Safe Sunscreen

Today it was supposed to rain, instead we got a beautiful sunny, 70 degree day. So we headed to the beach. A 30 minute drive got us to the Leelanau State Park in Northport. We hiked about a mile through a cool, shady beech-sugar maple forest and another 100 yards through sand dunes to the edge of Lake Michigan. This is Cathead Bay, a beach I walked many times as a child with my dear friend Kristin. Her family's beach was visible in the distance to us today.

With two fair-skinned and sunburn-prone boys, I'm always looking for shade, pulling out hats and slathering on sunscreen. Today was no different, except that Emerson, being three years old, refused to wear sunscreen (and clothes for that matter).

To make sunscreen more appealing, I pulled out the Coppertone 50 SPF sunscreen spray I bought last year in a moment of weakness. Emerson loves the spray, it tickles you know. I slathered Charlie with the good stuff, Alba Botanica brand 18 SPF mineral sunscreen for kids. I scored that one at the food co-op last winter on sale. So what is the difference?

Thanks to Environmental Working Group's 2010 Sunscreen Guide, I can easily figure it out.

First, the Coppertone spray contains the chemical oxybenzone, which is a potential hormone disruptor that penetrates the skin. It is one of the ingredients the report recommends we avoid. Also, spray releases tiny droplets into the air that may not be safe to breathe. Not good.

The Alba lotion, on the other hand, contains Titanium Dioxide as the active ingredient, which is effective at blocking out UVA without penetrating the skin and entering the body. That's a good thing.

There is a lot of other great information and tips in the report, it is worth checking out. I'm definitely not going to use the spray lotion again, and I'll avoid oxybenzone altogether, opting for mineral sunscreens instead. Other take homes for me from the report: start our family on vitamin D supplements and bring our shade umbrella next time. It will be worth it, even though we'll have to shlep it through the woods on the way to the beach.


Charlie all protected from the sun.