The Right Chemicals and Right Level of SPF for Sunscreens

Sunscreen doesn’t need multiple chemicals and high SPF to protect your skin.

I was diagnosed with a debilitating chronic illness some 20 years ago, and discovered the medical profession did not have a cure for what ailed me. Because the diagnostic code is undefined, and is still considered relatively rare, the pharmaceutical industry apparently could not justify investing the resources needed to develop a drug and bring it to market. Doctors still don’t even have a standardized treatment option. Mitigating symptoms, instead of finding the root cause, becomes the main objective. 

That means, if I want to know more about how to reach my best health, I’ve got to do it on my own and I’m loving it!

The first step is to ascertain exactly what one has control over and what one doesn’t. I couldn’t say for sure the various chemicals that have accumulated in my body are causing my illness. But I can say with certainty, after years of trial and error, that exposure to toxic chemicals definitely exacerbates my symptoms. Therefore, why bring them in the house?

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My objective became simple: lessen my exposure to toxic chemicals (that may, or may not be, a contributing factor to disease) so as to reduce my body’s toxic load. When you are bed bound, or housebound, there’s only so much you can do.

Here’s what I have the most control over:

(a) what I put inside my body (food, hydration, etc)
(b) what I put on my body (lotions, soaps, etc), and
(c) what I absorb from the immediate environment around my body (household cleaners, detergents, etc).

Some people live their whole lives without ever questioning the effects of products they use every day. Yet, in later years, develop various chronic illnesses that seem to have no family genetic history or no one identifiable source. Doctors often have no explanations, and are lucky in some cases, if they can offer relief.

In her book, #Green Goes With Everything, author Sloan Barnett highlights the extraordinary volume of chemicals every man, woman, and child absorb through products they buy and use every day without a second thought. Products as benign as sunscreen, moisturizing lotions, personal care products, and household cleaners all contain chemicals designated as toxic in certain concentrations. Over time, small constant exposures add up to higher concentrations. The accumulated amount of various synthetic chemicals held within the body’s tissues are referred to as “Toxic Load”.

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I began researching each and every product I was bringing into my house to determine if it was helping, or possibly hurting, my body’s chances to regain health and wellness. I’m not suggesting toxic load causes CFS/ME, and I’m not offering false hope that reducing toxic load will “cure” chronic illness. My approach is simple, if my body is not deficient in toxic industrial chemicals, why keep adding them to my body? They certainly aren’t helping.

This blog post will address just one simple change I’ve made to lessen the toxic load I’m exposing my skin to: Sun Protection Factor (SPF) sunscreen lotion.

Avoid Oxybenzone that causes skin cancer. Oxybenzone is the most common organic filter or chemical that causes birth defects and greatly affects the mortality of coral reefs and aquatic animals (DiNardo and Downs). Also look for Oxtinoxate, a hormone disruptor that causes infertility.  These are chemicals that are of great concern and should be avoided (reviews.com).

Organic or chemical based sunscreens dominate the marketplace but not all of chemicals harm our bodies.  Avobenzene protects you from UVA rays and is a “good” chemical.  Inorganic or mineral based sunscreen such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide which don’t affect the physiological state of its users (Ruszkiewicz et al). UVA rays harm the deep layers of the skin and do the greatest damage than UVB.  Nevertheless, you don’t need a high SPF to protect your skin. Higher SPF means higher concentration of chemicals in your sunscreen making its harmful effect more potent to our bodies. SPF 30 is all you need (Kuritzky and Beecker).

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Beat the sun this summer with these 2 Shaklee products for your face and body. YOUTH Age Defense Mineral Moisturizer SPF 30 for your face was derived from zinc oxide which provides chemical-free SPF 30 that protects you from UVA and UVB rays. Shaklee’s SPF 30 for the Body, a multi-patented formula and a Broad Spectrum sunscreen which has the Avobenzene and provides SPF 30 protection for sun’s harmful rays to help reduce the risk of skin damage. It also contains triple-patented Vital-Repair+ Complex which can create prematurely older-looking skin.

The best protection is finding the right chemicals and minerals, common sense, Shaklee SPF 30 for the Body and YOUTH Age Defense Mineral Moisturizer SPF 30 for your face this summer. I will definitely use these products knowing that they will not trigger any adverse effects in my body, instead, these 2 products will definitely protect me inside out. You too, you should enjoy your time in the sun without compromising your health!