In many cases, the popular saying ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ is best exercised in situations like your favorite chicken joint could be serving rats, that your newly bought lingerie may have bedbugs in them, that Snooki has come out with a novel, or that Santa isn’t real, but the 411 on sunscreen is not one of them.
Since the invention of swimsuits, sunscreen has long been regarded as the number one skin protection against the sun’s harmful rays by all sun worshipers and beach bums out there. On previous posts I’ve mentioned it as a quintessential among beach accessories even number one on The Beach Bum Manifesto. But now, new studies conducted and gathered by the Environmental Working Group has put a big question mark whether sunscreens are still a reliable ally against skin damage.
According to the Environmental Working Group, only 39 out of the 500 beach and sports sunscreens they have tested passed their rigid standards.The reasons are quite alarming, ranging from big bad businessmen exaggerating their SPF claims trying to make more money despite outright social neglect to startling scientific discoveries – ingredients in most sunscreen can actually speed up skin aging and double skin cancer risks – that could discredit the efficacy of sunscreen altogether. You can read the complete report here as posted in the Environmental Working Group’s site along with Sunscreens Exposed: 9 Surprising Truths.
If the EWG’s findings make you want to shun away from all sunscreens and switch to natural sunscreen instead, know that not all the EWG’s findings are all bad news. We’re not all doomed to spend the rest of our lives in fear of the sun because of a few sons of beaches. There are still sunscreens that passed the group’s tests in flying colors and you’d want to carry inside your beach bags at all times. Here’s the list of 21 of the 39 sunscreens that got the EWG’s seal of approval as compiled by The Daily Green.
And since we’re already on the topic of going green, how about giving natural sunscreen a chance? You won’t find any Oxybenzone or Retinyl Palmitate in any natural sunscreen, let me tell you that.
- On a previous post I’ve mentioned a recipe about a homemade natural sunscreen, now here’s another homemade natural sunscreen recipe you may want to try courtesy of scoochmaroo from Instructibles. You can find the detailed instructions with photos here. But for good measure, I’ll advise you check with your doctor or dermatologist first before trying out your homemade natural sunscreen on our skin.
- Not all natural sunscreen comes in a bottle. Sometimes natural sunscreen comes in the form of fashionable beach accessories like beach hats and cover ups. These two could be the most under appreciated of all beach accessories, not just in fashion value but as well as skin protection. Wearing beach hats are among The Skin Cancer Foundation’s recommended natural sunscreen along with slathering on those that actually do come in bottles (or tubes, or sprays, or tin cans for that matter). While there are clothing companies like Solartex, Solar Eclipse and Coolibar that offer sun protective clothing, which would probably be the fashionistas idea of a natural sunscreen.
- Another natural sunscreen is as unlikely as it is ingenious. Just stay out of the sun during the hours of 10 AM to 4PM when the sun is at its strongest. Consider going to the beach during the mornings to put this natural sunscreen to the test.
So now that you know more about natural sunscreen, it’s time to hit the beach, put on your natural sunscreen, dig your toes in the sand and forget forever that ‘Ignorance is Bliss’.