I’m a huge fan of do-it-yourself projects, whether homemade bread or cardboard laptop bags, because they often mean creative upcycling and unique, handcrafted goodies that are free of weird ingredients or materials. So when I saw directions for making homemade sunscreen on Instructables (via Lifehacker) right after writing about some of the not-so-healthy chemicals that’s used in many store-bought sunscreens, I thought, maybe I should give this a shot! After all, as the directions point out, “By making your own sunscreen, you control exactly what goes in!”
But before investing in gloves, a mask, and titanium dioxide, I thought it best to check with the experts to see if DIY sunscreen really is a good idea. So I put the question to Sonya Lunder, senior analyst and Environmental Working Group. Her response: “The long and short of it is that it is better to trust the pros than try to make this stuff at home.”
Why? “Formulating sunscreens is an art and a science,” says Sonya. Since homemade concoctions can go on unevenly leaving portions your skin vulnerable to the sun, and since even some essential oils can make skin more sensitive to the sun, expert mixologists are really the best people to be crafting these sunscreens.
Sonya especially cautions people against buying nano forms of zinc and titanium powder. “The particles are much more absorbed by the lungs and nasal passages — which is why we don’t recommend people use powder or spray sunscreens.”
So there you have it — Don’t worry about getting a sunscreen-dedicated mini mixer and just get your sunscreens from the store. Here again are the details on the safest, easy-to-find sunscreens.
Photo via scoochmaroo / Instructables
I have lived with my family in the Mediterranean region for the last four years. After adjusting to life here we found we didn’t need to use a lot of sunscreen. We just stay out of the sun during the hours of greatest intensity.
Martin’s last blog post..TV News Covers Anti-Bottled Water Trend
Comment by Martin — July 9, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
Well it’s not just about getting burned, but also about cumulative exposure / cancer risk….
Comment by Siel — July 10, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
I’m a big fan of DIY products although I mostly do very simple ones – just brown sugar and honey for my face and neck, just baking soda and apple cider vinegar for my hair, etc. I’m glad you looked into this because it seems scary and somewhat dangerous to roll your own sunscreen.
I don’t use sunscreen very often because I am outside for less than 1 hour per day and not at peak times plus I have a severe Vitamin D deficiency that requires a fair amount of unprotected sun exposure to manage. I do have Keys Solar Rx for longer times in the sun, and it works well and rates very low on the EWG site. Plus, it isn’t tested on animals and is vegan and gluten-free. I avoid gluten in any products due to my celiac disease, but I think it is especially important in anything that goes on my hands where it could be transferred to my mouth.
Comment by Erica — July 15, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Hey Erica — Thanks for the Keys Solar Rx recommendation. I’ll check it out!
Comment by Siel — July 20, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
The Instructable you mentioned does not do homemade sunscreen justice. There are so many things wrong with it and although the author referenced my blog, this is not the way I make sunscreen. First off, I use conventional, not micronized, zinc oxide. It is much easier to work with, you do not need gloves, and it is very safe (and inexpensive). Zinc oxide is one of the main ingredients in powder makeup (blush, eyeshadows) and medicated ointments (Johnson’s Medicated Baby Powder). Lots of people use those products without wearing gloves. To understand why someone would make their own sunscreen, it is important to look at how sunscreens are currently tested and regulated. There are many known inaccuracies and even the industry can’t agree on a set standard. There are many reasons for this but the main point is sunscreen use and consequently sun protection, is not an exact science despite all the efforts to make it so. Including the EWG. Their response to me was the same as to you. BUT, formulating sunscreen (and skin care for that matter) is as much an art and science as home-cooking. Yes, there are more variabilities than say Starbucks, Chili’s, TV dinners, and processed foods. But does that mean it’s inferior? Four decades ago, before the FDA, sunscreen manufacturers, and others began over-complicating (and confusing) the sun protection issue turning it into a billion dollar industry, people used common sense. And zinc oxide ointments for extended sun exposure. It remains the safest and most economical option and you don’t even have to make it yourself. Ironically, it is also not currently marketed as a sunscreen product. For details on sunscreen and homemade skin care in general, go to:
http://www.wabisabibaby.com/blog/category/skin-care/sunscreen/
Not FDA or EWG approved.
Wabi Sabi Baby’s last blog post..Common Sense Sun Protection and Homemade Sunscreens
Comment by Wabi Sabi Baby — July 20, 2009 @ 8:42 pm
Thanks for sharing your 2 cents. However, I’ll be sticking to the advice from a trusted environmental nonprofit known for its team of science researchers — who do not have ties to the billion dollar industry you speak of and nothing to gain from recommending that I buy instead of making my own sunscreen (besides the happy knowledge I’ll be safely sunscreened).
Comment by Siel — July 22, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
Please realize that nonprofit does not mean no income and working for free purely out of the goodness of your heart. For every product reviewed (recommended or not) on the EWG site, it links to Amazon.com where EWG receives a small referral fee for click-throughs purchased. Just like any other affiliate program.
Comment by Wabi Sabi Baby — October 21, 2009 @ 1:22 pm
Ha! If EWG’s main goal’s actually to make money on the site, it has a funny way of doing so — by advising people that the majority of products are dangerous and should be avoided!
It seems you really want to make your own sunscreen and will look for any reason to justify doing so, including vilifying enviro nonprofits whose work is specifically to help people avoid dangerous products. I don’t think there’s any convincing you, so I’m at least glad you seem to be taking whatever precautions you can.
Comment by Siel — November 2, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
Hi Siel and thank you for responding.
My goal is to educate people that safe sun protection begins with lifestyle, not sunscreen even though so much emphasis is unjustifiably put on sunscreen products. In doing so, I’m not trying to villify anyone or promote homemade sunscreen. You can buy plain, inexpensive, conventional zinc oxide cream to use as sunscreen. But if want variety, i.e. control the level of ZnO, water-resistancy, well then, I’m simply providing a solution.
Most of the highest rated sunscreens that EWG recommends all have micronized zinc oxide. Though it may be safer than chemical sunscreens, the safety of nanotechnology as used in skin care is hotly debated. Nano-ZnO is great in electronics and weatherproof outdoor materials, but on your skin?
The safest sunscreen is still plain zinc oxide, the same kind manufacturers made and consumers used decades ago. The reason why it’s not currently marketed as a sunscreen product today is somewhere along the way in the short history (4 decades) of massive sunscreen use, the industry decided that consumers want transparent sunscreens. So it’s purely for aesthetic reasons. No, you do not have to look like a clown to use plain zinc oxide sunscreens – you can control the level of transparency.
Having said all that, most people don’t even need to use sunscreen as an everyday product. It was originally invented for those who needed to extend their time in the sun longer than they ought to reasonably. Lifestyle changes can reduce or even eliminate its use. Sometimes, the greener option is to find ways to use less of a resource.
Comment by Cindy — November 9, 2009 @ 7:18 am
I hear you with the micronized zinc oxide. EWG actually has alerted people to potential dangers of these nanoparticles — I’ve written about it before — and often include some info about the potential dangers, though with a caveat that using no sunscreen at all’s likely more dangerous than using those that use nanotech — as long as the nanotech being used is not a powder. You can read more about EWG’s research on that here.
Comment by Siel — November 24, 2009 @ 6:22 pm