‘Clean’ Suncreams - for the whole family.
There are many varying beliefs about the sun and its damaging and or healing benefits, even within my circle of friends, which include the countries top Harley Street aesthetician, a friend who’s suffered from skin cancer three times to those who still oil their skin and bake in the sun and in contrast others who slather themselves in Nivea 50spf.
So who’s ‘right’?? Coming from a health and no ‘anti ageing ‘ perspective, personally I believe the sun is very healing but as with anything, it should be in moderation and ‘burning’ the skin to become red raw, common sense would say, is not so smart!
How do we know which sunscreen is non toxic and actually effective, for our whole family? My family have made our own sunscreen for many years, avoiding the parabens, alcohol, lanolin, methylchloroisothiazolinine, methylisothiazolinine, retinyl palmitate, oxybenzone, phthalates, artifical perfumes, petrochemicals and colourants in most commercial sunscreens, which are toxic to our body.
Why are these ingredients not great for us? Firstly, the skin is the largest organ of the body and absorbs what we put on it, therefore we should be consciously aware of the ingredients and toxins we are rubbing in.
In recent years, studies have also raised concerns about endocrine-disrupting effects of three ingredients: homosalate, avobenzone and oxybenzone which are common in standard sunscreens. Studies have reported sunscreen ingredients were detected in breast milk, urine and blood plasma samples.
Oxybenzone specifically, has been shown to find that it may increase the risk of breast cancer and endometriosis.
The use of app ‘Think Dirty’ is useful to check if the creams you currently have in the back of the bathroom cabinet are toxic or not. We’ve also noted the ones we personally use below.
We always choose non nano so the particles are small enough to be absorbed into the body. We’ve only used Shade on our recent holiday. It is thick but this is due to the 18% zinc oxide which acts as a sun barrier. The only ingredients are organic virgin coconut oil, organic unrefined shea butter, unrefined beeswax and non-nano cosmetic grade zinc oxide. It’s also easy to purchase from Amazon.
If you have young children who won’t sit still for the application, we do like Babo Botanical non nano spray, it’s super easy to apply but difficult to source in the UK and expensive to ship from America.
Lastly if you want a good all rounder. Not too thick, easy to apply. Then Green People is a good option and easily accessible as it’s stocked in many stores.
However, Shade is super cheap and definitely the ‘cleanest’ we believe. No affiliation at all. Just our recommendation. Happy holidays…or optimistically, a sunny UK Summer ☀️