Last week we talked about sun safety, and shared our favorite tips and products for staying sun-safe this summer. Today we'd love to share with you our favorite sunscreens!
Sunscreen can be divided into two categories: mineral, and chemical. Mineral sunscreens are the ones you want to look for. They work by sitting on top of your skin instead of penetrating it. Often their active ingredients are Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.
EWG just released their 2015 Sunscreen Guide, in which they rated the best (and the worst!) sunscreens for you on the market. Here are a few natural favorites from their "best of" list that we've tried on our kids:
The Honest Co. — We love that The Honest Co. is readily available in big-box retailers like Target, so you can pick some up on your way to the pool. Its main active ingredient is zinc oxide (the thick white stuff lifeguards slather on their nose), and it contains plant extracts like matricaria flower, coconut oil, and olive oil. Because of the zinc oxide, it's a thicker and harder to spread, oilier formula than we were used to. To be honest (haha, see what we did there?) we weren't completely smitten with it. But it's a good choice for babies and kids with sensitive skin, and is water-resistant.
COOLA baby — This one's the priciest of the bunch, but we love that in addition to being all natural, over 70% of the inactive ingredients are organic. This one really does go on smooth as butter — it reminds us of that silky soft, magical texture of makeup primer. And we especially love that it starts working as soon as you apply — no need to wait 30 minutes before sun exposure! It's also ultra-water resistant.
Blue Lizard Baby — This is by far our favorite of the bunch, and is what we use most often on our kids. It is made by an Australian company, and their sunscreen requirements are much more strict than ours in the US. Blue Lizard a clear zinc sunscreen and is a thinner formula than others we've tried. This makes rubbing it in a breeze! We also LOVE that the bottle changes color in the presence of harmful UV rays, so you and your kids will remember to reapply often. (Note: their baby sunscreen formula is NOT water resistant, but their regular and sport formulas are.)
Badger Baby — Badger baby is water-resistant and easy to apply, so we grab this one when we're headed to the beach or to the pool. We love that it has mostly organic ingredients, and rubs in pretty nicely for a mineral sunscreen.
Babo Botanicals — Thanks to all-natural apple fruit oil, this mineral sunscreen smells deliciously like apples! It's formulated with 22.5% zinc oxide (higher than any other we've tried), yet magically rubs in clear. It isn't water-resistant, but we love it for sunny days at the park when we don't want our kids smelling like sunscreen.
A few facts to remember: mineral sunscreens are safer, but you'll need to be more diligent about reapplication. They sit on top of the skin instead of penetrating it. We reapply every 40-60 minutes, and definitely after every dip in the pool or towel-rubbing!
