With squirming children, spray sunscreen seems like a convenient idea, and they make up a big portion of the sunscreen market. But they may pose serious inhalation risks, and they make it too easy to apply too little or miss a spot. Here are the top 3 alarming reasons you shouldn’t use spray sunscreen, with an all natural solution.
1. Spray Sunscreens Can Be Inhaled
Explains Environmental Working Group’s Senior Scientist Dave Andrews, “There are inhalation concerns as you are breathing in these sunscreen ingredients when you apply them.” This is especially true with children, who rarely stay still during sunscreen application.
2. Difficult to Get Adequate Coverage
With spray sunscreens, it’s difficult to get an adequate coating on your skin, or to even verify that an adequate amount is being applied.
“You don’t get an even layer from spray sunscreens unless you rub it in,” says dermatologist, skin cancer specialist and Little Leaves Clothing Company co-founder Dr. Carlos Gomez-Meade. “In fact, you need to spray and rub it in three separate times to get an even layer for adequate sun protection.”
3. Certain Chemicals Can Disrupt the Hormonal System or Even Cause Cancer
Here are two chemicals to look out for in spray sunscreens.
Oxybenzone penetrates the skin, gets into the bloodstream, and could potentially act like estrogen in the body. It can trigger allergic skin reactions. Some research studies, while not conclusive, have linked higher concentrations of oxybenzone to disorders, including endometriosis in older women and, lower birth weights in newborn girls.
Retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A. On sun-exposed skin, retinyl palmitate may speed development of skin tumors and lesions, according to government studies (NTP 2012).
You can check the safety of your particular sunscreen brand at EWG’s Skin Deep Database, where they rank the best natural sunscreen, beauty, and body products. Look for products with a safety rating of 3 or below. The closer to zero the better!
Sun Protective Clothing – The Best Natural Sunscreen
One solution is the growing popularity of sun protective clothing, not just for the pool, but as an everyday wardrobe staple. Parents don’t have to worry about inadequate sunscreen coverage and reapplying on themselves or their family, and kids are free to play!
Austin local LittleLeaves.com is your trusted source for sun protective clothing for the entire family. Your kids will love the soft, tagless clothes and parents love that the bamboo/cotton fabric blend blocks 98% of the sun’s harmful rays with no harmful chemicals. We are happy and so are the kids! And you can be, too: Little Leaves is offering 10% off to Austin Moms Blog readers until the end of June with coupon code: atx . Check out www.littleleaves.com for more information.
