Sunscreen used to scare me more than the sun. After our family history of health issues and my hubs cancer history, if it is inedible, I refuse to put it on our skin….
But sun burn is real. For this brown skinned mama who just gets tanned and not burnt, I did not care that much about how much sun screen I applied. But my kiddos… fair skinned through and through. I can’t even say that they were exchanged at the hospital because they were born at home, never left my sight and plus they look like Asad. 😆
Then came the excruciating research of figuring out what sunscreen to buy. Hey, If I can research something as simple as what crib to buy that does not off gas, I am going to research what toxic chemicals are present in a sunscreen. For instance, I also used to think that higher the SPF, the better the sun protection. I was so wrong….Check this article out by EWG. Hawaii is going to ban certain sunscreens as they are destroying the coral reefs. Sunscreens are that toxic. Go Hawaii!!!!!
Because I am a DIY kind of person, I started making my own. But at the back of my mind, I always used to wonder – whether this will actually work, how often to apply it, how much protection will it give us??? And it did for most part. I also used to apply as frequently as every hour. Plus it was greasy. And because I prefer non toxic to toxic, I would rather put up with the imperfect parts of it as long as it works.
I had a few concerns about the Young Living sunscreen only having an SPF of 10 whether it would provide adequate protection against skin damage. My favorite Pharmacist Lindsey Elmore debunked that concern. Quoting her”Let’s first talk through what SPF even is. SPF stands for sun protection factor. It is a measure of how well an agent blocks UVB rays (the kind that cause skin cancer). When not wearing sunscreen, your skin will naturally change color and incur a certain amount of damage in one hour. If you are wearing an SPF of 2 you will incur that same amount of damage in 2 hours that you would have incurred in one hour without any SPF. An SPF of 10 will get you 10 hours, SPF 30 will get you 30 hours, etc.
Here’s the thing, SPF is not linear (i.e. you don’t get 10 times more protection going from SPF 1 to 10 or 10 to 100). When you apply SPF 10, you are blocking approximately 90% of UVB rays. SPF 15, approximately 93%; SPF 30, approximately 97%; and SPF 50, 98%. So applying an SPF of 30 only gives you 7% more protection than SPF 10.
Also worth considering: if you do not plan on spending more than 10 hours in the sun, you may not need the 30 hours of protection than an SPF 30 may offer. In fact, when is the last time you saw 30 hours of daylight?
Bottom line, lower SPFs, applied more often, may offer similar sun protection as higher SPFs.”
A few safety precautions
- Apply at least 15 min prior to going out in the sun – As learnt from our sun fiasco in the car. I didn’t think to apply sunscreen to the kiddo before getting in the car. I wanted to apply it right as soon as we got there.
- Re-apply every 80min – 2 hours especially if you are swimming.I can sleep well at night knowing that this sunscreen is FREE of harsh cancer causing chemicals, parabens, phalates, petrochemicals, animal-derived ingredients, synthetic preservatives, synthetic fragrances, or synthetic dyes. And you can relax too knowing that your kids AND you are taken care of without having to compromise on quality.
Want your own Young Living sunscreen? Contact me and I can help you get it at a discounted price? Or go to Young Living.com and chose member – get your starter kit and add sunscreen before checking out.
Or buy it as a retail customer at full price
