Here is a post for all those out there that either don’t know what is in your sunscreen or you are sitting there scratching your head wondering which sunscreen is best for you and your children. Get ready to click, take notes even. There is a lot of information on this so I am going to summarize it the best way a sister can, with the facts…….just the facts.
My hope is that you do a little clicking and make an educated decision based on the information provided. At the bottom of this post will be links to my recommended sunscreen and the best places to purchase them. You might be surprised it will not be Target or Baby R Us.
If you don’t know you should, in a lot of the sunscreens on the market (children’s and adult) there are hazardous chemicals that penetrate the skin, which is our largest organ. First off, bookmark this site Environmental Working Group (EWG), they have recently placed their 4th Annual “Best Sunscreen Guide” up. You can gather all the information you need to make an educated decision. They recommended only 39 sunscreens, which is 8% of the 500 beach and sport sunscreens. They looked at 1,400 products with SPF. This list includes beach and sport lotions, sprays and creams as well as moisturizers, make-up and lip balms.
Take a look at the left hand side of the web site at “Sunscreen Exposed.” You will also find a place to search for your sunscreen and see what types of ingredients are in it. EWG rates the ingredients as follows 0-2 as “recommended”, 3-6 “caution” and 7-10 “avoid.” EWG does a great job at putting the facts out there with information that can help you determine what fits your family.
Take some notes or put this in your memory banks. EWG has a list of ingredients to AVOID. From what I read, sunscreen makers offer mineral and non-mineral formulations as well as products that have both in them. The below list are the top ingredients that you should watch out for.
Click here to read the article and the reasons why these ingredients need to be avoided.
Benzophenone-3 (Oxybenzone) EWG recommends avoiding using on Children due to penetration and toxicity concerns.
4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor (4MBC)- strong evidence of hormone disruption
3-Benzylidene Camphor
Octylmethoxycinnarnate (OMC)
So what are my picks? I love California Baby. This product comes in a Stick which is great for application on the face as well as a lotion and with Citronella. This products rated very low (which is good) for its ingredients. Nothing scored over a 2. Where can you get California Baby products? Diapers.com, Amazon, Target or their website. You can click to Diapers.com and Amazon (click to the left) straight from Helpful Sister.
The other one I have recommend, but have not tried, is All Terrain. They offer Aquasport Performance, Terrasport and Kidsport Sunscreens, all at 30 spf. You can also purchase this on Amazon, click to the left.
For the complete list of EWG recommended sunscreens please click here.
Happy Sunshine, happy skin, sounds like a great Summer 2010.
