Design & Lifestyle...
Green Products Jul 24, 2008
The Goods on Eco-Friendly Sunscreen
Celebrity Dermatologists, Chemicals, and SPFs – Oh My!
So unless you are currently wintering on the moon, you’re probably slathering on sunscreen every time you leave the house. You follow the trends, you listen to celebrity dermatologists who mantra “sun block....sun block.....sunblock." (Shout out to my UCLA dermatologist Dr. Joan Wu!) And if you’re anything like me, you have an assortment of sunscreens – sunscreen for your hands, sunscreen for your face, sunscreen for riding in the car, sunscreen for serious hikes, sunscreen for serious hikes when you’re wearing a hat, sunscreens for sitting in a darkened room with the shades drawn while you rock back and forth, traumatized by so much sunscreen.
…Anyhoo, if you go buy what’s readily available, that’s a lot of chemicals to be pouring on your skin. Not to mention, if you’re into water sports, you’re transferring those chemicals into into whatever body of water you’re splashing around. For example, the Great Barrier Reef is negatively impacted by suntan oils, lotions and products. They affect the coral ecosystem because sunscreens cause the rapid and complete bleaching of hard corals, even at extremely low concentrations.
So what’s an eco-warrior to do in the sun? Check out below a great list of sunscreen brands that won’t kill you or the environment you swim around in.
There’s the Rare Natural Care product line. 100% vegan, natural with certified organic and eco-certified ingredients, their products are free of potentially harmful ingredients, synthetic chemicals, parabens, alcohol, and more bad stuff.
Aubrey Organics offers a great line of sun blocks that are environmentally safe and packaged in recyclable material. They are all natural, safe, and effective.
There is the Kiss My Face line, which is based completely on essential oils and eco-friendly ingredients. It also smells great aka you won’t walk around smelling like intense herbal remedies.
Finally, there’s the UV Natural line, which was has just been ranked #1 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). UV Natural claims to be the safest and most effective sunscreen sold in the world. The entire range of UV Natural sunscreens protect against the full spectrum of UV light - UV A1, A2, B and C.
Eco-Friendly Sunscreen
| RickS | Jul 30th, 2008I would suggest that you really do your homework before you choose your sunscreen. Google "chemical sunscreen" and see what comes up! The best naturally occurring, most stable physical sunscreen on the planet is zinc oxide. I've found that Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen from Australia which performs well, both in and out of the water, represents a clear evolution of choice to people who are looking for clean alternatives. It contains no chemical uv absorbers nor synthetic preservatives, and is also biodegradable so it won't harm sensitive marine environments, yet has over 22% zinc oxide in it!
Alternative green technical sunscreen
| Klaus | Jul 29th, 2008A truly Eco-friendly product could be a German innovation. HelioVital is a high-tech system for sunscreen and utilisation of solar energy.
HelioVital is a broadband suncreen filter made with high precision to assure optimal tanning levels, safe SPF and temperature. HelioVital sunscreen film filter out the dangerous and damaging invisible UVA and UVB rays from the sunlight before they reach and harm human skin, hair and eyes. The IR rays that cause us to sweat were reduced to bring the temperature and sweating down. The innovative HelioVital filters let the biopositive, vitalizing and tanning sun rays go through, so you can truly enjoy the healthy sun, without chemicals to be pouring on your skin. Therefore no side effects such as chemical or hormonal influences can be derivated from HelioVital. In Europe HelioVital has the quality feature of a medical device and the innovation was awarded several times. www.heliovital.com
other clean sunscreens
| Liz N | Jul 25th, 2008A couple of other brand's have been touted as safe by the Environmental Working Group (researchers who analyze beauty products):
1. Keys Soap SPF 30
I personally have tried this one. It's effective, goes on smoothly, but it has a funny smell. Kind of like tree bark. I think it's the cumin and black pepper ingredients. Contains no parabens, PABA, or oxybenzone. Just zinc and some essential oils and such. But the container is not recyclable, which I didn't know purchasing it (from online).
2. Trukid Sunny Days Mineral Sunscreen
3. California Baby SPF 30
4. Badger SPF 30
I would love to try them all, but that gets a bit pricey, and may be a tad wasteful. As I run out of one, I'll try a new one until I find the one I like.
Eco-friendly
| jeffk | Jul 25th, 2008To truly be Eco-friendly a product should also have recyclable packaging, use non-aerosol pumps, on top of being 100% Vegan, not tested on animals and effective. To limit the burden on the environment, KINeSYS is the ONLY Carbon Neutral sunscreen manufacturer, purchasing the carbon offsets when manufacturing product. www.kinesys.com