Total sun blockage can be achieved by putting titanium dioxide on particularly vulnerable areas of the body such as the nose and cheeks. These products in their opaque form provide complete blockage from the sun's rays and the users can be identified by the war like paint on their faces.

Recently it has been discovered that titanium dioxide of a microscopic size of 10 to 50 nanometers is relatively transparent to visible light, but scatters ultraviolet light well, up to a sun protection factor of 15. In this form it becomes a sun screen rather than a sun block, for example PreSun 21 and Ombrelle 30 both contain titanium dioxide.

Melanin, the pigment our skin cells produce, has been added to creams to provide a good block for both UVA and UVB light rays. The creams are light to medium brown in color giving the skin a slightly darker hue when applied.