out of the sun. Heat breaks down the formula, and a tube left on the dashboard in Kapolei is a tube you cannot count on by Thursday.
Our pick for a first multi-island trip: Kōkua for faces and shoulders, a 6 oz Thinksport for bodies, and the All Good stick for touch-ups. That covers Maui’s rule, the Big Island’s rule, and the reef.
More from Wanderlustyle
Snorkeling Sharks Cove on Oʻahu
Lanikai Beach: Parking Rules, Sunrise Tips, and How to Visit
10 Tips for Flying with a Toddler
Featured photo by Kirt Edblom, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
Comments are closed.