If spending more time in the sun means more vitamin D, stronger bones, better sleep, and more fresh air. So, why is it then important to protect our skin against the sun?
So, with that in mind, it’s just a real shame that the sun’s rays are damaging. The question then becomes: how can you get all those benefits without the downsides?
One answer is to use the right products – with the right aftersun and the right sunblock, it’s possible to greatly improve your overall health by nourishing your skin and by deflecting the sun’s rays.
With the right organic sunscreen and moisturizer, you can do this in a way that is free from harmful chemicals.
Why Use Organic Sun Products?
This may come as a surprise but 75% of sunscreens are made with toxic chemicals. Specifically, they can actually release free – radicals when they are exposed to sunlight. This is bad news; seeing as free radicals and oxidative damage is one of the key things that you would wear sunscreen in order to try and prevent.
Usually, you wear sunblock in order to deflect the sun’s rays and specifically, the harmful UV (ultraviolet) rays that can cause mutations to the cells. These rays can damage the cell walls making your skin look older, but more alarming is that they can also penetrate deeper into the nucleus of the cell where they can impact the actual DNA.
This causes mutations that then spread as the cells proliferate – thereby leading to cancer. Free radicals do the exact same thing and according to the Environmental Working Group, synthetic sunblocks increase free radical exposure.
Others cause allergic reactions and damage the skin. Many can contain synthetic estrogens which can prevent men from producing enough testosterone. And all of them get absorbed into the bloodstream.
What many of these products do, however, is to prevent the positive benefits of the sun such as vitamin D production!
Another issue is that sunscreens aren’t actually regulated; so, the only information you can glean from the packaging in most cases is the SPF factor, but this doesn’t tell you anything about the effectiveness of the product against the UVB rays. So, there’s no doubt about it, the best sun cream is an organic sun cream!
How to Make Your Own Organic Sunblock/Sunscreen
The thing to recognize is that you can use any ingredient that is able to reflect the harmful rays of the sun. And guess what? A vast majority of oils you’ll find naturally actually do reflect these harmful rays to some degree – at least to the same extent as regular sunblocks!
Here is a list of natural ingredients and the amount of sun production they can each offer:
• Almond oil – SPF 5
• Coconut oil – SPF 4-6
• Zinc oxide – SPF 2-20
• Red raspberry seed oil – SPF 25-50
• Carrot seed oil – SPF 35-40
• Shea butter – SPF 4-6
So, any of these ingredients will act as an organic sunblock and do just the trick if you’re trying to protect yourself from sun damage!
Of course, you’ll need to add a few other things as well in order to make this into the best sun cream. Otherwise, it won’t have the right smell or viscosity to fulfill this use!
So, follow this recipe:
- ½ cup of almond oil
- ¼ cup of coconut oil
- ¼ cup beeswax
- 2 tablespoons zinc oxide
- Essential oils for smell
You can then mix these altogether by heating them using a double boiler. Stir well and then add to containers or mason jars!
It might seem like a fair bit of work, but what’s key to note is that you’ll be able to create a huge amount of products like this and then store it for repeated use. In the long term, it’s a great time saver and definitely a money saver!