By Mia Steiber, for Russh. 

Have a look at the comments section of any TikTok calling out for sunscreen recommendations. You'll see one of the number one tips is to seek out Australian sunscreens. But, why?

As any Australian can tell you, we have one of the harshest climates in the world and our UV index is high. But our fierce sun will never stop an Australian from spending their leisure time outdoors. Living life outside is the essence of Australian culture. We have no choice but to take out sun safety very seriously, and accordingly, our sunscreen products are well-controlled.

Highly regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), all sunscreens sold in Australia have to be independently tested. This strict testing sometimes sees products from other markets have to downgrade their SPF rating in the Australian market, as it hasn't passed our requirements for the top ratings. All sunscreen products must be clearly labelled, provide broad spectrum protection and the TGA won't accept SPFs that block less than 75 percent of UV (ie an SPF of 4) as a therapeutic good. And, anything not registered as a therapeutic good cannot legally market itself in the sunscreen category.

There are also some recently introduced rules that prevent sunscreens from being reviewed or recommended on social media where money or gifts have changed hands. This is to prevent people from claims about therapeutic goods that could be tainted or influenced by a paid partnership.

In essence, Australian sunscreen products have to pass some fierce testing to even be allowed on the market. Thus, they're likely to offer stronger protection that products that have not passed the same set of tests. It's no wonder that our Australian sunscreens keep popping up as recommendations on reddit and TikTok.

With this in mind, we've rounded up a list of homegrown Australian brands that make sunscreens. In no particular order, these are some of the more well-known names on the market right now. Scroll through and stay sun safe!

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