Sunday, July 8, 2018

Healthy You, Healthy Oceans

Howdy ~ After several weeks of back and forth heatwave then chill, I think summer's finally here in Seattle. This means more outdoor activities and beach time!

I'm a super pasty white, so it's hard to be brave enough to do these things when I'll just get sunburned, and sunscreen is oh-so-yucky-greasy. After having tried several sunscreens that promise to be non-greasy over the years, I finally found one that I'm in love with: Australian Gold Botanical Sunscreen.


Not only is it truly non-greasy, but it also doesn't have the trademark sunscreen smell. Rather, it has a soft tropical scent (perhaps hint of coconut?) and dries to velvety finish.

So, not only am I loving this product for how it feels, but a trip to Mexico a couple years ago made me start thinking about sunscreen's effect on sealife.


Specifically of note is coral reefs. In the callouts on the back of the bottle, Oxybenzone Free = Reef Friendly. Oxybenzone has proven to be dangerous to coral, and this and similar ingredients have recently been banned in Hawaii. To pick a better product, look for mineral-based products with primary ingredients like Zinc Oxide. Another interesting note is "Non-Nano". This means the zinc particles are a little larger and less likely to be absorbed by both the coral and in our own blood streams. Apparently the FDA isn't recognizing non-nano yet, so you may primarily see this on products from Australia.

Fun fact: did you know that coral is not a stone or plant, but rather animal in the same family as jellyfish? They have a symbiotic relationship with algae, which they depend upon to get energy from the sun.

(Image borrowed from noaa.gov. Click to enlarge for text.) 

At $8 for 5oz of liquid sunscreen, this is a middle of the road price. For no extra cost over chemical sunscreens, it's an easy switch to protect our oceans.

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