Skin care is a very important subject since many toxins can be absorbed through the skin. Knowing what we put onto our skin is an important step to living healthy lives. Many products, such as sunscreen, contain harmful ingredients that can do serious damage to our bodies.
Some harmful chemicals found in sunscreen include oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, octisalate, avobenzone, and octocrylene. In addition to these are zinc oxide and titanium oxide. However, those are only harmful if inhaled or swallowed, causing lung damage, gastrointestinal damage, and possibly cancer in high doses.
Oxybenzone is a very common but harmful chemical found in sunscreen. It causes skin allergy very often and acts as estrogen, which can be very harmful. Octinoxate is another harmful chemical that acts as other hormones and can cause thyroid and behavioral issues. Homosalate disrupts the production of estrogen, androgen, and progesterone. It also has toxic breakdown products. Octocrylene and octisalate can cause a skin allergy/reaction. Avobenzone has a breakdown product that causes skin reactions in many people.
Sadly, there are no federal regulations regarding chemicals in sunscreen. For example, the chemical Methylisothiazolinone (or MI) is banned in many countries, but not the US despite being deemed very dangerous at any dosage by other countries and organizations. MI is a skin, eye, and lung allergen that is found in many sunscreens, baby wipes, body care products, mouthwash, and other cosmetics. In addition to allergies, MI has been shown to kill mature neurons in a 4-12 ppm concentration in only 10 minutes.
Chemicals in sunscreen to avoid:
Oxybenzone
Octinoxate
Homosalate
Octocrylene
Octisalate
Methylisothiazolinone
Avobenzone
Titanium oxide (in spray-on sunscreen)
Zinc oxide (in spray-on sunscreen)
Homemade Sunscreen Recipe
1/2 cup Shea Butter
1/3 cup Coconut Oil, melted
15 drops Carrot Seed essential oil
40 drops Myrrh essential oil