Heading somewhere warm and sunny?
Don’t forget the sunscreen! I know there are varying opinions on using sunscreen/sunblock. How much is too much? What about getting Vitamin D? What about those horrible chemicals? Look I get it, those thoughts run through my mind also. If I am going somewhere near the equator or where the sun shines down non-stop, I have to use sunblock. The alternative is a bad burn, which would totally spoil my vacation!
I really don’t have to use sunblock where I live in Portland. I am far enough from the equator (Portland is North of the 45th parallel) and actually closer to the North Pole than the equator. That’s your Portland trivia for today!
I’m relatively fair skinned and if I go to places where the sun shines like crazy and it is more intense than I’m used to… I. Will. Burn. I grew up in SoCal and believe me, playing in the pool all day as a kid or going to the beach left me as red as a chili pepper. It hurts to get a bad sunburn. Not only can it be really painful, but it is really not good for your skin. So I always wear sunblock when I’m in places where there is a risk of me getting burned.
There are so many choices of sunblock out there, how’s a vegan to decide?
Towards the end of this post, I will list a couple of sunblock products that I have used that work great. First, I will let you in on what my requirements are for choosing a vegan sunblock. Of course, the first and foremost choice is that it’s vegan. That’s a given so I’m not listing that as requirement, it’s a MUST! It has to be vegan.
My number 1 requirement
It has to be a physical block and not a chemical block. I really try to avoid putting extra chemicals on my body if I don’t have to. The skin is our largest organ and the thought of slathering on a bunch of chemicals that can get absorbed into my body is not my idea of a good time. Therefore, I always choose a sunblock that has zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide. I say a big “NO” to oxybenzone, octinoxate, avobenzone, nano-particles, microbeads, and other potentially nasty stuff. We are bombarded all the time by chemicals in our environment that we may not be able to avoid, so why add to that by layering on the bad stuff?
My number 2 requirement
It has to be reef safe. This is usually achieved by requirement number 1 above – but do your homework! Any sunblock I use has to be reef safe. Many of my travels have included beach time and snorkeling. So, why reef safe? Why does that matter? Why have certain places, including Hawaii, banned certain sunscreens? The law in Hawaii goes into effect Jan. 1, 2021. Sunscreens that contain ingredients such as oxybenzone and octinoxate will be banned from sale at that time in the state. Not sure how that stops all the tourists from bring their crappy sunscreen from home, but perhaps hotels will post information informing visitors of the damage caused by these chemicals. Fingers crossed!
Coral reefs are dying all over the world. The main cause? You guessed it-Climate Change! Climate change is a whole separate post, so I won’t get up on my vegan soapbox right now. The other damage to coral reefs includes photo-bleaching due to increasing ocean temperatures and damage/die off due to coral mining, pollution, irresponsible boating, fishing, blast fishing, irresponsible swimmers/divers, plastic, and chemicals from sunscreen that wash off your body when you go into the ocean. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration has a good write up if you want to read more about the sunscreen chemical issue.
Where do you start?
One of the first things I do when picking new skin care products is to check the Environmental Working Group website. I want to make sure I’m using something that is safe and not going to be harmful to my body. EWG is a great resource for not only sunblock, but also skin care, hair products, cleaning products, etc. They also have an app. Every year they put out an EWG guide to sunscreens. EWG is not solely vegan, but it’s a good place to start to look at a products rating and ingredient rating. Once you look there, you still need to see if it’s actually vegan.
There’s an app for that!
A couple other apps, besides EWG, are Think Dirty, Bunny Free and I’m sure there are a few others which I haven’t yet downloaded to my phone. Those apps may list safety of the product, if they are vegan or both. So always do your research and make sure it’s a sunblock that you feel comfortable putting on your skin. *Note: I didn’t include the Leaping Bunny Cruelty Free program as one I used very much because they only certify that there was no animal testing done for the product or ingredients. They do not provide info about the composition of ingredients. So some of the products they list as cruelty free will contain non-vegan ingredients. Leaping Bunny simply validates animal testing claims. Many companies they list do manufacture vegan products, but there is no requirement for them to be vegan. That’s a bit of a miss if you ask me, but it is another resource. Just do more homework after checking via that website or app. It’s not a vegan app.
So which sunblock products have been my tried and true?
I’ve used a few different ones over the years and sometimes it depends on what I can get my hands on. I tend to choose things that fit my requirements listed above, but aren’t super expensive. Price doesn’t always equal quality.
My new favorite has been Attitude Living, they are a Canadian company so typically, I buy via Amazon. I used their SPF 30 in Sri Lanka this year and NO burning for me!
Attitude Living is an EWG certified, EcoLogo certified, “Bunny Free” cruelty free and vegan. They sell some of their products in bulk and seem to have a very good handle on not only environmental concerns, but also keeping a limit on using chemicals that are known to do harm to not only the environment, but also us!
Goddess Garden Sport SPF 50 lotion, Caribbean Sol SPF 30, True Natural Sunscreen Lotion are a few others. Attitude has one of the few solid sunblock sticks that are vegan, no beeswax! Also, remember that sometimes using products developed for babies or kids will also decrease extra ingredients in your product. It’s not like they won’t work for adults, they do!
Mineral Powder SPF
Another choice, mainly for the face, are the mineral powder SPF all in one brush products. There are several out there. Derma-E has one that is a SPF 30 and I’ll pop that in my day bag to simply add a bit more SPF if needed during a trip. There’s also one from Mineral Fusion that I’ve used too. Of course, if you are already using a vegan mineral makeup, check the SPF rating, it may have one!
Don’t forget the Lips!
So now your face and body are protected, but what about those lips baby? One of my all-time favorite go to vegan SPF lip balms is Hurraw! Sun Lip Balm SPF 15. Anytime I’m going somewhere sunny, this is my choice. It goes on SO smooth and works great. Luckily, I can easily pick it up at Food Fight! the vegan grocery store in Portland so I don’t have to order online. Love their regular lip balms also. Other choices are Goddess Garden Sunscreen Lip Balm SPF 30. There are two choices from the vegan company based in Portland, Pacifica Beauty. Pacifica Mineral Color Lip Balm SPF 30 or Pacifica Mineral Lip Balm SPF 15. Many of the solid SPF sticks can also be used on the lips and if you use one of those maybe you don’t even need an extra lip balm. I find they are a bit too thick for the lips so I prefer to have a lip balm product with SPF in it. Of course, some vegan lipsticks also have a SPF rating, but that’s a whole other topic.
Hit me up with your favorite vegan sunblock or lip balms in the comments below.
What’s your favorite?