Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from the vast nerd universe! I am back with another post that is kind of serious.

Disclaimer: THis post is based on research I looked at on my own. What I say is based on the info I found, I am not a dermatologist, a scientist, nor agree with the Environmental WOrking Group, please respect my thoughts, observations, and opinions I present in this post.

Sun Screen Toxic?

I know this seems a bit of a stretch but it is a good topic for the summer since I have been wearing more sunscreen on my face lately. I usually have some sensitivity but I found something I can wear without spending a lot of money either, which the Murad one is something I like but can only get during the 21 Days of Beauty from Ulta if I’m lucky! Reason for this is that I saw on MakeUp Awesomeness that someone was looking for a sunscreen that was not toxic. Me and other people posted our comments saying there is not a real definition of what’s toxic and non-toxic with sunscreen. Like the no real definition of clean beauty, it goes the same way with sunscreen because of how Dermatologists are the real ones people should be listening to rather than the Environmental WOrking Group.

I bet you’re wondering why not listen to EWG when they provide vital info? Some information from different places may be helpful but I have heard that they bring fearful information that can cause more harm than good and we have to watch out when it comes to it. As in, don’t always believe everything you see or hear. That is why I was skeptical of Gwenyth Paltrow after her video earlier this year talking about non-toxic skin care and how tos stay away from moisturizers with “antifreeze.” I may have to do a post on the truth about moisturizers since there is no real truth about it since there is a difference in ingredients but I am focusing on sunscreen here. Again, we can’t say that chemicals that are used are regulated since the Food & Drug Administration has put proposed rules for brands who have been making their sunscreens with Oxybenzone and a few other chemicals should have more studies towards them since they are seen as endocrine and hormone disruptors and coral reef bleaching agents. I will talk about the coral reef bleaching and the truth behind it later here, but the thing is that people should still put on sunscreen whether with these ingredients since they are known for absorbing UV Radiation but can cause irritation. The FDA also suggests using sunscreens containing Zinc Oxide and Titanium Oxide, which are in more mineral based sun screens. It’s hard to say which ones to avoid, however this past week, Johnson & Johnson did recall aerosol based sunscreens due to having Benzene which is said to cause Leukemia and other blood cancers. Now, that’s a scary thought! If I were anyone, I would stick with the mineral based since some ingredients still need to be looked at. I even researched into the FDA’s regulations for sunscreens and the last one I’ve seen was dated back in 2012 when we’re halfway through 2021 already.

What about coral reefs? EWG and some other sources have said that chemical sunscreens cause coral to bleach except it’s not the real cause. The real cause behind this is climate change. Yes people it’s real! As the earth warms up so do our oceans and in some areas it’s warmer than others which causes an uptick in the temperature. Also, the rising waters can be a factor with the stresses since I saw one video where they talked about how islands are sinking and talked about top five islands and one of them happened to have bleached coral reefs. I bet you’re wondering, what is the significance of coral? They protect land from hurricanes and rising sea waters that cause erosion and that’s a problem for us now since a lot of land is sinking. Not only that, human waste, also known as pollution, contributes to the problem of coral bleaching since there is so much of it happening where plastics and other trash is being tossed into the sea. There is even a floating island of trash from when I read one book a while back. I bet you’re wondering, The only way of reducing the coral reefs from bleaching is by reducing our pollution, including carbon pollution which could be catastrophic over the coming years even to the middle of the century. After a big bleaching event, it takes time for the coral to recover but if conditions improve then it would get better. 

https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/Well, I think that is it for this post. I feel that there is no real idea of a toxic sunscreen, it’s just the chemicals that we need to watch out for and glad that Johnson & Johnson is taking the first steps with one set of aerosol ones. If you guys are concerned, just go with a mineral one with Zinc and Titanium Oxide rather than a chemical one, and of course if you are still concerned, there are always the dermatologists out there that would help. I suggest watching Cassandra Bankson on YouTube and other skin related ones are the Style and Beauty Doctor and James Welsh since they have a lot of information about skin care and sometimes talk about sun screens. Also check out the resources I have below. I’m still waiting on my Glam Bag and GB Plus at the moment, I am going to do a post on things I don’t miss to lighten up https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/sun-protection/sunscreen-patients/is-sunscreen-safehttps://www.prevention.com/health/a27556739/oxybenzone-sunscreen-safety/the mood!