Sunscream
Back to some skin issue for a couple of posts. Since our skin is the most visible aspect of our Outer Beauty, it’s always going to be an important subject. Our consistent advice from Day One has been: protect yourself from too much sun exposure. Solar radiation dehydrates, damages collagen, and causes skin cancer, as you know. One remedy has been to wear broad-spectrum sunscreen right?
Well…
Now news has come out from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that the majority of the 1,100 sunscreens they tested did not work as well as claimed. In particular, they worried about broad-spectrum products, which are supposed to offer protection from UVA rays (which penetrate the skin and cause damage) and UVB rays (which cause sunburns). Basically, sunscreen makers don’t have to tell you how much protection their products offer from UVA and UVB rays, so they don’t. You have no idea if you’re blocking the burning rays while the UVA wreaks havoc on your skin.
The other concern the EWG found was that people who regularly used sunscreens had levels of the UVA blocker oxybenzone in their urine. Now, the FDA requires that sunscreens be topical, which means their ingredients can’t be absorbed into the bloodstream. So how does this happen? Clearly, some sunscreen makers aren’t formulating their products safely, and that’s a problem because oxybenzone in pregnant women has been shown to affect birth weight.
There’s more about oxybenzone. Back in the 1980s, a chemist for Warner-Lambert cosmetics company found that oxybenzone had anti-inflammatory properties. It’s taken this long for the industry to publish his findings, because if your sunscreen reduces the pain of the sunburn you get after too much exposure, then you might spend more time in the sun and do some real damage.
So what now. Do we go back to white dabs of zinc oxide or titantium cream, which don’t go really well with a toned beach body? For one thing, you can lobby your representatives to demand that the FDA adopt a more precise SPF rating system. Sunscreen makers are fighting this, as they always do, but consumer pressure helps. For another, you can contact smaller companies that make sunscreen (presumably, they will be more responsive than a major corporation) and tell them you would love to buy and recommend their products if they a) contain no oxybenzone and b) have a totally transparent SPF rating that reveals both UVA and UVB protection.
Otherwise, use common sense. Wear UV-resistant clothing. Limit your sun exposure. Check the ingredients. There are sunscreens without oxybenzone: Natural Sun SPF 25 for Active Lifestyles by Aubrey Organics, Vanicream’s SPF 30 and Oat Protein SPF 30 by Kiss My Face are three examples. However, they use minerals like zinc and titanium dioxide to block rays, so they may not be as invisible as you’re used to. And if you must use sunscreen, reapply it every two hours and use something with at least 45 SPF. If you’re not sure you can trust the companies who make your sun protection products, at least you can trust your own sound judgment.
Stay beautiful,
Debi & Eva
