Friday, 23 May 2008
We're off to have one of our first outdoor adventures of the summer, and given my delicate skin, its been decided that the Sprout needs sunscreen. So I, in my attempt to be informed, do some research. Since I know that some sunscreens are ba-ad.
You want PABA free, non-chemical sunscreens. You want the active ingredient to be a blocker, not a chemical that is absorbed. Given her propensity for dry skin, and my history with fragrance, I figured mild smelling would be good as well.
Aveeno, my favorite mass market but isn't supposed to look mass market product would be a good place to start, since their soaps are mild and fragrance free. No luck, full of the bad stuff.
So I settle on my other favorite baby brand, Burt's. (I have a soft spot for bees and my dad's name) Their stuff is good, and they go up to an SPF 30, which the info says should actually be more than enough. (we're actually trying to avoid the sun, but since that isn't possible totally, 30 should handle things) I go to my local co-op, being the good green girl that I try to be, and they are out. While there I check out what else is available. I am shocked by two things:
A surprising amount of available sunscreen has PABA in it, despite being labeled for kids. This is contrary to multiple green and non green resources I've seen. (wonder how many people blindly buy because its at the co-op and they think its been screened for bad stuff)
The available stuff that is PABA and chemical sun screen free is TWENTY-SEVEN dollars. US dollars. Not you know, Canadian dollars pre sucky economy. For a relatively small tube.
That's it, still haven't found the Burt's stuff, but my favorite money pit carries it I believe.
5 comments:
Mr. Kluges and Pumpkin seem to have a reaction to some sunscreens, so I think I"ll have to look for that Burt's Bees sunscreen. Thanks for the PSA!
Most likely PABA or one of the chemical sun screens.
Just an FYI, still haven't found it, May resort to ordering online.
I didn't see the PABA on the Aveno Baby sun screen at Target. Was I looking in the wrong place?
I only looked at online listing of ingredients (not available on their website I might add) so its possible it was wrong. It has chemical sunscreen too, so that makes it not so good.
It is crazy to find a safe sunscreen. Have you seen this post:
http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2008/04/14/is-your-childrens-sunscreen-doing-more-harm-than-good/
She does a great job of sharing what's safe and what's not, and has links to the skin deep database.
The California Baby sunscreen is supposed to be pretty good. I'm going to look for it at Whole Foods.
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