This work focuses on simple methods that allow comparison of the photoprotective effects of sunscreens. One such method described by Mansur and colleagues relies on the spectrophotometric measurements of the organic filters extracted with ethanol. The extracts are subjected to absorbance measurements in the of 290 to 320 nm range, with 5 nm intervals. The sunscreen sun protection factor (SPF) is estimated with an equation that relates each absorbance value with their respective erythemal effect, at the wavelength used for each measurement. In the current work, three commercial sunscreens were assayed using this method, which produced SPF values that were markedly lower than those declared by the manufacturers. These results prompted a more thorough analysis, which concluded that the Mansur method is not suitable for assaying sunscreens with SPFs above 15. The analysis included a survey o...