Sunblock – Wear It!!!

Ok, I am huge into sunblock.  I’m always chasing friends down and making them put it on.  With that in mind, it is REALLY hard to find a good, natural sunblock that isn’t greasy.  I have found a few and will let you in on them.

Face & Body:

California Baby SPF 30+ – Good stuff!  It is thick, so you need to use it in small amounts with lots of patience or you’ll end up Casper-ish.  The active ingredient is micronized Titanium Dioxide, which some people may have a problem with, but I don’t.  The Environmental Working Group Cosmetics Database did a study on micronized sunscreens and found they were ok.  One word of caution.  Titanium Dioxide is a great natural ingredient, but it doesn’t have the UVA blocking strength of Zinc Oxide.  So if you can find a non-greasy Zinc Oxide sunblock, you’re better off.  I have found natural sunblocks tend to have better sweat and water resistance, too.  I bike to work four days a week (yes, even in August!) so I think I’ve got a good thing here.

Badger SPF 30 – This is it!  But, if you have oilier skin you will feel it sitting on top when it’s humid or hot out.  It simply doesn’t soak in as well.  But, it’s active ingredient is Zinc Oxide so you are getting the best UVA spectrum block.  The base is olive oil, Beeswax, Jojoba oil, Cocoa Butter and other natural oils.  Dry skin people rejoice!  This one you will love.  Oily girls like me, use a wash cloth with mild soap and a little exfoliation to get it off.

Face:

Arcona Reozone SPF 40 – I am in LOVE with this!!!  I mean it.  I can pedal hard in 106 degrees, sweat, sweat, sweat and it’s still there!  Plus, it dissolves easily with a little facial cleanser.  Hard working, comes off easy.  Doesn’t get better than that, right?  Well, darn it, it could.  Once again, we’ve got Titanium Dioxide as the main block, but there is Zinc Oxide as well.  Probably not as good as all Zinc Oxide, but much, much better than just Titanium Dioxide.

DeVita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30 – This is a moisturizer plus Zinc Oxide for sunblocking ability.  Pretty good stuff.  A little heavy for me because I always put on a Vitamin C serum in the AM which seems to have some sort of moisturizing property.  Because the DeVita is a moisturizer first, it is not very sweat or water resistant.  One thing that bothers me about this product is in the instructions that come with it, they suggest applying it in the evening can somehow make your skin more sun resistant.  Um, not likely at all.