#sunblocktruth

Changes in temperature always make my lips dry or peel. So this summer, I went to Mother’s Market and Ulta to pick up these lip balms.

I’ve almost finished the Avalon Organics lip balm and I love it. It keeps my lips smooth and I noticed they haven’t been pealing as much. The ingredients list is 100% vegetarian, rich with natural oils, and formulated with Vitamin C to help sooth and soften dry lips. This lip balm is free from parabens, preservatives, synthetic colors and fragrances. I’ve been wearing this lip balm almost every day for about 2 months now and I like applying it before lipstick or even on its own. It gives my lips a nice layer of moisture and I don’t feel like I need to reapply constantly. When the balm dries up on my lips there is never any residue. I picked this up at Mother’s Market for under $4 and I will definitely repurchase this soon.

On the other hand, I also picked up Hempz Yuzu & Starfruit Daily Herbal Lip Balm which has an SPF of 15. I used it a couple times. It was very nice and petroleum-like. Which got me thinking, “Why do I need this?” This purchase went against my own instincts, but it was summer and the massive sunscreen scare got to me. There’s a huge push for sun protectants in the skin care market, but oddly enough, the majority of Americans are Vitamin D deficient.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on “sunscreen” and I honestly cannot find concrete proof that this stuff actually works. Seriously, give me a study where it concludes that all these chemical sun protectants actually prevent skin damage. If you go online and do some digging on Avobenzone, Oxybenzone, and Octinoxate (the compounds used in your sunblock and lip balm) you’ll find that the studies done on these chemicals are somewhat inconclusive. Yes, folks! Could sunscreen be a big fat joke? Well, it appears that way to some of us.

This is the conclusion from just one of many toxicology reports that you can find on the PMC database and the National Library of Medicine. It examined the neurotoxic effects of active ingredients in sunscreen products. “Although some UV-related pathologies could be prevented by applying sunscreen, the efficiency and safety of these products is questionable.” (Ruszkiewicz)

Questionable? That means, these chemists are guessing and we’re paying for questionable, and potentially harmful, chemicals that may not even work. These ingredients are literally in every form of cosmetic and scientists are saying, “Well, we don’t really know the effects of these chemicals. They could cause all sorts of genetic alterations and lead to cancer, but no ones really gonna trace it back to us.”

"Often when a product is so attractive to industry, the understanding about its risk assessments is insufficient and lags behind their rapid advancement and widespread applications.” (Ruszkiewicz)

Ruszkiewicz, Joanna A. Neurotoxic effect of active ingredients in sunscreen products, a contemporary review [Internet]. National Library of Medicine (US); 2017. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615097/

“EWG recommends that the FDA launch a more thorough investigation of the safety of all ingredients currently in sunscreens to ensure that none of them damage skin or cause other toxic effects in consumers.“