Sunscreen. The Evil Truth.
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Summer is upon us. Meaning vacations, swimming and sunburns are right around the corner. Here’s your friendly neighbor PSA regarding commercial sunscreen. As I’ve said before, the research is astounding. Reading the labels of the everyday products we used was eye opening… and nauseating.
Let’s start with the basics. Your skin is your largest organ system. You can excrete sweat, salt and so on. This also means that lotions, contaminants and toxins can pass through your skin and then travel through your body via the red blood cell highway.
What ingredients should you avoid?
Oxybenzone, an ultraviolet light absorber and key ingredient in many sunscreens. This is what is responsible for many phototoxic and photoallergic reactions (breaking out in a rash or having your skin burned by the chemical within hours or days of using). It is highly absorbed by the skin and, according to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is reported to be a contaminate within the bodies of 97% of Americans. It is also believed to be a human endocrine disruptor (European Commission on Endocrine Disruption) and can interfere with cellular signaling, cause mutations, lead to cell death. and may be implicated in cardiovascular disease.
Octinoxate functions similarly to Oxybenzone as an ingredient. However, the main concern is with estrogen mimicking, causing hormones to be disrupted and wreaking havoc on your system. It has also been found in breast milk.
Propylparaben, a preservative also known to disrupt the endocrine system. Simply put, for men or women, this basically blocks receptors so that hormones do not get to where they need to go. It mimics estrogen, throwing your body for a loop.
Retinyl Acetate (Vitamin A Acetate) – High levels of Vitamin A put all over the body can lead to reproductive toxicity. It can also interfere with cellular signaling, cause mutations, lead to cell death and may be implicated in cardiovascular disease. The National Toxicology Program also reports that it causes tumors in animals at low doses.
What ingredients are the better option?
Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are similar in benefits. They both protect against UV-B and UV-A radiation.
Unfortunately, there are still dangers in the form of nanoparticles.
Nanoparticles are smaller titanium dioxide or zinc oxide and are “supposed” to better help protect from the sun. Yet, studies have now shown that nanoparticles do cross into the blood stream. It is also very dangerous to inhale either metal. Some studies show that cellular damage which can lead to cancer can occur if it is inhaled.
So, you can’t inhale it, and you don’t want nano-zinc, but can you use something else?
Non-Nano Zinc Oxide to the rescue! (This is what we use in our sunscreen)
Nano refers to nanometers. It is a unit of measurement for length in the metric system, and one nanometer is equal to one-billionth of a meter. Nanoparticles are smaller than 100 nanometers.
Since “nano” refers to super-small particles, “non-nano” is, therefore, not as small. These are larger than 100 nanometers. So, if nano and non-nano zinc oxide are all about size, what does this have to do with your sun protection?
When it comes to sun protection, the bigger the particle size the better. Why?
Because of the way nanoparticles act on your skin. When you apply sunscreen with nano zinc oxide, the super-small particles can penetrate your skin cells and end up in your bloodstream (and even in your lungs). This is where the “non-nano” zinc-oxide comes to play. The particles are larger thus staying on the surface of the skin and not crossing into the bloodstream.
I am all about education. Even if you never purchase a single Dragonfly Botanicals product, I hope to have educated you in one thing or another. Arm yourself with knowledge so you can make better choices for yourself and your family.
~ Sara