Wednesday, July 6, 2011

sunscreen


typical commercial sunscreens can have ingredients worse for your skin than the sun, can be detected in human breast milk, disrupt hormones, damage coral, and who knows what else.

if you're skeptical of organic virgin coconut oil as a sunscreen,
you can make your own, (scroll to end of post for brief info on making your own)

but if you want really natural, well tested, effective, for over $13-14 for a 2.9oz tube,
badger sunscreen is looking like the most the natural choice, addressing every issue with toxic and natural sunscreens.
spf 15 is probably good enough, you might want some healthy sun to get vitamin D.
most of the other "natural" options still have questionable "inactive" ingredients.
even biodegradable paraben and pthalate free ones might have alcohols, acids, and ambiguous hard to pronounce -ides or -ates.
badger has a short clean list of "inactive" certified organic
ingredients: extra virgin olive oil, beeswax, jojoba oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, vitamin E, seabuckthorn extract.

their active ingredient is non-nano uncoated zinc oxide.
titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are natural minerals that physically block sun and absorb UV rays.
they can be naturally or synthetically produced, and one site said they naturally have <1% lead and other metals. - badger just assured me that their zinc oxide and all sunscreens are lead and metal free.
zinc oxide does a better job of blocking a wide spectrum of UV rays.
and is less photo reactive - less likely to generate carcinogenic free radicals.
uncoated zinc oxide is less reactive than even coated titanium dioxide.
coconut and olive oils, and cocoa and shea butters, have antioxidants that absorb free radicals.
micronized nano particles, under a certain size, can get in your skin or blood.
some less natural brands will coat them with an inert substance to make them harmless, but buying non nano makes more sense.

sunscreens come packaged in plastic.
badger uses BPA and Phthalate-free packaging made from >50% Post-Consumer Recycled #2 plastic.
recycled plastic is a step, but i'm really not down for plastic, and 2.9oz is really small, meaning more plastic disposed. - badger just assured me their caps and tubes are both #2 and recyclable, after i mentioned usually bottle caps are not recyclable.

badger sunscreens are made in the US.

vivesana sunscreen comes in an aluminum tube, with a plastic top, so it's less plastic.
$29 / 2.25oz tube - but supposedly pretty concentrated.
they address most of the various issues, but you'll have to read their website for more info.

you could make your own for much cheaper, something like this video:
http://www.korduroy.tv/2009/diy-organic-sunblock

though i'd probably not let the actual mixture boil.

i'd also consider buying non nano uncoated zinc oxide, maybe in its natural powder form, and powdering up after applying organic extra virgin coconut oil.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Allen for being your own guinea pig dipped in extra virgin coconut oil! You must've smelled great! Where can we find that?!? What can I cook it with, other than myself?

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  2. haha, thanks carolina,
    this is the post on virgin coconut oil:

    http://naturalfrugal.blogspot.com/2010/12/organic-virgin-coconut-oil.html

    it can be found in pretty much any grocery that carries organic products, that's one of the thing's that's great about it.

    i've still been using extra virgin olive oil to cook everything, but you can cook anything with this too. i heard it works well as an alternative to butter when making a pie crust, and that jamaican patties use coconut oil.

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