Staying Safe with Sunscreen and Skin Care: Part 1

Out at the beach!

Summertime Fun in the Sun! 

 Playing in the Sun is great now that the weather is warmer and days are brighter.  We all need to get vital Vitamin D by getting the nice sunshine rays on our skin (UVB)!  With a good average 15-20 minutes out playing in the sun three times a week, our body is able to create Vitamin D biologically!   We need to have sunshine in our life. (Check out this article about how people have too little sunshine!  Sunscreens Exposed: 9 Surprising Truths.)

Up here in the Northwest we do not get a lot of the sun, and we get out in it every chance we can.  Yet, now that I have a daughter, I am a bit more mindful of how Ultraviolet rays from the sun can also do big damage to her delicate skin.  Overexposure to the sun can cause skin cancer and not to  mention, Sunburns!  Not fun nor heatlhy. Keeping Safe this Summer with Sunblock is one of my priorities as a mother.

Not all Sunblocks are created equal:

As moms we do research in finding the best and most safest products for our children--especially since not every product is as safe as we think it is.  I have come to find that a majority of sunblocks that I have grabbed in the past as a single college girl have some pretty complex chemicals that have ill effects on the human body.  As a Chemistry student, I hardly ever knew that the chemicals I would study and ways certain chemicals reacted with other chemicals could be so close to me as the sunscreen I would lather on.  

The sun can break down the chemicals that are found in most sunscreens.  The breaking down of these chemicals can be 

Here are some Sunscreen Ingredients that should be red flags to you when shopping for commercial sunscreens.  PABA, Benzophenone, Parabens, Padimate-O and Parasol 1789

Here are some links that you can check out for further research and reading! :)

 

A Baby's Skin is No Match for the Sun

Environmental Group Finds Dangerous Chemicals in Sunscreen

The Environmental Working Group recently released their 2011 Sunscreen Guide 

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So what Sunscreen are we using this summer for Sophie?

We have been using Episencial Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35

 Episencial Sunny Sunscreen has a rating of 2 on the EWG's 2011 Sunscreen Guide--Low Hazard!

Check out Part 2 for more information and a review of Episencial Products and an **Episencial Giveaway!**

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