http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-girl-blocks-the-burning-sun.html
Green Girl Blocks the Burning Sun
by Lily Berthold-Bond
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. I am very pale. I’m the kind of person that is white all year long, gets a sunburn, and then immediately turns white again. Well, I guess I should say gets sunburns, plural. Because I burn very, very easily. Even with sunscreen! It’s sad.
Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea for me to get a job working outside eight hours a day, five days a week all summer. After three weeks, my arms have gone from bright red, to a hint darker than my normal pale, to bright red again, to a little bit darker than the previous pale with a highly attractive peel. The rest of me is still practically albino.
And when I’m not working, I’m trying to relax. Which this past weekend, when the temperature was 100 degrees, meant sitting outside on my porch in the sun, reading and drinking iced tea. Sounds like the life, right? Well, it was wonderful. But, no matter how much sunscreen I put on, I always seem to miss small parts, which immediately turn into bad sunburns.
I’ve been putting on 15 SPF, so this weekend I went out and bought 30. I may have to move up to 45. According to a study by the cosmetic safety database, 86 percent of sunscreens on the market are either ineffective against the sun or raise safety concerns because of their ingredients. Many contain microsized and nano-scale UVA filters with toxic properties, and some contain ingredients that absorb into the blood and may have toxic effects, acting as hormone disruptors, releasing free radicals into the skin, and causing allergic reactions. The Cosmetics Database gives detailed information about which sun blocks are safe and effective and which are not. The sunscreen that has worked for me is Alba Botanical’s SUN, and it is paraben-free.
If you still can’t stop that sunburn, treat it with aloe vera gel, but none of that nasty blue aloe! Instead, try Lily of the Desert’s Aloe Vera Gelly, which is 99 percent aloe and free of artificial color and fragrance. Believe me, it feels beyond amazing on a sunburn.
Note to self: Sunburns are no fun. Use sunscreen. Effective sunscreen. And chemical-free sunscreen.
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13 comments
add your comment »I just bought sunscreen the other day, so after reading this wanted to figure out how healthy mine was. By clicking on the "cosmetic safety database" link (above) I found a great chart with further links to a site where you can search for your sunscreen. Here is the direct link to see if your sunscreen is safe: http://cosmeticdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/findyoursunscreen.php?sunscreens=1&haz=g&eff=g¬hanks=1
I'm really glad I looked up my sunscreen! As it turns out, it's one of the really toxic ones! I highly suggest this site!
Thanks, Green Girl!
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even better than sunscreen - cover up! i'm a landscaper in florida, and i wear a large hat (with uv protection), sunglasses, pants and at least a short sleeved shirt in the sun to work. of course that doesn't work for the beach, but its good for the rest of the time. you get used to the extra layers. also, there are clothes with uv protection in them.
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hi again, i noticed someone giving a website where organic sunscreen and skincare was available, so i will do the same http://loveorganics.net/sunscreen.html
enjoy!
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Of course, there is always wearing a lightwieght, white, long sleeved shirt. :) I was an archeology major out in the field in Utah and New Mexico during the summer, and they recommend being covered with light weight, light color pants and long sleeved shirts. Because I was getting dirty, I went to Goodwill and bought button up dress shirts for really cheap that I wore over a light my t-shirts and didn't mind if outer shirt got destroyed.
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hi there, if you would like to know about a beautiful organic sunscreen that has absolutely nothing toxic in it, drop me a line.
cheers, gabriel
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Judy, I'd love to try out your recipe.
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I have lived in the Florida Keys for 30 years and grew up in south Florida. Needless to say, I've burned myself out:)
So, I spent hour upon hour and came up with the very best sunscreen yet. I went to my local compounding pharmacist and worked with him on the ingredients. I told him I wanted an Alba base (all natural ingredients and loaded with stuff like green tea, aloe,vitamin E, vitamin C, etc.). The next most important ingredient is micronized zinc oxide, a total sunblock that blocks not only UVA but UVB rays also. If you look that up, you'll find that most European countries will allow this and a few others in sunscreens. I've been using this stuff and it is sooo loaded with great ingredients, I use it at night too.
To top things off, even my dermatologist is very impressed with the results in my skin and all the hard work I put into this stuff. Said if he didn't have a line of products in his office, he'd like to stock mine!
If anyone is interested in this, please let me know, I'd be happy to share my info.
Judy.
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Titanium dioxide is considered safe for the skin (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient.php?ingred06=706561) as well as for coral reefs (http://www.integralsense.com/ecolani.htm). It is whitening, but can be tinted for facial use. I've mixed it 10% with tapioca powder for a 30SPF, which is very sheer, and will be trying mixtures with rose geranium EO and lavender EO in olive oil combinations for home made sunscreen+bug repellant uses!
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titanium dioxide is considered safe as a UVA & UVB blocker, as well as for coral (http://www.integralsense.com/ecolani.htm); zinc oxide is not safe for coral. I make my own sunscreen with it and olive oil (10%)--caveat is that is does leave a white residue (which can be tinted for facial use). The cosmetics safety database (Environmental Working Group) considers it an effective sunscreen also.
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Yea, sunscreen kills of the reefs and it's also directly harmful to some fish too. There is an articule about this on this web site so, CHECK IT OUT!!! :)
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