The Low Down on Sunscreen

I was very surprised to learn that a number of people don’t use sunscreen because they believe there are no safe products. That is absolutely not true! While there are numerous sunscreens that are made with harmful chemicals which you should avoid, there are also many that aren’t. Damage to the skin from the sun is a real thing. If you’re young, you might not notice it now, but trust me, you’ll notice it later.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

There are only 2 active ingredients that you want in your safe sunscreen. Those are Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. Furthermore, the SPF of your sunscreen should be no higher than 30 because anything higher requires harmful chemicals (such as potentially hormone-disrupting Oxybenzone).

Now, let's take a closer look at Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.

NANO-PARTICLES

As the name suggests, they are small, really small! And unfortunately, they are ubiquitous. You may be ingesting nano-particle zinc oxide and titanium dioxide in your processed foods, your toothpaste and through your sunscreen and other body care products. Lovely, huh?

ARE NANO-PARTICLES BAD?

OK, so they’re tiny, but are they bad for you? Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are widely used and generally considered safe, but in their nanoparticle size the jury is still out. However, the extremely small size of these particles can potentially cause cellular damage to sensitive organisms such as coral or juvenile fish and invertebrates. Some companies refuse to use them in their products. Badger and Mychelle are two such companies. I’m sure there are others but you may need to write to them and ask as I did with Mychelle.

CLEAR ZINC

Here’s where things get a little more complicated. I prefer clear zinc for my face because it offers all the UV protection of opaque zinc without the whiteness. But is clear zinc nano or non-nano? According to Badger, their clear zinc oxide “is made of nanoparticles that are strongly bonded together to form non-nano porous aggregate clusters. Importantly, no detectable nanoparticles exist in the final product and this clear zinc oxide meets the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory’s standard for non-nano.” So generally, clear zinc is a safe ingredient, however a simple search of ‘clear zinc sunscreens’ on EWG.org turns up a variety of products that rate anywhere from 1 to 8 due to the variety of other ingredients they contain. So again, take the time to vet each product before you buy it.

SPF LIP BALM

Don’t forget to check your lip balm ingredients! I’d been using a brand for years and never thought to look. When I did I was horrified to see it included the harmful active ingredients octinoxate and oxybenzone.

CONCLUSION

Look for sunscreens made with non-nanoparticle Zinc Oxide and non-nanotparticle Titanium Dioxide. Note that Titanium Dioxide needs to be combined with Zinc Oxide for broad spectrum protection, but Zinc Oxide can stand alone. If you don’t know whether the brand/company uses nanoparticles, call or write them to ask! It’s good for companies to know that their audience is savvy, cares about their health and the health of the environment.

If you want to read more, this article by Badger is very comprehensive.

And if you don’t already know about Environmental Working Group they are a terrific organization.

Currently I enjoy using Juice Beauty Tinted Mineral Moisturizer, Sand, SPF 30 with 20% zinc oxide. It scores well with EWG.org, every ingredient being a low 1 or 2 except for one which is petitgrain essential oil, the very last ingredient in this formulation. Some citrus essential oils can be phototoxic, the very opposite of what you want in a skin screen. However petitgrain is not commonly considered one of them and as the very last ingredient its percentage in the formulation will be quite small.