Best and Worst Sunscreens 2016

by Elizabeth MacDonald May 29, 2016

It’s such a crapshoot out there. Shelves stocked full of sunscreen choices. You think that anything is better is nothing. You think that sunscreen not only keeps you from burning, but protects you from skin cancer. Obviously, you must buy it. Especially if you have a child. Heaven forbid you skip the sunscreen on a child. Again you think, ‘Anything is better than nothing.’ But this is wrong. So wrong. Sunscreens are not created equal. Choosing a sunscreen with toxic ingredients can actually harm the body instead of helping. That’s right, there are sunscreens (A LOT OF THEM) that contain such horrible ingredients that they may actually HURT us. The Environmental Working Group has been ranking sunscreens for the past decade. This year, they evaluated over 750 sport and beach sunscreens. The results are pretty sad. How it is ok to allow companies to use such toxic ingredients in a product that is marketed to help? Almost ¾ of the 750 tested contained harmful ingredients. That’s like saying 3 out of every 4 sunscreens on the shelf are poor quality and could have serious side effects for the user. This is scary for everyone.

Did you know that there is little to no evidence that sunscreens help prevent skin cancer? But yet the government allows companies to claim they do. We have been fooled into thinking sunscreen will save us from cancer, but in all actuality melanoma rates have tripled over the past three decades! That’s right, with all of the awareness and sunscreen use increase, cancer rates have sky-rocketed.

Ingredients such as oxybenzone, a hormone disruptor, and retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A that can harm the skin may not be helping this increasing statistics. While sunscreen may not lower cancer risks, it can protect the skin from the harmful UV rays of the sun.

Notes from the Environmental Working Group: AVOID SPRAY SUNSCREEN. There is no evidence that they protect the skin, but plenty of research shows how dangerous they are to inhale. AVOID RETINYL PALMITATE. A form of vitamin A – but not a good form. This is linked to tumors and lesions on mice when used and exposed to sunlight. AVOID OXYBENZONE. This was found in 70% of the non-mineral based sunscreens tested this year!

THE GOOD NEWS

According to the EWG, mineral-based sunscreen products are on the rise! 34% of those products tested this year were mineral-based. “Sunscreens using zinc oxide and titanium dioxide tend to rate well in our analysis: They are stable in sunlight, offer a good balance between protection from the two types of ultraviolet radiation (UVA and UVB) and don’t often contain potentially harmful additives.”

THE BEST CHOICES

203 Beach and Sport sunscreens met the EWG’s criteria this year. See the full list HERE. 98 SPF Moisturizers made the list too. Find out which ones HERE.

The EWG ranked 22 sunscreen lotions as “The Best for Kids” in 2016:
Read about how these products made the list HERE

Adorable Baby Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30+ All Good Kid’s Sunscreen, SPF 33 All Terrain KidSport Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30 ATTITUDE Little Ones 100% Mineral Sunscreen, Fragrance Free, SPF 30 babyhampton beach*bum sunscreen, SPF 30 Badger Kids Sunscreen Cream, SPF 30 Bare Belly Organics Baby Sunscreen, SPF 30 Belly Buttons & Babies Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30 Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen, Baby, SPF 30+ BurnOut Kids Physical Sunscreen, SPF 35 California Baby Super Sensitive Sunscreen, SPF 30+ COOLA Suncare Baby Mineral Sunscreen Unscented Moisturizer, SPF 50 Goddess Garden Kids Sport Natural Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30 Hampton Sun Sunscreen Lotion For Baby, SPF 45 Jersey Kids Mineral Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30 Kiss My Face Organics Kids Mineral Sunscreen, SPF 30 Nurture My Body Baby Organic Sunscreen, SPF 32 Substance Baby Natural Sun Care Creme, SPF 30 Sunology Natural Sunscreen, Kids, SPF 50 Sunumbra Sunkids Natural Sunscreen, SPF 40 Thinksport for Kids Sunscreen, SPF 50+ TruKid Sunny Days Sport Sunscreen, SPF 30+