It’s that time of year again…or if you live in Arizona, life as usual. Time for hats and sunscreen and if we’re really serious, long sleeved, light weight shirts. My go-to source for information on the effectiveness of the various products on the market that claim SPF 10 to SPF 100 is the Environmental Working Groups 2010 list of sunscreen products. (www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen)
I’ve been buying Jason mineral sunscreen from Whole Foods Markets for over a year and it really works. OK. It goes on thick and white (that’s the zinc-remember lifeguard’s noses?) and you have to work it in, but there is no scent (YAY!) and it lasts up to 3 hours (most are 2 hours). And it doesn’t make my face break out. Just stops UVA and UVB rays from the sun.
Some of the most commonly available brands in drug stores are in the ‘Hall of Shame’ on the EWG website, so as always, READ THE LABEL! You’re looking for titanium and zinc…especially for children. If you were listening to Diane Rhem on NPR the other morning (look for the podcast at NRP.org) they did an entire program about skin cancer and sunscreens. The main takeaway point for me was that the major damage is done in childhood and adolescence…and don’t get me going about the risks of tanning beds!
So heads up and eyes open. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. A little sun is all you need for Vitamin D..and don’t get it between 10am and 2 pm.
Peace and Health,
DFiann

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.