The sun is shining, and the kids are all excited to be outdoors playing and enjoying the warmth. If you have a child with sensitive skin, or of you’re just concerned about all of the harsh chemicals that go in to making sunscreen, you may be wondering if natural sunscreen exists and more importantly if it works as well as its chemical-based counterparts. The good news is that some very proactive parents and consumers have gone to great lengths to formulate amazing natural sunscreen that really works and completely avoids all of the chemicals and ingredients that usually cause problems.
Why Sunscreen Is Essential
Everyone loves the sun – but too much of a good thing can be troublesome. Burns, peeling, drying, exaggerated skin conditions, pain, and serious skin diseases can all be caused by the sun, and children’s delicate skin is even more susceptible to these negative effects than adults in some cases.
Making natural sunscreen a routine part of your daily childcare program helps stop the sun’s harmful UV rays form making it to your child’s skin which keeps them safe from burns and more serious issues later on.
Why Natural Sunscreen Is A Good Choice
Have you ever read the ingredients list on one of the popular store brands of sunscreen? It’s stunning. The list is not short, and some brands are even reputed to use chemicals that irritate the skin while they prevent UV rays from getting in… does that make sense to you? Not to mention, spray sunscreens are the easiest to apply, and also the easiest to inhale. We need sunscreens to protect us from the sun, we shouldn’t have to be concerned with how the sunscreen can be toxic to our bodies! We don’t have to choose between irritating, toxic sunscreens and sunburning.
Sunscreen chemicals include hormone distrupters.
According to the EWG,
Several common chemical filters appear to be endocrine disruptors. A large number of studies in animals and cells have shown that the chemicals affect reproduction and development by altering reproductive and thyroid hormones, although the evidence is mixed for some studies (Krause 2012). Animal studies report lower sperm counts and sperm abnormalities after exposure to oxybenzone and octinoxate, delayed puberty after exposure to octinoxate and altered estrous cycling for female mice exposed to oxybenzone. Recently, Danish researchers reported that eight of 13 chemical sunscreen ingredients allowed in the U.S. affected calcium signaling of male sperm cells in laboratory tests, which the researchers suggest could reduce male fertility (Endocrine Society 2016).
The Best Natural Sunscreen
You’re probably not surprised that we’ve really done our homework on this one! We’ve been scouring the web to find the best all-natural sunscreen options that are free from irritants, chemicals, nuts, gluten, soy, fragrances, essential oils, and glycerin. In all honesty, the search was not easy – but we found some and that gives us hope about the future availability of even more of these great products.
Check out the links section below to see some of our top picks for natural sunscreen. If we missed your favorite, use the comments section below to share it with us!
A list of Natural Sunscreen
Please thoroughly check the ingredients for each of these products before using. Each of them contains a unique blend of various ingredients, and some may contain ingredients that your child may be sensitive to.
*Should you decide to buy from the links included, I may receive a small compensation at no cost to you. (Probably equivalent to organic carrots, ha!)
All of the followed have been EWG rated:
Goddess Garden – 92% Organic and 30 SPF
Babyganics – Non Toxic Mineral Based 30 SPF
Beyond Coastal – Oxybenzone Free, Paraben Free, Oil Free and 30 SPF
Honest Company – A top EWG rated product
ThinkBaby Sunscreen – A top EWG rated product: Free of biologically harmful chemicals. No Avobenzone, Oxybenzone, or UV Chemical absorbers.
Badger Balm (This is the one we currently use)
Here are the top 19 Sunscreens based on EWG rating of 1
Adorable Baby Sunscreen Lotion
All Good Kid’s Sunscreen
All Terrain KidSport Sunscreen Lotion
Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection Sensitive Skin Lotion Sunscreen
Babytime! by Episencial Sunny Sunscreen
Badger Baby Sunscreen Cream
Bare Republic Baby Mineral Sunscreen Lotion
Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen Baby
BurnOut KIDS Sunscreen
California Baby Super Sensitive Sunscreen
Caribbean Sol Sol Kid Kare
Goddess Garden Organics Baby Natural Sunscreen Lotion
Kiss My Face Organics Kids Sunscreen
Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby Sunscreen
Sunology Natural Sunscreen Kids
Sunumbra Sunkids Natural Sunscreen, SPF 40
ThinkSport Kids Sunscreen
Tom’s of Maine Baby Sunscreen Lotion
TruKid Sunny Days Sport Sunscreen
If you have any favorites, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below.