Sunscreen

Let’s talk about sunscreen, and why you will want to throw most of them out.

Four of the most common ingredients in sunscreens act as endocrine disruptors (think diabetes). Five of these ingredients act as known allergens, and six out of eight are readily absorbed into the skin and must be detoxed through the liver.

Let’s take for example oxybenzone. It’s an endocrine and hormone disruptor and in women it increases the risk of endometriosis, possibly breast cancer as well. In men, it lowers levels of testosterone (affecting muscle mass and strength, bone density, red blood cell production, and more). The European Commission recommended that oxybenzone is not safe and should never be used above a level of 2.2%. However, in the United States, we use 6% to 15% in our sunscreens—concerning due to it also being a carcinogen (on top of what we’ve already discussed).

What about zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and nanoparticles in sunscreen? We will discuss the effect of these substances on the body in part 2 of our series on sunscreens.

 

Sunburns

Let’s discuss the best way to reduce or even eliminate your sunburn pain in under 15 minutes.

Here are two products we’ve personally used that work extremely well. (Note: we’re not affiliated with the companies that sell these products, this is not a sponsored article, and we do not receive any compensation from them.)

The first product is comfrey salve. Comfrey is an herb containing a chemical called allantoin. Allantoin is a cell proliferate—it creates new cells, rejuvenate cells, and rapidly increases the speed at which your body can heal. For burns, sunburns, wounds, cuts, and anything else you can think, comfrey works extremely well. It will also cut the pain. Usually within five to 15 minutes, the pain will dissipate.

The second product is Burt’s Bees After Sun Soother. There are two of these products and only one we recommend (the one that says 99.6% natural). You can find this at a Whole Foods or Amazon. First, apply the Burt’s Bees After Sun Soother to the sunburn area. Apply it liberally and wait 5-10 minutes until it crusts over, and you can tell it absorbed into the skin. Next, apply comfrey salve. Try to apply these 2-3 times a day or as often as you can. Doing so will provide rapid healing and effective pain relief. In most cases, this will reduce the amount of peeling that can occur as well.