Non-Toxic Sunscreens For Your Face

When you wear sunscreens, you should feel confident that you are well-defended against UVA and UVB rays. Ingredients in sunscreens should not be irritating or cause skin allergies and should be able to withstand powerful UV radiation without losing their effectiveness or forming potentially harmful breakdown products.

Active ingredients in sunscreens come in two forms, mineral and chemical filters. Chemical and Mineral sunscreens are differentiated by their active sun protection ingredients. Chemical sunscreens use active-chemical ingredients such as avobenzone, ecamsule, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, octyl methoxycinnamate, octyl salicylate, and oxybenzone designed to absorb and dissipate UVA/UVB rays. While mineral sunscreens use mineral active ingredients such as Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide to scatter and reflect UVA/UVB rays.

Natural sunscreen is often used to refer to mineral sunscreens. Mineral sunscreens are made with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, usually in the form of nanoparticles. There is good evidence that little if any zinc or titanium particles penetrate the skin to reach living tissues. Thus, mineral sunscreens tend to rate better than chemical sunscreens in the EWG sunscreen database.

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EWG’s Healthy Living

Types of UV: What To Look For In A Sunscreen

Laboratory studies indicate that some chemical UV filters such as oxybenzone are potential hormone disruptors. EWG recommends that consumers avoid sunscreens with oxybenzone. Some experts caution that the unintentional exposure to and toxicity of active ingredients erode the benefits of sunscreens. EWG outlines human exposure and toxicity information for nine FDA-approved sunscreen chemicals.