Beautifully warm summer days are ideal for taking your family on outdoor adventures. Unfortunately, that sunshine and warmth is accompanied by harmful UV rays that can potentially burn and damage your family’s skin.
Extended exposure to UV rays can not only cause sunburn, but it can even lead to skin cancer. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States with about 9,500 people diagnosed every day.
Keeping your child’s skin protected now can help lower their risk of skin cancer in the future. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, regular use of sunscreen can reduce the risk of developing melanoma by 50%. Statistics like these show you why it is so important to keep you and your family’s skin protected by using safe sunscreen for the entire family.
Not all sunscreens are the same. Some can be harmful to the environment, while others can be harmful to your health. Mineral sunscreen is a safe sunscreen for children and everyone else in your family.
Mineral Sunscreen vs. Chemical Sunscreen
Both mineral sunscreen and chemical sunscreen can protect your family’s skin from harmful UV rays. However, the way they work is different.
Mineral Sunscreen
Mineral sunscreens contain one of two UV filters - titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide. These tiny particles sit on the surface of your skin and reflect the sun’s UV rays away from your body without letting them penetrate your skin.
Chemical Sunscreen
Chemical sunscreens rely on active chemical compounds like oxybenzone, homosalate, and avobenzone. These compounds allow UV rays to penetrate your skin. When that happens, the chemicals react with UV light to create heat, which is then dissipated through the skin.
Why Is Mineral Sunscreen Better Than Chemical Sunscreen?
While both mineral and chemical sunscreens protect your skin from UV rays, recent scientific studies have raised doubts about the safety of chemical sunscreens. One clinical trial found that some of the active ingredients used in many chemical sunscreens can be absorbed into the bloodstream, which can lead to toxic side effects. If you are like most families, this is not something you want to happen to your children.
In addition, some chemical sunscreen ingredients, namely oxybenzone and octinoxate, can be harmful to coral reefs: disrupting their reproductive cycle, bleaching them, and damaging their DNA. You don’t want this to be a side effect of your next beach vacation.
Mineral sunscreens have not been shown to cause these harmful side effects. The UV filters in mineral sunscreen – zinc oxide and titanium dioxide – are considered safe by the FDA. In fact, these two mineral filters are the only UV filters the FDA has classified as ‘Generally Regarded As Safe and Effective,’ or GRASE. The UV filters in chemical sunscreen products are still under investigation by the FDA and have not been classified as GRASE. Would you rather use something “safe and effective” on your children, or something that is still being investigated?
Benzene and Aerosol Sunscreens
Many families choose aerosol spray sunscreens because they are easy and convenient. However, they do come with some risks. Benzene, a known carcinogen, has been found in several aerosol spray sunscreen products over the last few years. While benzene is not actively used in chemical sunscreens it can be an unintentional contaminant in aerosol spray sunscreens. It is best to check an aerosol spray sunscreen for any recalls due to unintentional benzene contamination before you use it.
To keep your children’s skin protected from UV rays and avoid any accidental benzene exposure, many doctors recommend only using lotion-based sunscreens.
Choose a Safe Sunscreen for Your Family
While any sunscreen is better than no sunscreen, choosing one that is safe for your family and the environment is always going to be a better choice.
At My Day Screen® we offer safe and effective mineral sunscreens that not only protect your family’s skin from UV rays, but also keeps everyone’s skin feeling healthy and looking good. Because we do not use the potentially harmful ingredients found in chemical sunscreens, you can be assured our products are safe. And, our products are never tested on animals.
We offer plant-based mineral sunscreen which looks and feels good on the skin. Our products are safe for People, Animals, Marine (life), and the Planet (PAMP).
Ready to make the switch to family-friendly mineral sunscreen? Explore our lineup of products at My Day Screen®. Plus, get 20% off your order when you sign-up for texts and emails!