My paternal grandmother was from Scotland, and although I have some Native American roots on my mom’s side, my skin pretty much looks like 100% of its genes come straight from the land of the kilt! My skin is fair, speckled with freckles and burns in the sun. That’s right, there is pretty much no in-between. I am either snow white or lava red. Enter sunscreen.
Early burns …and cancer
Growing up in the seventies and early eighties, I remember applying tanning lotion with one-digit SPF, in order to tan faster. There were no concerns with skin cancer at the time and I would burn pretty much every summer and more than once per summer.
In my late twenties, I developed a small lesion on my nose that I kept scratching. It would bleed a little, form a scab but never completely heal. I asked my doctor about it and soon enough I discovered I had skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma). Fortunately, it was the more benign form of skin cancer, but still, it was a shock. It took several treatments to finally get rid of it.
My dermatologist recommended I wear sunscreen all the time. However, I was concerned about all the chemicals found in sunscreen and was wondering if I was not replacing one evil with another. Would all these chemicals eventually give me cancer? And if so, who would ever blame the sunscreen chemicals? The sun would always be the likely suspect.
In search of a natural sunscreen in non-plastic packaging
So I went on a quest for the most natural sunscreen out there. Along the way, I discovered that zinc oxide is the better screen ingredient compared to titanium dioxide, which is often present in sunscreen as an unpredictable and dangerous nano-particle. I also discovered that, like many products in the cosmetic department, simple and natural is better. Fortunately, in the past few years, many companies have created natural, non-toxic sunscreens, but pretty much all of them are packaged in disposable plastic bottles. I was left with no choice but to buy the dreaded plastic in the hope that the empty bottle would be picked at the recycling sorting station.
Summer!
Then Summer Brown (what a perfect name for the CEO of a sunscreen company!) contacted us last year and told us about her Original Healthy Sunscreen packaged in a metal container. No plastic! Yay! Finally, not only have I found a natural sunscreen made of zinc oxide, but it is also packaged in fully recyclable metal. Furthermore, it contains mostly certified organic ingredients, including the highest percentage of certified organic and fair trade coconut oil and shea butter. The company is called Butterbean and it is a small family-run company. Summer also offers a Sport Stick Sunscreen packaged in cardboard.
At Life Without Plastic, we love discovering and supporting small, innovative companies!