#ygkChallenge: Make Your Own Sunscreen
Welcome to Kingstonist’s weekly challenge, dare, resolution or whatever you prefer to call it. Each week we establish a new and ambitious community goal, encouraging our readers, followers, friends and families to step out of their comfort zones and do something great, and hopefully a little out of the ordinary. Consider this your official and personal invitation to join us in completing a small but meaningful achievement. By taking part in this community-wide initiative, we hope to make Kingston a slightly better place to live, work and play. And of course, we also hope that you will feel proud of your contribution and achievement.
This week’s challenge encourages you to:
Make Your Own Sunscreen.With beach season around the corner, it’s time to start stocking up on your sunscreen. Many products on the market contain a long list of harmful chemicals such as oxybenzone: an ingredient used to filter out UV rays. According to the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic database, oxybenzone disrupts hormone production, is suspected to accumulate in the body, and causes biochemical changes at the cellular level. This week I challenge you to make your own sunscreen! A good sunscreen is one that is broad spectrum (protection against UVA and UVB rays), has a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30-50, and is water resistant. Ingredients such as zinc oxide, red raspberry oil, and beeswax are a great alternative. Zinc oxide is a broad-spectrum mineral powder that scatters UV rays. It is considered one of the most safe and effective active ingredients in sunscreen. Red raspberry seed oil is high in antioxidants, omega fatty acids, and vitamin E with a SPF between 30-50, while beeswax adds the water resistant property. Click here for a homemade recipe.
Sign up and commit to completing this week’s challenge by commenting below with an “I’m in“, “challenge accepted“, “en garde” or something along those lines. Further, help us spread the word via Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag: #ygkchallenge. As you work towards completing this week’s task, please feel free to lend others a helping hand by providing tips on how you achieved success.
Thanks to brian for today’s photo.
Short of credible medical authorities recommending this I definitely won't be taking part. While there doesn't seem to be any that do amid the quackery articles promoting it, there are plenty who warn against it
The Kingstonist piece references the Environmental Working Group, but what they actually say on the topic is “The long and short of it is that it is better to trust the pros than try to make this stuff at home.” http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blog…
recent articles http://shine.yahoo.com/beauty/truth-homemade-suns… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/homemade…
This week's challenge: Give yourself skin cancer.
Although I am qualified to give medical advice as a Naturopathic Doctor, I in no way intended this post as such. I merely wanted to highlight an alternate option to the chemical-laden sunscreens commonly used. I did not claim that this recipe would fully protect one’s skin. I also did not take credit for the recipe. I only outlined the properties of more natural ingredients and their benefit in a sunscreen. Furthermore, I didn’t even touch on other sun safety tips such as staying out of the sun between 11am and 4pm. The Environmental Working Group is correct in pointing out that “Formulating sunscreens is an art and a science” and that there is a chance that at home people may make them incorrectly and thus not be as protected as they could be.
“Baby” sunscreens do not contain oxybenzone or other chemical sunscreens. They instead contain micronized titanium dioxide or zinc dioxide – which do not absorb into the skin and protect against UV radiation by reflection. They are broad spectrum, and in some sense work even better than chemical sunscreens since they block the full UVB and UVA spectrum. They do need to be re-applied frequently as they can be rubbed off as they just sit on the skin.