The Best Sunscreens For Your Budget, Your Health, And The Planet 🌎
SUNSCREEN RECALL
Johnson and Johnson have just announced a recall for a few of their sunscreens due to trace amounts of benzene being found in the products. Benzene is a carcinogenic chemical that evaporates quickly into the air and acute and chronic exposure has been linked to various forms of cancer. The good news is: most of the sunscreens that were recalled are aerosol sunscreens, and therefore easily identifiable to someone who is worried that they may have recently purchased contaminated products. The FDA has a comprehensive list of all the products being recalled here so definitely check it out ASAP to see if your favorite sunscreen is listed! The FDA reiterates that sunscreen usage is still very necessary to protect ourselves from UV radiation from the sun and so I’ve put together a little list of sunscreen products that, according to my research, are safe for our skin, AND safe for the oceans we love and want to protect! 🌊💙
the science behind safer sunscreen
“Reef Friendly” vs “Reef Safe”
We all know that advertising and product design is more about marketing than it is about being honest with consumers about product safety and environmental implications. To be frank, you can’t always trust the product branding to convey the most honest message about the safety of the product for the consumer and for the environment. Although they’re meant to protect our skin, sunscreen chemicals can actually damage our skin, as well as harm ecosystems in the ocean, particularly reefs, and even end up in the seafood we eat. Many sunscreen products will have labels that say “reef safe” or “reef friendly,” but actually contain chemicals that can destroy coral reefs, and parabens which can effect normal hormonal systems in the body. While these labels make the products sound safe and appealing, that isn’t always the case, so it’s always a good idea to check the ingredients yourself.
There are five ingredients are some you should stay away from: avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, and titanium oxide. The first two are known to promote cancerous growths and can promote the release of free radicals (cancer causing particles) when absorbed into the skin. The next two have less scientific data on their effect on humans, but, of the studies that have been conducted, they show likely negative effects on brain development over a long period of time, as the chemicals can accumulate in water and bloodstreams over time. Titanium oxide is generally safe for human use, but when the compound is reduced on a molecular scale, it can be toxic to coral reefs and aquatic organisms. IMO, if you’ll be swimming in the ocean, you should only use sunscreen that is “reef safe,” as “reef friendly” really only means it isn’t as bad as the main ingredients in the most common sunscreens. Your best options for sunscreens that are safe for human use as well as “reef safe” are sunscreens that use non-nano zinc oxide as the only active ingredient. Non-nano refers to the size of the chemical particles used in the sunscreen, meaning they aren’t small enough to enter your pores and cannot be digested by corals. If the ingredients don’t specifically say “non-nano,” there is a pretty good chance that the product contains nanoparticles. And don’t forget that spray sunscreens release aerosols which are bad for us and for the ozone! Unfortunately, it’s often hard to come by brands of sunscreen that meet all of these criteria, and so for the average consumer we really just have to try do the best we can with what’s available to us, and to be conscious of the potentially harmful chemical ingredients in our sunscreen when we’ll be using it frequently or liberally, and especially when we’ll be swimming in the ocean. Luckily I have a few recommendations* and they’re all available on Amazon! 👇🏽
Brands We Like:
A very common brand, we have all likely used Coppertone sunscreen at some point in our lifetimes, so we can trust that it works. Thankfully they have a new sunscreen that has everything we want! With reef safe and skin-forgiving ingredients, Coppertone Pure and Simple can even be used on babies and comes at a very affordable price - just under $10!
ThinkSport is probably one of the best sunscreens out there. It contains only reef safe ingredients and doesn’t have any absorbing chemicals or fragrances that can lead to carcinogens entering your body or the seafood that you eat. Better yet, you get quite a bit of bang for your buck since the bottles are under $20 for 6 oz!
This one has been on my need-to-try list for a while. It’s easy on the skin and only has our favorite active ingredient! It’s a little more on the expensive side, as the product tubes are a little smaller than usual, but if you have a little extra money and are willing to spend it on sunscreen to save your skin and our coral reefs, this is a must! It’s under $25 on Amazon, but other locations may offer more forgiving prices.
This sunscreen is another 2-in-1 moisturizer and sun block. The product itself comes from Korea (and we all know that the Koreans truly make the best skincare products!), where many of the harmful ingredients used in American products are banned for use in commercial products, so we can be pretty sure that this product won’t harm our skin - and I love that it is well priced! It’s under $10 for a little over a 3oz. bottle! A’pieu also has a sun gel, tone up, and waterproof variety of this product so you can take your pick based on your own needs and preferences.
This sunscreen is my current daily sunscreen. I found this brand when looking for a facial sunscreen that wouldn’t clog my pores, as I have very sensitive and breakout prone skin. I don’t put anything on my face in the morning except this! It’s a great moisturizer and has no oils or parabens. Another slightly more expensive sunscreen, you might have to cough up some extra bucks for this brand but it’s one of my all-time favorites!
I love Josie Maran products in general and a quick scan of the ingredients used across their product line makes me free pretty confident in their quality and trustworthiness. This daily moisturizer has zinc oxide and titanium oxide which are considered OK sunscreen ingredients for humans - but are not reef safe. It’s a little pricier than other options but has lots of good ingredients like aloe leaf juice and green tea, and is supposedly good for sensitive skin.
I hope you enjoyed these recommendations! Let me know if you try any of these brands and how you like them, and if there are any other brands you think I should check out and potentially add to my list, send them my way!
*Here at TaDa Travels, all of the products we recommend are hand selected and independently curated by our editors. We hope you love them! Just so you know, we may collect a share of sales through the affiliate links on this page if you decide to shop from them, and prices are accurate at the time of publication. We appreciate your support!