Winnie Harlow on Creating Sunscreen for All, Inspired by Her Jamaican Roots

It’s a chilly February afternoon in New York, but Winnie Harlow is telegraphing another latitude. Seated on a rattan sofa in a sunny loft space, she is an inscrutable presence behind a pair of slim mirrored sunglasses. “Very giving The Matrix,” she agrees with a laugh, when I mention Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne’s trench coat–wearing character in the 1999 movie. Her brown eyes flash above the lenses: “They’re definitely a go-to for me.” 

Born in Canada to Jamaican parents, the model is accustomed to toggling between warm weather and cold. (During the pandemic she joined the westward migration to Los Angeles, signaling her preference for backyard pool life.) The constant throughout, no matter the season, is a protective dose of SPF. “I just remember running on the beaches, and my dad slathering sunscreen on my skin with his rough hands from being a mechanic,” Harlow recalls of her childhood visits to the Caribbean. At age four, she was diagnosed with vitiligo, a condition that disrupts the melanin production in certain regions of the skin, leaving them especially vulnerable to the sun. Her unique pigmentation became a topic of conversation in 2014, during a turn on America’s Next Top Model, which jumpstarted a career that has included marquee runway appearances (Marc Jacobs, Schiaparelli), fashion editorials, and a TED Talk about evolving beauty norms.  

But it wasn’t until 2018, while on a modeling job in the Bahamas, that the seed for Harlow’s new beauty brand, Cay Skin, was born. “I was shooting from sunup to sundown both days, and on set no one wanted me to reapply sunscreen because of that blue-silver shine that isn’t very complimentary to any skin tone, especially to darker skin tones,” the model recalls. A serious flare-up followed. “I had to have doctors come to my hotel to give me injections for pain and inflammation.” 

The experience reinforced the idea that there was plenty more room in the sunscreen space, particularly with inclusivity in mind. Cay Skin—the name nods to the landscapes of Caribbean islands—arrives today with four products to suit different preferences and needs. For fans of mineral sunscreen, there’s an ultra-sheer SPF 55 with zinc oxide, alongside skin-nourishing squalene and sea moss. (The butter-yellow tint comes from plant-derived antioxidants.) Harlow’s daily staple is Isle Glow SPF 45, which sets a trio of broad-spectrum chemical filters within a luminous base. “I wear this under makeup, but I also wear this instead of makeup because it just adds such a beautiful glow,” she says. Meanwhile, the SPF 30 body oil delivers the throwback appeal of a 1980s tanning mist with modern protection. 

“Everyone always forgets about the lips,” Harlow says of the last product, a plush SPF 30 balm that avoids the chalky texture of other formulas. “I wanted something that was going to be hydrating and nutrient-rich, but also protecting the lips.”