Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Homemade Sunscreen

'Tis the season! I made my own sunscreen. I used to think it was a total waste of time to do it but, since reading many different blogs about the horrendous toxicity of brand name sunscreens I gave it a try.

 'Aint she cute?

I got the recipe from a gal in one of my moms group's blog My Merry Messy Life - Thanks Sara!

She goes into great detail about why store brand sunscreen is horrible for you and your babies! There are many chemicals in them that aren't even necessary to protect you from the sun! Nuts.

EWG.org also explains some Surprising facts about sunscreen that I find incredibly interesting. The scariest fact to me is that sunscreen doesn't necessarily protect you from getting skin cancer. Although scientists conclude that you can cut your risk in half by avoiding tanning beds and severe sunburns. 
What's very interesting though is that sunscreen sales have exceeded 1 billion dollars in the past five years but the numbers of deadly melanoma have more than doubled in the last 30 years. How does this even make sense?? It doesn't. So I have resulted in making my own!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw, unrefined shea butter or cocoa butter ( I used shea butter from Amazon)
1/2 cup raw organic coconut oil (I but mine in bulk from Costco or SAMS)
1/2 cup sweet almond oil (other carrier oils are fine to use as well)
2 tbsp beeswax (for waterproofing)
8 tbsp non-nono zinc oxide (this makes the sunscreen about 40 spf)
2 tbsp of water
OPTIONAL- Essential oil for fragrance. ( I used lavender only and it smells heavenly-about 20 drops)
*** DO NOT USE ANY CITRUS IT ATTRACTS THE SUN***

 Instructions from My Merry Messy Life

  1. In a double boiler (or a smaller pot inside of a larger pot that has water in it), melt together the shea butter, beeswax, coconut oil and almond oil together.
  2. Once it all turns to liquid, let the oils cool in the fridge (I put the pot in the fridge once it returns to room temperature so I don’t have to clean more dishes)
  3. Once it has returned to being hard (an hour or more), whip it with a hand mixer or a standing mixer for a few minutes.
  4. Then, add the water, zinc oxide and optional essential oils.
  5. Whip for about five minutes to emulsify the ingredients.
  6. Scoop into a jar and you’re done!
I used an almond butter jar and a Clinique body butter jar to keep all of it in.


I LOVE THE RESULTS

My sunscreen smells so much better than the store bought kind, its more moisturizing, and its not toxic :D I love it I love it I love it!! I've used it on a 1 year old on up to a 6 year old and none of them were burned or complained that it burned their eyes!

ENJOY

xoxo GG

9 comments:

  1. Does the sunscreen need to be stored in a glass jar, or is plastic ok to use with these ingredients? I have some wide mouthed plastic containers that would fit better in the pool bag and wouldn't break like glass would, which is why I ask. Thanks!!

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    Replies
    1. You can use plastic or use old sunscreen bottle and I would suggest keeping in fridge because it would melt in high heat because of the coconut oil and shea butter.

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    2. Since you have water you don't need preservatives? My understanding is if you have oil and water you have to keep in fridge all the time and used up in 6-7 days max because after that it start growing mold and bacteria

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    3. I agree. I am going to make this but add Optiphen or NeoGuard, to preserve a d protect from water borne bacteria, and the bacteria we introduce from sticking our hands in the jar!

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    4. I agree. I am going to make this but add Optiphen or NeoGuard, to preserve a d protect from water borne bacteria, and the bacteria we introduce from sticking our hands in the jar!

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  2. Does this go on white and stay white on your skin or does it blend in? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. I make my own homemade body butter with most of these same ingredients and it goes on amazing. So you should not have a problem! :)

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  3. I'm curious whether the increase in skin cancer is because it's all of us who grew up not using sunscreen and now we're seeing the consequences of that. I hate the sticky feel and smell of sunscreen...this sounds so much better!

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  4. Hi please can you help? I made the sun cream and I think I followed instructions but my fam are all surfers and they say it is running into their eyes. They also say it burns . Have I done something wrong or is it my essential oil? I used sandlewood .

    ReplyDelete