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I am 25% Irish and 25% Scottish. And I look it! Freckles and skin so pale it glows in the dark. That’s me!

I have never tanned in my life. I would occasionally try, but by the end of the summer my “tan” was lighter than most people’s winter skin. Instead, I burn. I have even gotten a brutal sunburn on an overcast day. Never lived that one down!

I absolutely love my skin tone. But as you can imagine, sunscreen is a must for me, whether on the ski slopes, at the beach, or in the garden. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find safe sunscreen. I considered making it for myself with my homemade lotion, and even purchased the zinc oxide. But I never got around to it. Instead, I covered up and stayed inside. I didn’t spend too much time at the beach. But when I did….While I homemade all of my products and avoided harmful chemicals like the plague, I still used my drug store sunscreen in the summer. There are natural options out there, but I never felt completely comfortable with them enough to justify the price.

Luckily I have finally found a better way: Goddess Garden Organics Safe Sunscreen!

Why is Safe Sunscreen Important?

Before I get into why I love Goddess Garden, let’s talk about why safe sunscreen is so hard to come by in the first place.

First, there is just the issue with the sunscreen base. I have very sensitive skin, and we must remember that our skin is our largest organ. If you put chemicals on your skin, they will readily absorb into the blood stream. This is no good for anyone, but it is especially problematic for someone who is already suffering from health concerns. Those on the GAPS Diet, or any other healing diet protocol, especially need to be mindful of what they use in an effort to reduce their toxic load. Check out the inactive ingredients on a bottle of traditional sunscreen:

Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Caprylyl Glycol, Hydrogenated Dimer Dilinoleyl/Dimethylcarbonate Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Cetyl Alcohol, Carbomer, Glyceryl Stearate, Behenyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Disodium EDTA, Dipropylene Glycol, Disodium Ethylene Dicocamide PEG-15 Disulfate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, BHT, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Lecithin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Phenoxyethanol, Methyldibromo Glutaronitrile, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone.

Now, I don’t know what most of those ingredients are, so I can’t tell you if they are good or bad. What I can tell you is that I don’t want to put something on my body if I don’t know what it is. I can tell you that it has an EWG rating of 7 (out of 10 – lower is better). I can tell you that the highest concern for this product is reproductive toxicity. I am still suffering from infertility after 2 years off the pill!

Yikes. That’s all I’m saying.

But an even bigger concern are the ingredients acting as the sunscreen. Most sunscreens use chemicals, which absorb into the body (that is why you have to apply them well ahead of time) where they absorb the UV rays that cause burns, aging, and skin cancer. Many of these have been shown to have adverse effects on the body and the environment. The worst offender of all is oxybenzone.

Oxybenzone is a known endocrine disruptor that has been linked to early puberty in girls, low sperm count in men, hormone-related cancers, and hormonal imbalance. My ovaries say no thanks! It is bad for the environment, too, as it bleaches reefs. Unfortunately, the vast majority of sunscreens contain this harmful chemical. With our sun and skin cancer fearing society, there is a tragic amount of this chemical being applied to our sensitive bodies and our children.

Finding Safe Sunscreen

Pin this infographic for a quick resource on what to look for:

The first order of business when looking for a safe sunscreen that you can use without fear is to find something with safe active ingredients. According to the EWG, the safest options are avobenzone, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide. The later two provide a mineral barrier and protect your skin by blocking and reflecting the sun’s rays. Zinc oxide provides the broadest coverage, protecting against both UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays.

Safe sunscreen also requires the inactive ingredients to be clean and pure. Ingredients that you would not mind putting into your body or your child’s body.

But you ALSO want sunscreen that is actually effective and both feels and looks good on your skin. That’s a lot to ask for.

Enter Goddess Garden

I have found all of this in Goddess Garden Organics. This brand of sunscreen only uses titanium dioxide and zinc oxide as active ingredients. All their products are certified organic.

What I love is that they have a page on their website where they explain what all their ingredients are and why they use them. They use organic ingredients that are safe for the body and the environment – this sunscreen is biodegradable and the packaging is recyclable. It is gluten-free, vegan, and they do not test on animals. It has a EWG rating of 1, meaning the ingredients are incredibly safe.

But not only is this sunscreen safe, it works. Too often natural products will have perfect ingredients…but the good things stop there. Goddess Garden sunscreen has an SPF rating of 30 and protects against UVA and UVB rays, keeping your skin safe. And it feels good, too! It goes on sheer (because the last thing I need is to look whiter) and is non-greasy. It feels lovely on my skin, and I even use the sport sunscreen I tried on my face (they have a lotion especially for the face, too, but none of their lotions clog pores).

I think my favorite thing about using Goddess Garden, though, is that they have the only mineral sunscreen that comes as a continuous spray. I have always hated the tedium of applying sunscreen thoroughly and the difficulty of reaching my most sensitive skin on my shoulders and back. This continuous spray gives the best of everything and I am so excited to have this product in my home!

So what are you waiting for?

If you haven’t yet, it is time to make the switch to safe sunscreen. And Goddess Garden is just the company to help you do so.

What do you use to protect yourself from the sun?

 

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