Best Eco-Safe Sunscreens for the Beach
We know, we know: When it comes to skin care, sunscreen is a must. While the sun may provide us with many great gifts—essential Vitamin D, warmth and, um, daylight—the ultraviolet radiation it emits can cause skin cancer and premature aging. In fact, as much as 90 percent of the visible changes that happen to our skin as it ages, such as brown spots and wrinkling, get a kick-start from overexposure to the sun. So while all of us should be applying a natural sunscreen year round, with the golden days of summer just around the corner, the practice becomes even more important.
Yet many ingredients in conventional sunscreens top the Big List for their toxicity: A 2008 Centers for Disease control study linked the ubiquitous oxybenzone to cell damage, hormone disruption and allergies. Plus, chemical ingredients like these have also been proven ineffective, acting less as skin protectors, but more as simply pore-clogging goop.
Whether you’re lounging in the yard or hiking the hills, we found the best non-toxic sunscreens to nourish and protect without wreaking havoc your health and the environment, plus scored a whopping $800 in eco-screeners. Let the sun, and your skin, shine!
It’s 11 am on a gorgeous 85-degree Saturday. You grab your towel, tote and reusable filtered water bottle and head to the beach. But right before you leave the house, you apply some John Masters Organics SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen. Why? This broad-spectrum lotion contains the mineral oxides of zinc and titanium, both of which score a low hazard risk on the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. And the antioxidant and vitamin-rich solution of green tea, jojoba oil and shea butter—packaged in an environmentally friendly glass pump bottle—will soothe and nourish your skin. Hailing from a stylist who was a pioneer in bringing luxury and organic products to shelves, John Masters Organics creates effective products with natural ingredients.
John Masters Organics’ SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen ($32)
While you’re splashing in those waves, you want your screen to stick. To up the staying power of our protection, we love Episencial’s Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35. The nutrient-rich beeswax combined with the shea butter increases the solution’s resistance to water. And this company is all about doing good: Episencial uses solar power to manufacture their healthy skin care products made for the vulnerable and developing skin of babies and children. The line’s founder, Kim Walls, used her years of wisdom from working for her father’s company—the famed Epicuren skin care line—to create natural and sustainable products that protect and feed the skin of little and big ones, alike.
Episencial Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35 ($15)
Want more? We found the best eco-friendly sunscreens for the beach, pool, working out and every day, plus a whopping $800 in freebies. Go on, get some!
Stacey Lindsay is a freelance writer who holds a Master’s degree in print journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her awesome blog on natural health and green living is at Gwendolyn Honey.
