Bad sunscreen, no skin cancer!

I belong to that embarrassing group of people who love New Mexico but who don't have the melanin to take the sun. I'm such a mixed race mongrel I don't know where our pale skin and glaucoma-prone eyes even came from; but I'm a hat wearing, sunscreen wearing, lover of New Mexico.

Bummer to find out that much of the sunscreen you can buy either doesn't protect against skin cancer or contains chemicals that are bad for you!

The Environmental Working Group has published a study on sunscreens, rating sunscreens from 0 (very protective, no harmful ingredients) to 10 (no UVA protection, cancer-causing ingredients).

Two things in particular stand out in their research: if you get a sunscreen that protects against UVB but not UVA, then you can stay out all day, not get burned, and still be collecting rays for skin cancer. Secondly, many sunscreens use oxybenzone as a UVB blocker -- but oxybenzone has been shown to cause cancer, and disrupt the reproductive system -- and other, better UVB blockers are available.


Surely the sunscreens (or at least the expensive ones) in our medicine cabinet are OK? No, most of them contain oxybenzone, and they score an average of 6 on the EWG scale. Of the thousands of sunscreens they reviewed, they made a summary of "easy to find" safe sunscreens. However, that list includes things never seen this side of Santa Fe -- I have never run across the brands "Mission Skincare" or "California Baby".




The one item I do take issue with is the recommendation against any use of spray sunscreens. EWG worries about ingesting and inhaling all sun screen ingredients, but is especially worried about inhaling spray sunscreens. As you can see in the picture, my babies have just a tiny bit of hair -- not enough to protect their scalp. We have done battle with hats, but finally spray sunscreen has come to the rescue. We only apply it outdoors, we spray from the back, but it protects her head and cannot be easily replaced by a oil-based cream.

So I did some research, at Smiths, John Brooks Supermart, Walmart, then in Albuquerque at Walgreens and La Montinita. Walmart had decided it wasn't summer anymore and taken out ALL OF THE SUNSCREEN. John Brooks had several "natural" brands of sunscreen, but all contained oxybenzone. Since the safest sunscreen recommended by EWG were extremely expensive, I have sorted this list of "locally" available sunscreens by price per ounce.

Name	Size (oz)	Cost	$/oz	Score	Where to Buy
Coppertone Water BABIES - “Pure & Simple”	8	$12.00	1.50	3	Walgreens
Banana Boat Kids Tear-Free UltraMist Spray 30	6	$9.65	1.61	4	Walmart
J.A.S.O.N. Mineral	4	$7.99	2.00	2	La Montanita
Neutrogena “Sensitive Skin”	4	$9.99	2.50	3	Walgreens
Walgreens Sunblock with Zinc Oxide, SPF 45+	2	$5.00	2.50	3	Walgreens
Blue Lizard “Face”	5	$14.99	3.00	3	Walgreens
Blue Lizard "Baby"	5	$14.99	3.00	3	Walgreens
Blue Lizard "Sensitive"	5	$14.99	3.00	3	Walgreens
Neutrogena “Pure & Free”	3	$10.99	3.66	3	Smiths, Walgreens
Burt's Bees Chemical-Free Sunscreen, SPF 30	3.5	$15.00	4.29	4	La Montanita
Kiss My Face Face Factor	2	$12.49	6.25	4	La Montanita
Solar Sense - “Clear Zinc Sport Stick”	0.45	$4.49	9.98	3	Walgreens

I will mention that many of the "safe" sunscreens leave me with a white pasty face all day -- which is fine for my busy unselfconscious children, but not as acceptable for grown ups.