Sunplay

Half of Sunplay's pedigree traces to a soap-and-shaving-cream startup in 1880s Kansas. Albert Alexander Hyde launched the Yucca Company in Wichita in 1889, and in 1894 he stumbled onto the product that would outlive everything else he made: a menthol-and-petrolatum chest rub he called Mentholatum. It sold so well he eventually scrapped the other products and renamed the whole business after it, complete with a "Little Nurse" mascot whose face graced the tins for generations. That American liniment company is the half-namesake of the modern sun-care line.

The Japanese half supplies the sunscreen science. After Rohto took control of Mentholatum, the combined group folded sun protection into a portfolio that already included eye drops, the Hada Labo hydration range, and the Acnes line, and Sunplay became its dedicated UV brand. It is built on the same engineering as the group's Skin Aqua family, sharing the watery-gel and essence textures, hyaluronic-acid and ceramide hydration boosters, and the SPF50+ PA++++ broad-spectrum ceiling that defines elegant Japanese sun chemistry.

Rather than chase the Japanese domestic market, Sunplay made its name across Southeast Asia, growing into a category leader in markets like Vietnam where it became a go-to daily sunscreen. The lineup splits along use cases: moisturizing UV gels for everyday wear, tone-up essences with a cosmetic tint, mineral formulas pitched at sensitive skin, and water-resistant versions for sport. The appeal is texture as much as protection, the near-weightless, fast-vanishing feel that converts sunscreen skeptics. The credibility rests less on published trials than on decades of refinement in a country that treats daily UV defense as a baseline ritual, not an optional step.

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