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HEADS UP! I mention a number of Beautycounter sunscreens in the post below. These are some of my favorite sunscreens and if you buy them today (April 28th) you can get them for 15% off through the The Friends & Family Event!
I was talking to my blog photographer a few weeks ago about how I was planning on writing a post about the importance of sunscreen closer to the summer months. Immediately, she looked at me like I was crazy. “NO. That’s a post you need to do right away. People need to be wearing sunscreen all the time.” I knew she was right. We talk about sunscreen all of the time during the summer, but we never talk about it during the other months. I subconsciously wear it because it’s in my foundation, but I never talk about it. So let’s break that mold today. Let’s start talking about why you should wear sunscreen all year long.
Why You Need to Wear Sunscreen Year-round
Why Do We Wear Sunscreen?
Before we get into why sunscreen should be worn year-round (not just in the summer!), let’s talk about why we wear sunscreen in general.
Protection From the Sun’s UV Rays
As an incredibly pale person all my life, I can vouch loudly that sunburns suck. They’re painful and can ruin vacations. For most people, that’s why we slap on sunscreen-to avoid the suns rays’ that turn us as red as a lobster. But what most of us may not realize is that we’re absorbing two types of UV (ultraviolet) rays from the sun: UVA and UVB rays. Both of which are incredibly damaging to the skin.
*Before I jump in, I want to clarify. It doesn’t matter what your skin type is. Even if you think you’re tanning, your skin is STILL absorbing both of these ultraviolet rays.
UVB Rays
UVB rays are the ones that cause sunburns. This is because they only really burn the superficial layers of skin. However, UVB rays are what play the biggest role in causing skin cancer.
UVA Rays
UVA rays aren’t better though. In addition to also causing skin cancer, UVA rays go much deeper into your skin. They’re what can cause your skin to prematurely wrinkle and age.
Skin Care
I also could just call this section “all the reasons to remind you that protecting your skin is important.”
Skin Cancer Prevention
Another reason people wear sunscreen? Skin cancer prevention. As you might of guessed from our talk about UV rays above, exposure your skin to massive amounts of UV rays can also increase your risk of skin cancer. Sunscreen can help block out those rays, therefore helping in the prevention of skin cancer.
Why do people only think about wearing it in the summer?
Well, for pretty logical reasons actually. In the summer, you spend the most time outside, in the sun. If you’re outside during the other seasons, most people tend to think about being in and out. They don’t think that they’re really outside long enough to justify putting on sunscreen. Or if it’s a cloudy day, they figure that sunscreen isn’t necessary.
But let’s dispel both of those myths right now.
First, the sun is the sun and UV rays are still there no matter how long you are outside for. They can effect your skin for however long you’re outside for.
Second, UV rays go right through the clouds. So even if it’s super cloudy, that’s not saving you from the sun, sorry.
How to Pick Your Sunscreen and Avoid that Skin Damage
Choose which part of your body it’ll be applied to
Face
The great thing about apply sunscreen to your face is that you can actually find it in many of the BB creams, CC creams, and foundations that you already wear on a daily basis! Just make sure that when you’re looking for one of those creams, it contains an SPF of at least 20. By the way, did you know that SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor?
If your make up doesn’t already contain an SPF of some sort and you aren’t interested in switching (though I would suggest considering it), then you need to find a facial sunscreen to apply before applying your make up. I would suggest looking for one that is also moisturizing so you don’t also dry out your skin in the process. You want to make sure that whatever you apply helps you avoid premature aging, age spots, and any general sun damage to your skin.
A great place to look is Sephora, under the “Clean” section of their website. I’ve heard great things about Drunk Elephant’s Umbra Sheer Physical Daily Defense Broad Spectrum Sunscreen, and SuperGoop! 100% Mineral Smooth & Pooreless Matte Screen.
If you’re up for switching to a tinted moisturizer (which I currently do and love), I’m a big fan of the Beautycounter Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage and bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer.
Lips
Yes! Your lips! Your lips are just as susceptible to being effected by the sun as the rest of your body, so you need to make sure that they’re well protected. The best way to do so? Lip balms containing SPF. For the best lip balms that are considered clean, I turned to the EWG’s guide. Some of their recommendations from brands I love include
Body
Sunscreen for your body can be a little wider range. In this case, you want to avoid certain chemicals (we’ll go over those in a minute). There are also daily lotions that have sunscreen in them as well. Those are great for days (like in fall or winter) when there are chances for sun exposure, but you aren’t prepping for them as much like you are in the summer. I’ve shared a few good options below. Another great option not listed? Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Lotion and Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Stick. (They just weren’t working with the widget, but they’re equally as good!) A lot of these start at SPF 25 or SPF 30 which is a great place to start.
Avoid Toxic Chemicals
If you’re going to pay attention to any part of this post, pay attention to this part. The chemicals below are the chemicals that are the most prevalent in most sunscreens today, but are also the most dangerous. What’s also disappointing is that even when I was looking through the “Clean” section of the Sephora website I mentioned above, a number of the products on there still contained these chemicals. These chemicals are still widely used because they’re effective in the filtering of UV rays from the sun (which ones vary by chemical). However, they all provide a number of health concerns.
Oxybenzone
Oxybenzone is one of the main ingredients you’ll find in many drugstore sunscreens. It’s also one of the most hazardous. It’s primary purpose in sunscreen is to absorb UV-A rays and it does an excellent job of doing so. But it is also absorbed by your skin and can stay in your body long after you’ve applied the sunscreen. You want to avoid something that’s going to give you negative long term effects!
So what are the main concerns around Oxybenzone? Well, first, it can cause a hormone disruption in your body. It can weaken your estrogen, cause endometriosis, and pose a risk to your overall reproductive system (including early puberty in girls, male infertility, and increased hormone-related cancers in men and women). The fact that this can lead this cancer when you’re trying to use it to prevent another cancer is frustrating and scary, to say the least.
Further more, Oxybenzone has high rates of skin allergies! In 2014, the American Contact Dermatitis Society named it the “Allergen of the Year.” So if you’re skin is going crazy after you’ve been applying sunscreen all day, you may want to take a look at the ingredients in your sunscreen. You may be having an allergic reaction to it (time to find a new sunscreen!).
Octinoxate
Next in the biggest chemical offenders category? Octinoxate. This chemical isn’t just found in your sunscreen, by the way. It’s in your hair color products, shampoos, lipstick, nail polish, and skin creams. Companies include it into products because it it filters UV-B rays and it doesn’t dissolve in water. Also, in products other than sunscreen, it protects the products from degrading when exposed to the sun.
Ready for the doozy of health concerns though? Me neither. We have to talk about them anyways though. First, it can cause endocrine disruption. Like Oxybenzone, it effects your hormone systems in a few different ways. It reduces thyroid hormones in the blood serum (which is really important for your metabolic functions, aka your metabolism). Also similar to Oxybenzone, it can increase chances of infertility and miscarriages in women, as well as a reduced sperm count in males.
Finally, there have been many studies that have linked Octinoxate to developmental toxicity and reproductive organ system toxicity. What this means is that octinoxate has been linked to harmful effects to babies in utero.
Homosalate, Octisalate, and Octocrylene
Both of these chemicals are ranked with “Moderate Toxicity” concerns, but I wanted to mention them regardless as chemicals to look out for. Homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene are fairly widespread in sunscreen. Like octinoxate and oxybenzone, homosalate can appear in mothers milk and penetrates the skin. It also disrupts estrogen and progesterone. Octisalate and octocrylene penetrate the skin which is what has caused it’s toxicity concerns. Both also have appeared as skin allergens.
Where DoYou Find The Safe (ie Clean) Sunscreens?
Now that you’ve learned all of these things, where do you find the sunscreen that’s correct for you? It’s actually a lot easier than you would think.
Beautycounter
One of the sites that I’ve mentioned before is Beautycounter. I’ve been working with the brand as a consultant for a few years and it’s also become my go-to site for safe (/clean) beauty products. Whenever I shop on this site, I know that the products I’m buying are safe from any dangerous chemicals (including the ones mentioned above). One thing I also appreciate is that in the ingredients list, you’re able to click on any of the ingredients and they’ll explain exactly what the ingredient is and what it does.
Some of their best sunscreens (and spf products) include:
Beautycounter Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage, Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Lotion and Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Stick.
bareMinerals
Another one of my favorite beauty brands is bareMinerals. I’ve been wearing this brand for a while, but they’ve recently started switching over to clean beauty! While they don’t have a straight sunscreen yet, they have a handful of great products with SPF included in them. This includes the
Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer,
SKINLONGEVITY Vital Power Moisturizer Broad Spectrum, and
COMPLEXION RESCUE DEFENSE TM Radiant Protective Veil.
Sephora Clean Beauty Section
I want to suggest this section with caution. I was really excited about this section of their website until I realized that half of the sunscreens included there had oxybenzone or oxtinoxate in them. This part of their website is a good starting ground if you want to stick with Sephora, but I would suggest reading the ingredients on the products first. Also, I’ve noticed that the ones that tend to include “mineral” in the title often doesn’t include the chemicals listed above.
An extra gift for you.
As I mentioned earlier in the post, I am a consultant for Beautycounter. With that, I would give a little gift to you. If you decide to order anything from Beautycounter through the end of this weekend (until Monday, 5/2/21), and you include one of their sunscreen products in your order, you’ll get a little surprise back from me. Just forward your receipt to dana@somethinggoodblog.com once you’ve place your order! Here are some of my favorite beautycounter products if you need some ideas to get your order started!
Did you know…
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You might also like… Clean Beauty: Why I Started With Clean Hair Care and Learning About Clean Beauty Through Beautycounter.
This post was originally published in March 2019. It has been updated and recirculated for publication.
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