3 Things You Need to Know About Sunscreen

Many people are now wanting to use healthier sunscreens, but for a newbie it's really confusing to understand why natural sunscreen is better (and even harder to find the right one!).

Ideally you want to use an spf that both lowers your cancer risk AND delays skin aging - to understand how to do both let's start by looking at active sunscreens ingredients:

• Some of the more common 'mainstream' chemical sunscreen ingredients are Avobenzone, Oxybenzone, Octrocrylene, Homosalate, Octisalate, etc. - these are all synthetic compounds that either degrade quickly (so then they need a lot of 'other' ingredients to keep them effective), are known hormone disrupters, can cause skin damage, are potentially photo carcinogenic, and generate free radicals (which ages skin).
• In the 'natural' world of sunscreen ingredients there are only two options - Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide; the first is unfortunately also linked to free radicals (not good for either cancer prevention or good skin) and therefore the best and only natural option is Zinc Oxide
• Zinc Oxide is the best option for limiting damage from the sun and for avoiding photoaging.
• NOTE #1 - as most people know zinc oxide is opaque & white so for most formulators it's hard to get it to go on smooth and look great (clear) in an spf; there are a lot of bad natural sunscreens on the market and many of them do leave a dreaded white film on the skin (more on how to avoid this later on).
• NOTE #2 - mainstream sunscreen companies tend to use higher spf levels as a marketing scheme to give the illusion of ultimate safety levels. Sunscreens with really high SPFs (50 - 100) don't offer significantly greater protection than SPF 30 sunscreens. An SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB rays, SPF 30 blocks 97% of UVB rays, and SPF 50 blocks 98% of UVB rays - as the SPF numbers get larger, the margin of improvement gets smaller. We prefer using a clean spf with zinc oxide at a 15 or 30 versus using a high spf with cheap synthetic ingredients (remember that whatever ingredients are in the bottle are literally getting 'baked' into your skin by the sun!).

Particle size is a pretty boring but important part of understanding sunscreens. In order of most harmful to cleanest, these are the particle size options used in spf:

• Most harmful - any of the synthetic/chemical sunscreen ingredients; they are smaller than nanoparticles and are designed to be absorbed into your skin (and to get into your bloodstream).
• Less harmful then mainstream but still not ideal - Nanoparticles. For example if a company takes zinc oxide and wants to make it into such a small particle that it doesn't go on white ...they will then use nanoparticle size zinc oxide. Nanoparticles are a health concern when inhaled (with spray spf) and they're toxic to marine life (and banned in many countries because of both these things).
• Healthiest option - regular zinc oxide. Zinc Oxide is a 'physical barrier' sunscreen - meaning it forms a film that sits on top of your skin and reflects/scatters the UV (as opposed to mainstream spf ingredients that are designed to soak into the skin). Luckily these days there are many safe and clean methods of making the zinc oxide go on 'less white' so it's just a matter of finding a brand that works for you.
• NOTE - you will NOT know by looking at a bottle of sunscreen whether it uses nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are considered a 'process' and not an 'ingredient', so companies do not need to disclose it on their ingredient lists (or anywhere else on the bottle); the only way to know is to ask the company directly (or use a brand you know and trust).

We highly recommend looking for a sunscreen that is good for both cancer prevention and delays skin aging. Things to consider when choosing a sunscreen:

• What's the active sunscreen ingredient? If it's not zinc oxide, then you're using a sunscreen that is not doing your wrinkles any favours (and is guaranteed to have other unnecessary and potentially harmful ingredients both to your health and to your skin).
• What's the main inactive ingredient in the sunscreen? The sunscreens we like have their first inactive ingredient listed as an oil (sunflower oil) or an infusion (green tea infusion); most mainstream sunscreens have water as the first ingredient or something else we can't pronounce. Side note - anything with water as a first ingredient needs a ton of strong preservatives (which of course are also not helping your skin age beautifully, nor are they healthy).
• Is the formula solely for sun protection or does the product also have anti-aging ingredients in it? Depending of course if this is important to you - but if it is, be sure to pick an option that does both and don't forget that a great facial sunscreen should both prevent cancer and photoaging (both of our spf facial options do this beautifully!).
• Sunscreen cost is irrelevant - while you can pretty much guarantee that the less expensive brands are using harmful ingredients (it's significantly cheaper to use synthetic spf than it is to use zinc oxide), a more expensive spf does not necessarily mean that it's a 'clean' one. Many luxury brands use cheap synthetic ingredients - often hiding behind them with fluffy language and a few 'key' ingredients that sound healthy (but of course a few good ingredients wrapped in a bottle of otherwise harmful synthetic ingredients are not serving the purpose they should).
• Am I applying my spf properly? Even the best clean zinc oxide sunscreens take just a wee bit of rubbing in to make it smooth (but not much - we find it quite minimal for the payoff of a natural spf); a great tip though is that if your skin is really dry to apply facial or body oil first and then the sunscreen glides on even more easily! Don't give up on natural sunscreen just because you didn't like one brand - there's a huge variety in 'whiteness' among the brands; just try a few different brands until you find one you love.