Maui County Requires Mineral Sunscreen, and the Rule Covers Use, Not Just Sale

Most visitors arrive on Maui with sunscreen they should not be using here, and the reason is that two different rules are often confused.

The state rule

Hawaiʻi was the first state to restrict sunscreen chemicals for the sake of its reefs. The 2018 law, in effect since 1 January 2021, prohibits the sale of over-the-counter sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate without a prescription.

The county rule, which is stricter

Maui County Ordinance 5306 has, since 1 October 2022, prohibited the sale, distribution and use of non-mineral sunscreen without a prescription across Maui, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi.

That word "use" is the difference. The state rule governs what shops may stock. The county rule reaches what you put on at the beach.

What counts as mineral

Two active ingredients: zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Both are recognised by the FDA as generally safe and effective, and both work by sitting on the skin rather than being absorbed.

Everything else is a chemical filter and falls outside what the ordinance permits without a prescription — including avobenzone, octocrylene, homosalate and octisalate, not just the two the state names.

Read the active ingredients panel on the back. "Reef safe" and "reef friendly" have no legal definition anywhere, and plenty of products carrying those words contain chemical filters.

Practical notes

Buy it before you fly. Mineral sunscreen is stocked across the island and priced accordingly, and a family gets through more than expected.

It behaves differently. It goes on thick, leaves a white cast, and wants twenty minutes on the skin before you get in the water — partly so it works, partly so less of it washes straight onto the reef. Tinted versions cover better.

The better move is to need less of it. A long-sleeved rash vest, a hat and shade do more for a sunburn than any bottle, and a rash vest is the single most useful thing to pack for a snorkelling week here.