Skip to main content
Environmental Health

Tips Tuesday: Nontoxic Summer Skincare Tips

May 15, 2012
Claire Moshenberg's picture
Claire Moshenberg
Add your voice to the comments

Warmer days mean more sunscreen applications, different makeup routines, and more showers to make up for chlorine soaked hair or sweaty days outdoors. Make your summer a little safer! Use these five safer summer beauty tips as you update your beauty routines for the season.

Convenience is not always so convenient: Spray bottles of misting sunscreen may feel heaven sent on hectic summer days. Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a cost: Spray sunscreens put you at risk for inhaling sunscreen particles. To avoid inhalation, don’t apply spray sunscreen directly on your skin. Instead, spray your hands with the sunscreen and apply it as you would a traditional sunscreen lotion.

Popular powdered mineral sunscreens can also put you at risk of inhaling nano- or micro-sized zinc titanium. Luckily, if you’re a fan of mineral based sunscreen, there are more and more mineral based lotions on the market. For recommendations, or to check out your current sunscreen, visit the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Sunscreen database or the Skin Deep database.

Baby is not always best: It’s common sense that products specifically formulated for babies would be the safest options for sensitive skin. Which shows just how nonsensical, and dangerous, the cosmetics industry can be: Baby sunscreen options from many of the leading sunscreen companies appeared on EWG’s sunscreen hall of shame. Babies (and parents!) need UVB and UVA protection to adequately shelter their skin from damage and the possibility of skin cancer later in life. One of the sunscreens even contained oxybenzone, a potential hormone disruptor which is not recommended for “large surface areas of skin for extended and repeated periods of time.”

It’s a numbers game: Bigger isn’t better when it comes to SPF numbers. Though many sunscreens now boast SPF numbers in the 50s and higher, those high numbers are not guaranteed to be more effective. In fact, the FDA has said that these numbers are misleading. Stick with a UVA and UVB protecting, 30+ SPF, and make sure to reapply regularly throughout the day.

Soft skin in seconds: Incorporate exfoliation into your summer beauty routine with this insanely easy and inexpensive nontoxic homemade sugar scrub. Combine half a cup of olive oil to one cup of sugar. Add a splash of an essential oil for an additional scent. And that’s it!  You can also replace the sugar with salt for a salt scrub. For DIY cosmetics recipe, visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for their handy list of homemade cosmetics recipes.
Check the Label: You’ve probably heard before how important it is to check the labels on your food products. But did you know that the same rule applies to cosmetics?  Labels on cosmetics are a bit more difficult to decipher. Use handy resources like the Skin Deep database, or this portable card from the National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance, which shows you how to make healthy choices when selecting a nail polish.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.

MomsRising.org strongly encourages our readers to post comments in response to blog posts. We value diversity of opinions and perspectives. Our goals for this space are to be educational, thought-provoking, and respectful. So we actively moderate comments and we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that undermine these goals. Thanks!