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Check Your Sunscreen: Banana Boat Recalls Hair & Scalp Spray After Carcinogen Detected

Consumers should stop using the sunscreen immediately and contact Edgewell Personal Care for a refund.

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Brian Rosenzweig
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The front and back of an aerosol can of Banana Boat Hair & Scalp Sunscreen Spray SPF 30, which has a dark blue lid and a light blue body
Edgewell Personal Care Company

If you have a can of Banana Boat Hair & Scalp Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 in your home, check its lot code and expiration date. Edgewell Personal Care has announced a voluntary recall of three batches of the spray after an internal review found some samples contained trace levels of benzene, a human carcinogen, the company said Friday.

The Banana Boat Hair & Scalp Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 product, which is found online and in stores from retailers that include Target, Walmart, Walgreens and Amazon, comes in an aerosol can. To date, the company said, it hadn't received any "adverse events" related to this recall.

The three recalled batches, which are for 6-ounce cans of Banana Boat Hair & Scalp Sunscreen Spray SPF 30, contain the following lot codes and expiration dates (found on the bottom of the can):

  • Lot Code 20016AF, Expiration December 2022
  • Lot Code 20084BF, Expiration February 2023
  • Lot Code 21139AF, Expiration April 2024

Edgewell is advising consumers to stop using affected cans of the recalled product immediately. It will reimburse consumers who purchased it. Consumers can get a refund by visiting this website and supplying photos of their recalled cans. Edgewell has also notified retailers to pull any remaining recalled products from their shelves.

The company said benzene is not an ingredient used in any Banana Boat products, but that unexpected levels of benzene came from the propellant that sprays the sunscreen out of the can. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, benzene is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, caused by natural and industrial sources like gas stations or tobacco smoke.

Edgewell noted that an independent health assessment using established exposure modeling guidelines found that daily exposure to the benzene in the recalled products wouldn't be expected to cause adverse health consequences.

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