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Badger Sunscreen
So, after years of slathering on sunscreen in order to avoid getting skin
cancer, we’re now being told that a number of the chemicals used in these
very sunscreens are themselves carcinogens. It just makes me crazy! However,
after getting over my snit and doing some research, I have found what I
think is a great solution: Badger
30 SPF sunscreen. It is a mineral (zinc oxide) instead of a chemical
sunscreen. Though Badger uses micronized zinc oxide, studies have shown
that it doesn’t penetrate the skin the way nano-sized chemical particles
do (more
on this).
We’ve noticed two things which support the fact that Badger is safer:
- Our eyes used to burn terribly if we got chemical sunscreen in them. That doesn’t happen with Badger sunscreen.
- It used to be that chemical sunscreens would dissolve the varnish on surfaces we touch a lot (handrails, the edge of the navigation desk, etc.). That is no longer happening since we switched to Badger.
Now, the reason people moved away from using zinc (the original sunscreen) is because of the whiteface problem and Badger sunscreen does leave a white residue. For us, it’s worth a bit of whiteface to not have to deal with carcinogens. But then, we wear Tilley hats (lovingly dubbed ‘dork hats’ by John’s daughter), so fashion is obviously not high on our agenda!
Reader comment:
If you want to make your own organic natural sunscreen, here is a recipe. You will need:
- Electric mixer
- Doubler boiler
- 2 ½ oz. sesame oil
- 1 ½ oz. coconut oil
- 1 ½ oz. beeswax
- 4 oz. distilled water
- 2 tbsp. of zinc oxide
- 1 tbsp. wheat germ oil
Mix the sesame oil, coconut oil and beeswax in the double boiler
and warm over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the distilled
water. Mix with the mixer until the ingredients are thick and smooth. Add
the zinc oxide and wheat germ oil.
Pour into a storage jar and leave to set.
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