Bronze, don't burn this summer

Here's the low down on sunscreen before you slather it all over your body. It might shock you to find out some of the most common sunscreens, maybe even the one you use at home, may actually be doing more harm to your body than good. Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out information on the best and worst sunscreens based on various environmental or health reasons and the 2015 best and worst are here. They’ve broken down all the sunscreens on the market. (You can go directly to EWG website for more detailed information of each sunscreen.)

Over 200 sunscreens meet the EWG sunscreen standards, which rate sunscreens based on ingredients and marketing tactics. You can find all of these sunscreens here. They are rated on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the best score available and 10 being the worst. Of the 200+ sunscreens meeting the standards, I only recognized the following three: Bull Frog brand Ultimate Sheer Body Sunscreen, SPF 30; Burt’s Bee’s Sunscreen Stick, SPF 30; and Yes to Cucumbers Natural Sunscreen Stick, SPF 30. You will definitely be shelling out more money for a good quality sunscreen, but “you get what you pay for.” Unfortunately, the hall of shame has many names I’m familiar with including many kinds of Coppertone, Banana Boat, NO-AD, and Neutrogena.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while searching for your sun protection this year. SPF stands for sun protection factor and more specifically it is protecting from the sun’s UVB rays (the rays from the sun responsible for the actual burn). According to the FDA, SPF numbers really hit their max protection around SPF 50 so beware of those companies marketing their product for ultra sun protection at crazy high SPF.  When these products have high SPF’s people can think they can stay in the sun way longer than they should. Also, beware of the marketing lingo used to draw you in, make sure you read the back. Some sunscreens claim they are “all natural” or “hypoallergenic”, but, actually contain harsh chemicals that may irritate or damage the skin. A few things to look for are oxybenzone (acts like a hormone), retinyl palmitate, and avoid the spray sunscreens in general due to the aerosol and if feels like you inhale more than actually gets on your skin.

Read this article on the EWG website: CDC finds toxic sunscreen chemical in 97% of Americans

Other ways to protect yourself from the sun in addition to sunscreen:

• Wear lightweight clothing that covers your arms and legs
• Try to avoid getting burned by not spending long bursts in the sun at once
• Always wear sunglasses to protect your eyes
• A hat with a brim also helps protect your eyes and a great deal of your face
• Shade is your friend, find shade
• The lighter your skin the more caution you should take in the sun, but everyone needs sun protection... even you, ya you.
• Keep babies out of the direct sun, while they're growing any of the chemicals in sunscreens are too harsh for their baby skin