Sunscreen

Summer is NOT over people. You can always use protection from the sun. What kind of sunscreen are you using? Whats in it? The first ingredient in most sunscreens is oxybenzone or avobenzone. Sunscreen is super important to keep your body safe from UV rays. A sunburn can ruin a vacation, and skin cancer can ruin lives. However, there are major downsides to using mainstream sunscreen.

These chemicals happen to stress out the symbiotic relationship between coral polyps and their zooxanthellae (dinoflagellate algae). For corals, the typical sunscreen makes the coral weak allowing for infections, bleaching, damage to offspring, and damage to DNA. It can also have major negative affects on fish and other marine life. Oxybenzone may also be disruptive to human hormones and could also possibly cause skin cancer.

So what are we supposed to do? Option 1: Get sunburnt and potentially cancer from wearing no protection. Option 2: Risk causing problems in our own body and the ocean from wearing sunscreen. Or option 3! You can still do right by your body and the ocean by using sunscreen that is zinc or titanium based. Is it more expensive, harder to spread, and usually really white? Yes. Does it feel better long term? Hell yes! I found that combining my zinc based sunscreen with organic lotion or olive oil helps to spread it and get a nice even tan and protects my skin from the sun. There are options people, you may have to get creative and its totally worth it. You can also protect your skin and the ocean by using coverups, however those are usually made from plastic fibers that shed into the ocean and can also cause harm to its inhabitants.

Do the research, your body and your home are worth protecting.

This is the sunscreen I bought and have been using in the harsh Colorado sun plus it smells AMAZING https://www.sandcloud.com/collections/accessories-1/products/organic-reef-safe-sunscreen