Scary stuff about sunscreen...

So, I've learned a lot through this bad experience with my recent sunburn/sunscreen irritation. Apparently most sunscreens are not good for your skin, and though they can partially block the sun's harmful rays, they don't block all of them, and usually contain dangerous ingredients that can contribute to skin cancer in the future. One of the worst, and most common ingredients in sunscreen is oxybenzone, which according to various environmental and health associations, "Oxybenzone can trigger allergic reactions, is a potential hormone disruptor and penetrates the skin in relatively large amounts." Reports also highly recommened that you stay away from sunscreens containing Vitamin A or "retinyl palmitate" because of it's proven record of contributing to cancer. "a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, when applied to the skin in the presence of sunlight, may speed the development of skin tumors and lesions" (NTP 2009). Fantastic huh? After reading various reports, I'm not at all surprised to find that the sunscreen I used last weekend contained both oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate. Here is what happened to my skin after 5 hours of beachside-sun mixed with the sunscreen:
I just wanted to raise some awareness in case anyone wasn't already familiar with this information. It's hard to find a good sunscreen though, I went to Walgreens yesterday, looked through at least 100 sunscreens, and couldn't find one that satisfied me, even most higher-end ones like neutrogena and aveeno apparently provide "high health concerns, low UVA protection, and contain oxybenzone and sometimes Vitamin A." So i looked up the best, safest sunscreens out there and thought I should share that info. Not sure where you can find all of these but I'll start looking this weekend (I know some are sold at drugstores, and several at Whole Foods and organic shops):

- Badger, Sunscreen for Face and Body, Unscented, SPF 30 (pretty much all the Badger products have really high ratings)
- La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL 50+
- Loving Naturals, Sunscreen, SPF 30+
- Soleo Organics, All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+
- thinkbaby and thinksport, Sunscreen, SPF 30+
- UV Natural, Sunscreen Sport, SPF 30+
- All Terrain, Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30 (I bought some of this a few years ago at Dick's)
- Jason Natural Cosmetics, Sunbrellas: Chemical Free Sunblock, SPF 30+ (they sell this at Walgreens, but were out of it when i was looking)
- L'uvalla Certified Organic, SPF 20 Sunscreen Face/Body

Some more common ones were high up on the list too, such as:
- Coppertone, Sensitive Skin Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 50
- CVS Sunscreen with Zinc Oxide, SPF 45+
- Olay Complete All Day Moisture Cream, SPF 15, Sensitive Skin

But I would stay away from Panama Jack, Banana Boat, Ocean Potion and Hawaiian Tropic :(

Check out the full list here: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/
One last note: SPF probably doesn't mean what you think it does. The number basically just corresponds to the amount of time you can spend in the sun without burning (theoretically). An SPF of 50 only provides 1% to 2% more protection than an SPF 30, unless it contains additional ingredients to protect you from UVA rays, in addition to UVB (though according to the FDA, UVA protection is maxed out at SPF 15... yikes). A dermatology site recommends the following: "A good broad-spectrum sunscreen should have an SPF of at least 15 and contain avobenzone, titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide." Who knew dude? who knew...