Health + Wellness — Sunscreen Lotion

It’s summer. It’s sunny outside. People are doing fun things in the sun and you want to too! You can produce Vitamin D in the sun. And yes it feels good to get a little sunlight. Just understand that there are tradeoffs to sun exposure. Every second you’re in the sun damages your skin and leads to wrinkles and a weathered appearance. In fact, nothing ages your skin more than sun exposure. So if you’re going to get out there during the day, be careful and do it as considerately as possible. You’ll thank your younger-looking-self later! Time Of Day...

If you use topical sunscreen lotions, here are some important points to understand this summer (from ABC News): The Truth About Sunscreen: Are Labels Lying? This video and accompanying article explain how much sunscreen is actually necessary to receive the purported benefits of sunscreen lotions, that the benefits of sunscreen lotions may be misleading, that many sunscreen lotions don’t actually protect you very well from UVA rays, and that sunscreen lotions aren’t actually sweatproof or waterproof. The second video (plays automatically after the first) with Diane Sawyer also mentions that the incidence rates of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer are...

We keep being asked about the impact of the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recently released (in 2011) sunscreen guidelines, so here’s a quick overview. First of all, new testing and labeling sunscreen standards were first proposed by the FDA 33 years ago (yes, you read that right, 33 years ago) and they have been in perpetual purgatory since then without any official action. Industry, consumer, and many different special interest groups, including dermatological societies and cancer prevention foundations, weighed in over the years, but no updates to the rules were ever made over that period by the FDA, despite the...

Here’s a link to an article on NewHope360 discussing people’s recently transitioning interest from traditional chemical-laden topical sunscreens (sunblocks) to more natural mineral-based sunscreens. Topics touched upon in this article include: Sunscreen toxicities The fact that traditional topical sunscreen chemicals really don’t do a good job of blocking UVA rays The Food and Drug Administration’s delay in releasing the sunscreen monograph intended to clear up consumer misconceptions about sunscreens and SPF, and address misleading claims on labels This article also contains a few sunscreen suggestions and a link to the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) recommended sunscreens. You can read it...

The last blog post discussed many of the problems with topical sunscreens and sunblocks. This includes any sunscreens or sunblocks that may be in makeup. If your makeup or other skin products have an SPF (Sun Protection Factor), beware! Here’s an overview of the primary dangers of sunscreens: –Sunscreens block the production of Vitamin D –Sunscreens really don’t protect you from UVA rays very well –SPF ratings are extremely misleading. First of all, they only describe UVB protection, NOT UVA protection at all. But also SPF ratings are theoretical, produced in a lab where the amount of sunscreen used on...