The Environmental Working Group (EWG) just released their 2015 sunscreen guide, a comprehensive look at the best and worst sun protection options this year with your health in mind. According to the report, the popular Neutrogena brand was the worst offender as more than 80% of the brand’s products contain oxybenzone (hormone-disrupter), and one-third contains retinyl palmitate, a type of vitamin A that has been linked to skin damage.
Aside from troubling and harmful ingredients, Neutrogena’s advertising is also misleading. According to the EWG Sunscreen Report:
“Neutrogena’s advertising hype is further from reality than any other major brand we studied. It claims to be the “#1 dermatologist recommended suncare brand.” Yet all four products highlighted on Neutrogena’s suncare web page rate 7, in the red – worst – zone in our database. Neutrogena’s “Pure & Free Baby” sunscreen claims “special protection from the sun and irritating chemicals” and “hypoallergenic,” but it contains a preservative called methylisothiazolinone, or MI, that some researchers call a potent allergen and that is deemed unsafe in Europe.”
The final straw with Nuetrogena is that they boast high SPF numbers, with many products labeled with an SPF of 70 or above. EWG maintains that “The federal Food and Drug Administration says that SPF benefits max out at 50+ and wants to bar higher numbers, as the European Commission, Japan, and Australia have done, but its proposed regulation, under fire from sunscreen manufacturers, has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo since 2007.”
If you need some healthy suggestions on how to protect your family in the sun this summer, the brands below were the most highly rated in the 2015 report. However, the Beautycounter sunscreen stick and Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20 are my personal favorites because they’re made with non-nano zinc oxide but without that messy white residue on your skin. They smell great too 🙂 But here’s the complete list for your shopping convenience:
- 100% Pure
- Adorable Baby
- Alba Botanica
- All Terrain
- Allure
- Arbonne
- Aubrey Organics
- Ava Anderson NonToxic
- Babo Botanicals
- Baby Pibu
- Babyganics
- Babyhampton
- Babytime! by Episencial
- Badger
- Bare Belly Organics
- —>Beautycounter (this is one of my favorites!)<—
- Belli
- Belly Buttons & Babies
- Beyond Coastal
- Biosolis
- Block Island Organics
- Blue Lizard
- Bull Frog
- BurnOut
- Burt’s Bees
- Butterbean
- California Baby
- California Naturel
- Celadon Road
- Consonant Skincare
- COOLA
- Coral Safe
- CoTZ
- CyberDERM
- derma e
- DHC
- Dr. Mercola
- Earth’s Best
- Elemental Herbs
- EltaMD
- Goddess Garden
- Grahams Natural Alternatives
- HeadHunter
- Jan Marini
- Jason Natural Cosmetics
- Jersey Shore Sun
- JOHN MASTERS ORGANICS
- Juice Beauty
- Just Skin Food
- KINeSYS
- La Roche-Posay
- Lavanila
- Lemongrass Spa
- Loving Naturals
- Luzern Laboratories
- MD Moms
- MD Skincare
- MDSolarSciences
- Melvita
- Mustela
- MyChelle
- Naked Turtle
- Nature’s Gate
- NIA24
- Nine Naturals
- Nurture My Body
- Poofy Organics
- Radical Skincare
- Raw Elements USA
- RevaleSkin
- Rocky Mountain Sunscreen
- Safe Harbor
- Sensitive Skin Clinic
- Seventh Generation
- SkinCeuticals
- Solar Protection Formula
- Solbar
- Star Naturals
- Substance
- Sun Bum
- Sunology
- Suntegrity Skincare
- Sunumbra
- Sweetsation Therapy
- The Honest Company
- thinkbaby
- thinksport
- Tropical Sands
- TruBaby
- True Natural
- TruKid
- UV Natural
- Vanicream
- Yes To Cucumbers
I hope this post helps you have fun in the sun without the nasty chemicals that keep your skin safe from sunburn.
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References:
EWG 2015 Guide to Sunscreens
H/T: VancityBuzz
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