A Guide to Natural and “Reef Safe" Sunscreen and What to Avoid
Disclaimer - this information is only based on what I’ve researched and my own experience, it is not scientific or medical advice about sunscreens
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Finding “natural" and “reef safe” sunscreen can be confusing. If you don’t have a lot of time to put into researching it and don’t have a brain which absorbs long words easily (I certainly don’t!) it is even more confusing!
So I set about trying to decipher what’s going on and how to identify a truly “reef safe” sunscreen.
First of all some major words and their alternative names to avoid!
The names in bold are the names that seem to be most commonly used in the UK from what I can tell
Ocinoxate - ethylhexyl-methoxycinnamate and octyl methoxycinnate
Oxybenzone is also commonly called benzophenone-3 and less often called Milestab 9, Eusolex 4360, Escalol 567, or KAHSCREEN BZ-3
Avobenzone - Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane
Octycrylene - so far I haven’t seen another name used
"Reef Safe"
As more people are becoming aware of the damage chemicals can have on their own health and the health of the environment we visit, many sunscreen brands are now labelling some of their products as “reef safe” and “natural”. But what does this even mean? “Reef safe” doesn’t mean much at all - generally it seems that there are less harmful chemicals involved such as the main two spoken about - Oxybenzone and Ocinoxate which have been linked to marine life damage including bleaching coral reefs (they have even been banned in Hawaii due to the links to coral bleaching), hormone disruptions in humans and animals and I even found a study showing how damaging these chemicals (plus Octocrylene and Avobenzone) can be to plant life, potentially causing serious damage to eco systems. But there are no actual regulations to control how this “reef safe” certification is used.
I have found sunscreens labeled as “reef safe” which contain Octocrylene that has been found to be harmful to marine life such as coral. People say that to change the world it’s up to the consumers to change their buying habits and the companies will provide - but how do we change our buying habits when we are so hoodwinked! There is a very useful infographic that lays things out simply and lists common sunscreen ingredients to avoid here.
“Natural” is another misleading label. A particular sunscreen brand that is often sold in health food shops as organic and vegan (misleading you to thinking that they would also be natural and reef safe maybe) list Oxybenzone as one of their ingredients (sneakily labeled as Benzophenone-3) as well as Octocrylene, I have contacted them about why they do this and will update this post when and if I hear back.
Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide are naturally occurring minerals that block UV rays and are commonly used in “natural/reef safe” sunscreens. When used in their nano form (tiny particles 100,000 smaller than a human hair and cause less white residue on the skin) these seem to be harmless in humans (further research is being done but for the moment they seem safe) but can be very harmful to marine life. When nano particles are released into the ocean they can react with UV light in water and create hydrogen peroxide which can stunt the growth of phytoplankton - the base of the marine food chain, sustaining much of the larger species of sea life from small fish to whales. (ref)
So what do you buy?
From my research the best thing to buy are products containing Non-nano Zinc Oxide. There are many choices out there now, although you do have to put up with a level of whiteness on your skin! For me a little white sheen is ok for the benefit of knowing that I'm harming the environment, and potentially my own health, less. But it’s also difficult for many to put up with having a white cream on your body in an ever increasing body and image conscious world. The best thing to do in my opinion is to all start using it and change perception. Maybe one day we’ll be thought of as cool for having a white layer of sunscreen on our faces!
Some suggestions of what to use
I’ve included some photos of how well each one blends in so you have an idea
Shade is a great non-nano zinc oxide sunscreen that is fairly inexpensive, it rubs in quite well and the visible white layer does fade. It comes in a handy metal tin which can be reused and only has four ingredients (no long confusing scientific names here!) I use it when I’m at work in the garden and I haven’t been burnt when using it yet even through the heatwave. The only problem I find is that it melts to liquid when left out in the heat so does need to be kept cool.
Suntribe is another one, more pricy than Shade and the sports one is very hard. It does need a lot of rubbing in! But the plus side is that it doesn’t melt in hot weather so is still useable when out in on hot days.
I also make my own sunscreen following a recipe from Our Oily House. One tip is to let the mixed oils cool a start to gel before adding the non-nano zinc oxide, this ensures that the zinc is dispersed more evenly. I have made the mistake of adding it when the oils were hot and liquid and the zinc just settled at the bottom of my mould making the top layer useless and the bottom layer too concentrated in zinc. An old Kendal mint cake tin came in handy for storage! This one I made with Shea butter instead of Cocoa butter as that’s what I had handy, it made it softer and easier to blend in but on the downside it melts quicker in hot weather than the one made with Cocoa butter.
Kri sunscreen is another one I tried out recently, there are more ingredients in this one but seem to all be derived from natural sources. The company is B certified and Ecocert. I’m not 100% sure what these certifications mean but I will be looking into it and writing a post on sustainable and eco certifications soon hopefully, so keep an eye on my blog! Anyway, this suncream is good if your looking for more of a lotion and one that blends in easier but they are more on the pricey end. They do a tinted and white sunscreen and I think they blend better than the others I’ve listed and feel a bit lighter on your skin. I bought the two travel pots to try them out but they are available in 50ml pots also.
Another one I’ve read about but haven’t tried is Balmy Fox, I emailed them about the added ingredients and they assured me that they are all derived from natural ingredients and are constantly working to be as sustainable and eco friendly as possible. As I’ve said I’ve not tried this one but if you have let me know and what you think of it!
I know all these sunscreens seem expensive, but as they are solid they do tend to go further than lotions in my experience.
Conclusion
To be honest this is an endless rabbit hole of a subject! I have spent many hours looking into what is harmful and what is not and even the least harmful ingredients have their issues. Even though companies label their igredients as non-nano there is no guarantee that they are in fact non-nano, the best evidence to suggest it is in fact non-nano is if it goes on white (and most people don’t want white sunscreen as I suggested above). The other problem is that zinc doesn’t mix well with fats such as coconut oil, cocoa butter etc, which generally make up the bulk of sunscreen, this means you may have higher sun protection in one area of your tin of sunscreen than in another area. In my opinion (and I have no evidence for this) your best bet again is ensuring you have an even white sheen over your skin, as zinc is a physical barrier to the suns rays, I’m guessing a visible white coating is a barrier.
Other options are of course to stay out of the sun at the hottest part of the day (midday) and wear clothing that protects you. I am someone who gets very hot very easily so I struggle to wear full length clothing in the heat, however I have found that a light cotton shirt over a vest top keeps me more protected and fairly cool and a brimmed hat or cap protects my face while the shade it provides actually makes me feel cooler.
All these suggestions don’t make us look instagram worthy or fashionable sadly but as I suggested, maybe we should try and change perceptions and see protecting ourselves naturally and safely as trendy! One can only hope!
Of course you might be thinking that in the UK we don’t need reef safe sunscreen anyway as we have no corals, but my thinking is that if these chemicals are causing this type of damage to corals, they’ll be causing it to other lifeforms. These chemicals are washed down the drain when we shower and they have been found in our urine, blood and breastmilk so where else are they accumulating? I think it’s better to be safe and avoid these potentially toxic chemicals, rather than waiting to see what evidence might come out about how it damages humans and wildlife in the future.
Links and useful shops for natural products
Peace With the Wild - great online shop for natural products, they have a range of non-nano zinc oxide suncreams as well as selling Shade and Suntribe. If you try any of their other sunscreen products and think they’re great let me know in the comments below!
Homemade Adventures also stock some natural suncreams - I emailed asking if the Balmy Fox and Helm Wind suncreams were non-nano zinc oxide, they confirmed that they were. However I am still waiting to hear directly from Helm Wind if their zinc is non-nano. Amazinc products are non-nano but the product they sell on Homemade Adventures provides it’s SPF with a combination of natural oils so doesn’t use zinc anyway
Chasing corals reef safe sunscreen - to their website
Quite a long read about how these chemicals have found to accumulate in the body and what harm they could potentially be having - EWG
Really useful website that lists ingredients of products - doesn’t provide any information of potential harmful effects but useful to quickly find ingredients lists where companies are a little cagey! To the website
