Good enough for teens: Aussie mums aim to spread awareness of sun protection among tweens and teens without ‘nagging’

New Day Skin was founded by Brisbane-based mums and twin sisters Angela Tallon and Joanne Harding.

Harding, who has two decades of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector working for firms such as Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle and Carlton & United Breweries, told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that she saw a gap in the market for sunscreens that tweens and teens would want to use.

The lightbulb moment was when Harding’s then nine-year-old daughter asked to use her mother’s sun-protective moisturising, which was a high-end skin care product that costs A$70 (U$54) a bottle.

“I realised that while I get to put this lovely product on my face, my nine-year-old daughter, who has fair vulnerable skin, has to put on some horrible, sticky, yucky-smelling sunscreen she hates wearing,”​ Harding recounted.

After a fruitless search for a high-SPF product that could meet her daughter’s expectations, Harding and Tallon decided to develop their own sunscreen.

After almost two and a half years, the sisters launched New Day Skin early this year, with two SPF sunscreens developed especially for tweens and teens.

Sun protection education​

Aside from business growth, Harding emphasised that the company is also on a mission to educate tweens and teens about sun protection.

According to the brand, its target users are very complacent about sun protection, with only 38% of teenagers reporting that they apply SPF30 or higher sunscreen when going outside.

“My generation grew up with the iconic ‘slip-slop-slap’ campaign by the Cancer Council and we are very aware of sun protection because of that huge education campaign that sadly is not around anymore​. So, we have very educated mums, but it's not really helping kids understand the importance of sun protection without mum nagging about it,” ​said Harding.

“Part of our mission is to get into the schools and try and get some government support to really home in on­­­­ this message and get kids to understand and want to apply SPF50 every day. That's where I think we are challenged that a little bit, but I think there's a big opportunity for our product.”​

The company has started to dabble in social media such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. In the future, it will also be looking at TikTok and Snapchat.

“We just started a YouTube account with three videos, but those aren’t talking to kids yet. We have a big challenge in the sense that our target markets are tweens and teens, but mum is still probably going to be the one doing the purchasing, so we have to talk to mum too, which will involve more traditional marketing. We’re going by a dichotomy in terms of our marketing strategy.”​

Sunscreen kids will be ‘happy to use’​

Unlike the kids-centric sunscreens meant for days at the beach, New Day Skin’s sunscreens were made to encourage everyday use.

Harding describes the water-based formulation as being nourishing yet lightweight and comfortable on the skin.

“The litmus test was asking if I would be happy to wear it every day because if it was not good enough, I should not be asking my child to use it.”​

Both sunscreens have a mineral base to ensure all skin types, even sensitive and acne-prone teenage skin can use it without worry.

Additionally, the sunscreen is lightly tinted to give an invisible finish on the skin to tackle the white cast issue that is almost synonymous with mineral sunscreens.

“At this age, kids are growing more and more conscious about how they look. They won’t go to school looking like a clown, so having something that will blend into all skin tones, especially darker skin tones, was important,”​ said Harding.

The firm also ensured that the products could deliver a pleasant experience for kids through their scent and its packaging.

“They also have fun, bright and colourful packaging and they smell beautiful. We have two scents: creamy vanilla and fresh apple, so it’s a sensory experience for the kids when they put it on their face,” ​said Harding.