A friend asked me about sunscreen and wondering about slathering it all over her kids if it is full of chemicals. A great question! And quite appropriate for our current summer weather! So here's my take on sunscreen.
Anything you put on your body, or on your children's body, is full of tons of different ingredients and, depending on the product you choose, tons of chemicals. This applies to sunscreen, lotion, bath soap, shampoo, perfume, toothpaste, deodorant, bath bubbles, etc...Knowing what is in the products you choose can help you make decisions that you feel are best. Obviously, anytime you choose a product without chemicals, the cost is going to go way up so you have to decide whether the cost is worth it to you. And just because it says natural or organic doesn't' mean it's the best choice. I've seen a few organic products that are still high in chemicals and use both organic products AND chemically laden products.
I think I posted the link that I love to use to determine what chemicals are in the products I'm choosing. Here it is again. You can look up just about any skin care product, find the ingredients, chemicals, and what diseases the chemicals have been linked to. You will also get a rating for how toxic the product is, from 0-10, 0 being the safest. I use this website frequently and we have gradually switched all of our personal care products to more safe products. I personally try to not buy anything rated higher than a 3. While a bit pricey, I'm fond of Aubrey Organics (for shampoo, lotion, sunscreen, makeup, etc...) Desert Essence for toothpaste, Crystal Stone for deodorant, and California Baby for sunscreen and a few other things. It's really interesting looking up the products you use and seeing the rating for them.
So, about the original question of sunscreen. All of us as humans, need sunlight. Most of us stay indoors cooped up way too much, especially our kids that need to be running around getting exercise in the sun (even when we are too hot and lazy to go outside...or is that just me?) I've read some interesting articles about sunlight being the only real source of Vitamin D (not the stuff added to your milk). Vitamin D can help protect against certain kinds of cancer, especially of the digestive system. When you absorb sunlight into your skin, it attracts immune cells to your skin's surface which can help control skin disease. Kids growing bodies need lots of Vitamin D and higher levels of vitamin D in kids could reduce neurological and autoimmune diseases (so I have read). Kids can actually get a good daily dose of Vitamin D with just 20 minutes in the sun (which would not necessarily need sunblock). But obviously, long bouts in the sun, especially between 10am and 2pm are necessary. Use SPF of at least 15. I know most people say use these super-high levels of SPF and I usually use around a 30. However, just for information sake, I've read that when you use above SPF 15, vitamin D can't be synthesized. Again, that's a personal choice.
Because whatever you rub into your child's (or your own) skin will soak in and spread to the bloodstream, I think the less chemicals the better. Here are a few ratings from the above listed website to give you an idea. You can follow the link to go directly to the page.
Banana Boat -there were a ton listed for this brand and most were ranked between 7 and 10 which is the highest rating for chemicals. This would not be the best choice.
Aveeno-ranked between 4 and 7 which is average. Not great, but better than some.
Coppertone-most were high hazard
If you want more information on sunscreen, read this article from the Environmental Working Group concerning their studies done on nearly 1000 sunscreens. "In a new investigation of 898 name-brand sunscreens, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 4 out of 5 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Leading brands were the worst offenders: None of market leader Coppertone's 33 sunscreen products met EWG's criteria for safety and effectiveness, and only 1 of 85 products from Banana Boat and Neutrogena, the second- and third-largest manufacturers, are recommended by EWG." This article will also give you their top recommended brands and chemical ratings. Have fun exploring!
Oh, and truthfully, chemicals are everywhere. Part of the food we might choose to eat, the water we drink, the products we clean with, the mattresses we sleep on, the air we breath...it can be overwhelming to think about. I don't think it's possible to eliminate everything, but whatever small things we can do, can help take the stress off our our bodies just a little bit. So anything small you do is better than nothing! If you find some new favorites, let me know.
