Every summer my blood pressure rises when we go to the beach.
I know, I know.
Issues.
Most people go to the beach to relax and soak up some Vitamin D, but I get distracted by all the chemical sunscreens being spread and sprayed on unsuspecting guinea pigs children all around me. I’ve been working hard to spread the word about the evils of conventional sunscreens and especially spray sunscreens for almost 7 years now, but somehow I haven’t reached every family in America yet!
So every year I’ll add a few to the list of safe natural sunscreens I compiled, and I’ll hope that more people understand that if you’re going to use sunscreen, there are bad, worse, and better options.
For example, maybe you’ve seen EWG’s new 2016 sunscreen recommendations – they only list 22 SPF lotions for kids and babies out of the 100s out there. Before you bother clicking over, do you want to know what I see when I read the list?
White out.
Paint drying.
So runny you can’t hold it in your hand.
So thick you can’t get it out of its own ill-chosen container.
Ingredients that are “ok” but not the best you can buy – and therefore why choose that one?
EWG only rates products on the ingredients, and even then people find issues with their evaluations. Well, nobody’s perfect. But one thing EWG doesn’t do is test out the lotions on actual children!
Who cares if you’ve got the safest product ever if it turns to rubber cement after 6 months or it makes your kids look like they went to the all-white face paint booth at the fair with the cranky toddler artist?
That’s where I come in.
My family of six has personally tested over 70 sunscreens.
For real.
On our skin. At the beach. While camping. In our backyard.
Believe me when I say it’s been a labor of love (and a labor of pain-in-the-behind-I-can’t-believe-this-product-is-being-sold)!
We don’t hold back on our opinions, and I have approved fewer than 10% of those tubes as worthy of receiving my highest recommendation. Don’t get overwhelmed by the 203 sport sunscreens EWG is going to offer you. Just check out the research and testing my family has done. If you don’t want to get bogged down in research and information and you just need to buy a tube through Amazon Prime because you’re going to the beach this weekend, you can skip right to the top recommendations.
I’ve been collecting some new ones since last summer and have added them to the list, along with some updates including product reformulations and companies being bought out. Here are…
The New 2016 Additions and Updates
Here’s what’s new this year if you’ve kept up with the sunscreen review over the years. All this information is also in the huge review post, so if you’re new around here, just go there to see the comprehensive details!
Note: All prices are what I found online as of 5/31/16. They will most certainly change, so look at them as only an estimation for your reference!
I’ll list them in order of preference.
Only TWO made the Kitchen Stewardship Top Recommended List:
Releve Organic Skincare
Price: $19.97 (4 oz.) ~$5/ounce (right now the popup on the site offers 15% off your order)
EWG rating: 1
SPF: 20
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (20%), non-nano
Antioxidants added: grapeseed oil
Where to purchase: Emerald Essentials or Amazon
Ease of application: + very smooth! Spreads quite far!
Scent: neutral, pleasant. I think I can smell the slightest hint of citrus, which is maybe the grapefruit extract.
Water resistant? Not tested, but anything with beeswax gives me great hope!
My experience: I’m actually looking forward to testing this one further as the summer wears on, because we only got a few tests in this spring. Releve sort of flew under my radar because I was distracted by many of the other new ones needing my attention for weird ingredients or terrible consistency. My only note about Releve? Rubbed in well. And that my 4yo didn’t love the smell, but it’s unscented, so take that with a grain of salt.
When I read and re-read the ingredients to make this update, I was so pleasantly surprised. They’re super clean, not an unpronounceable in sight. Then I visited the company’s website and discovered…
Star Feature: Emerald Essentials seems to be a company that takes health and the environment very seriously, so I’m tickled to have found them! I’ll be sure to update if the bottle falls flat as we move into summer, but for now, I’m cautiously putting this one as one of my very few top recommendations! (gasp!)
UPDATE 6/13/16: Releve has still performed well as far as rubbing in fairly easily, but one thing I realized was that a 20SPF really isn’t quite the same as a 30SPF when you’re really going to be in the sun allllll day. Our whole family burned up with 3 long days in the sun this weekend 🙁 and although Releve is definitely stronger than some others, it’s not quite as tough as Badger’s 30 SPF, for example. Still a good choice, but not for super fair skin stuck out in the sun all day!
Big thanks to Dawn of Reveal Natural Health for sending this one my way!
UPDATED and Promoted: Butterbean Organic: Original and Simple Healthy Sunscreen
Price: $21.00 (7 oz.) or $12.00 (3 oz.) $3-4/ounce
EWG rating: 0
SPF: 20-30
Active ingredient(s): non-nano uncoated zinc oxide (22%)
Antioxidants added: coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, Vitamin E
Where to purchase: Butterbean
Ease of application: +/- the tub is nice because it’s easy to keep dipping your fingers in. Cream is very thick and takes a bit to rub it in. After a few months in storage it was very thick, like fudge, and verging on gritty. UPDATE 2016: The new tub’s formula is very smooth and over-wintered wonderfully! I turn to it as a quick reapplication option because you can get a lot on a kid in a short amount of time.
Scent: neutral, kind of earthy
Water resistant? Seems to be very good at repelling water.
My experience: This sunscreen is…okay. I wanted to love it because the ingredients are so great, but the texture is a little off-putting. It took a LOT to cover an adult’s body, so I feel like the tub wouldn’t last all that long. ???
We also tested the spray, which I believe is now sold as the pump called “simple formula.” It’s much much much thinner, almost too thin, although it was very easy to apply. It still gets white when wet, such a strange feature.
We had one minor burn with the spray after a few hours of swimming, but that may be because we didn’t use enough. Just because it’s thin doesn’t mean you should skimp!
UPDATE 2016: I got a sample of the new pump, which is easy to use and I noted that it’s super nice to give it to kids and know that they can’t GLOP it on, squirt too much out of the tube on accident or scoop a huge fingerful out of a tub. My husband burned slightly on his face with it but we realize that it may have been because he was swimming and wiped it off with his hands. I’m curious to experiment more with it this summer.
We also tested out the Sport Stick and we are huge fans. The cardboard tubing is so unique and eco-friendly. We keep it in our diaper bag and use it often on faces – it’s quick to apply! And honestly, because there are a few drawbacks to the pump and the tub, I kept going back and forth on whether to put Butterbean in the highest level or not. The stick pushed it over the edge!
UPDATE 6/13/16: The 90-degree sun watching soccer was too much for our family this weekend! Everybody burned, no matter what we wore. 🙁 A note that the tub of Butterbean felt a little more white and greasy/shiny to my husband, but it did keep his arm less burned than the Raw Elements stick (which we are theorizing couldn’t get through his arm hair to his skin!). So what are we thinking about Butterbean in general? I want to test its effectiveness more, personally!
Star Feature: The ingredients speak for themselves, and the small company speaks to my WAHM heart.
Get a printable guide to choosing sunscreens based on safe ingredients while you shop:
The following are on the “Other Good Alternatives” List
Block Island Suncare
Price: $19.99 (3.4 oz.) ~5.88/ounce (the popup on their site currently has a 15% off your first order coupon)
EWG rating: 1
SPF: 30
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (22%), non nano
Antioxidants added: green tea leaf extract, Vitamin E
Where to purchase: Block Island or Amazon
Ease of application: +/- Average for zinc-based sunblocks
Scent: neutral, not unpleasant
Water resistant? was thinner than the other we were testing – so thin that it came out all over the place! Without beeswax involved, I’m guessing this one struggles in water but we weren’t able to test it swimming yet.
My experience: We received this product at the very end of last summer, so the tests have been all non-swimming. I noticed a bit of white-out drying action when applying to busy, warm kids, although it rubs in pretty clear if you’re fast enough. After a few hours, I wrote down that it feels a bit gummy-ish on the skin, like it’s too thick. Or I was just sweaty. 
We quickly learned to only open it with the cap on top even though the container is made to be stored standing on its lid. Block Island is very thin and runny! That’s good and bad; it can mean it’s easier to rub in but also harder to control coming out of the tube.
Ultimately no matter how it rubs in, I can’t put this on on the most recommended list because it uses a synthetic preservative (sodium benzoate) and a few other not-as-natural ingredients. It’s still highly rated by EWG, so if you’ve got nothing else that works, it’s a great choice, but it remains in this section for me.
UPDATE the next day: Our babysitter put sunscreen on the little boys, and when I saw them at the end of the day it looked like they’d used whiteout. It was Block Island. So that’s a pretty real-life negative testimonial!
Star Feature: Reef safe, vegan, and able to go on an airplane (the size is correct). Cute little containers. 
Pronounce Skinshade (formerly Scratch Mommy)
Price: $15.50 (2.3 oz.) ~$6.73/ounce (currently offers a 10% coupon on the popup)
EWG rating: not rated
SPF: 20
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (25%), non-nano, non-micronized
Antioxidants added: Vitamin E
Where to purchase: Pronounce Skincare
Ease of application: +/- Average for zinc-based sunblocks
Scent: neutral, a little talc-y
Water resistant? most likely!
My experience: Since Scratch Mommy just rebranded to become Pronounce, the packaging has completely changed (which means what I had to say about it getting messy while in the swim bag doesn’t apply) and I also see that although my tub has apricot oil, the new formula uses almond oil.
Sooooo…I’m not sure everything I have to say will be accurate anymore. Here goes nothing anyway:
It does go on a little bit greasy, although it rubs in well. Over the winter (stored inside) it separated the tiniest bit, but really almost not noticeable unless you’re me and you’re reviewing this stuff minutely.
Ultimately because the price point is higher than some others, I won’t put it in my top recommended list, but it is a good product and has super super clean ingredients. (I also like the deodorant over there!)
UPDATE 6/13/16: The Scratch Mommy version we were testing failed multiple times at preventing burns in side-by-side tests. Other options consistently caused less burn or no burn.
Star Feature: Made by hand by a mom who wants to treat your family to the finest of ingredients, just like she does for hers. Organic ingredients!
SVO Sport UV Lotion (formerly Sea Val)
Price: $19.99 (4 oz.) ~5/ounce
EWG rating: not rated
SPF: 30
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide, non nano
Antioxidants added: Vitamin E
Where to purchase: Sea-Val
Ease of application: + rubs in well, slightly greasy though
Scent: neutral
Water resistant? Most likely!
My experience: I just got this tub this spring so I haven’t had many opportunities to use it. It reminds me a lot of both the Scratch Mommy/Pronounce tub and the Butterbean tub (the old version). The ingredients are very pure and it doesn’t do a Casper the Friendly Ghost look (unless the 4yo is left to his own devices to rub it in…and choose his quantity). #oops
The consistency is very thick and greasy, but it does rub in OK as long as you take the time to rub it in. If the toddler is trying to run away the whole time, you end up with Streaky-McPhee. 😉
We did have some question on this one about efficacy – in a side-by-side test, we felt that the skin was slightly more pink on this side. But it was only one test! Inconclusive evidence.
Note that the packaging and title of the product I linked to are actually very different from the sample I have, which is in a metal container. But it’s the website on the container, and the ingredients are exactly the same, in the same order.
Star Feature: I can tell the ingredients are each specifically well-chosen!
UPDATED: Babo Botanicals Clear Zinc Sunscreen and Sport Stick
Price: $11-15 (3 oz.) ~$3.75-5/ounce, about $10 for the stick
EWG rating: 1
SPF: 30
Active ingredient(s): non-nano zinc oxide (22%)
Antioxidants added: sunflower oil, green tea extract (jojoba oil, cocoa butter and Vitamin E in the stick)
Where to purchase: Amazon or Vitacost
Ease of application: + nice and creamy, spreads nicely. The stick is VERY thick and hard to apply, made only for small areas like cheeks or lips.
Scent: the fragrance-free lotion just smells like lotion; the stick is kind of strong like the beeswax I guess
Water resistant? The stick is very resistant, even after washing dishes with it on my hand; the lotion actually came off on my finger when wet, so I don’t hold much hope for that one
My experience: I’ve only had these samples in my hands a few days, so we haven’t field-tested them. The stick holds a lot of promise for tough areas like cheekbones, lips, ears, but I would not want to use it all over. It would take forever to rub in. The lotion glides on well, but I’m curious how it would hold up to swimming.
As for ingredients, the stick has nicely pure ingredients through and through in my opinion, but the lotion leaves a bit to be desired. It doesn’t have anything that’s been proven to be harmful, but compared to some others that I’ve reviewed that have 100% food-grade or plant-and-mineral-sourced ingredients, I don’t love seeing sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate in there, two preservatives that are sourced naturally but have questionable reputations.
UPDATE 2016: I told you I’d come back to test better! Over the winter the stick formed a really solid kind of “seal” on the top such that the first use I had to throw away ½ centimeter or so. And then it was really gooey and didn’t go one nicely at all. This one doesn’t have lasting power!
The cream wintered fine and is still creamy, but it really needs to be rubbed in immediately for best results. It makes streaks if you don’t. Plus we had two different instances where we wondered if this one was allowing burns through more quickly than other similar creams. I’m just not sure it’s to be trusted.
And Here is the “Not Recommended” list:
It’s Elemental Herbs All Good Kid’s Sunscreen
Price: varies, ~$15-20 for 3 ounces ~$5-6.67
EWG rating: 1
SPF: 33
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (22.5%), non nano
Antioxidants added: green tea extract, rose hip fruit oil, others
Where to purchase: Amazon
Ease of application: +/- gets a little of that “paint drying” effect if you’re not super quick to rub it in. Meh.
Scent: neutral, very “unscented” if you know what I mean
Water resistant? Doesn’t even claim to be. My friend said, “Not water resistant? Oh, that’s not good…” which is kind of how most parents probably think. Why not add some beeswax to up your game?
My experience: This sunscreen feels like a plain old normal tube of sunscreen, which may be why I secretly gravitated toward it.
However, even though it’s very nicely creamy, it has the “whiteout” action that makes it streaky if you don’t rub it in within 2 seconds. The ingredients also include a few synthetic preservatives, and my daughter got incredibly sunburned on her school’s field day while wearing it. The one time I didn’t use two kinds, arg! (We were in a hurry!)
After the winter in storage (inside in normal temperatures) it still went on ok, although the white-out action is still there. You want to rub it in as fast as possible and you’re still not usually fast enough!
Sunology: Face, Body & Kids
Price: $14.99 (2 oz.) ~7.50/ounce
EWG rating: 1
SPF: 50
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (10%), titanium dioxide (7.5%) I’d guess at least micronized zinc as the website describes its technology as “micro mirrors”
Antioxidants added: Ferulic acid, apparently…!
Where to purchase: Sunology and Amazon
Ease of application: +/- Average for zinc-based sunblocks
Scent: slightly unpleasant
Water resistant? unsure
My experience: Before even opening them, here’s what I notice:
- All 3 types (face, body, kids) have exactly the same ingredients in exactly the same order. They might use slightly different amounts, I suppose, but it seems fishy to me.
- All the ingredients are chemical sounding. None set off alarms in my head, but they’re not the epitome of “from natural sources” or whatever the box says.
- Its star ingredient, Ferulic acid, is derived from soybeans. Again, not exactly a star performer in the real natural living world. Bah.
When you start reading all the ingredients, take into account that I don’t like titanium dioxide anyway, and look at the expensive price…it’s just not worth writing any more about this brand.
Babyganics: Various Versions
Price: $18.22 (12 oz.) ~1.52/ounce
EWG rating: 1-3, depending on product
SPF: 15-50
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, octinoxate, octisalate
Antioxidants added: sunflower seed oil, cranberry seed oil, black cumin seed oil, red raspberry seed oil, and more
Where to purchase: Amazon
Ease of application: The one I tried goes on like paint drying – meaning that if you don’t rub it in within a second or two, you get white smears that are impossible to do anything with.
Scent: neutral
Water resistant? not sure
My experience: I’m so disappointed in this brand!
It came recommended by readers, but when I received 5 different versions (pure mineral sunscreen SPF 30, moisturizing daily lotion with SPF 15 sunscreen, pure mineral sunscreen stick SPF 50, mineral-based sunscreen SPF 50+, and mineral-based sunscreen spray SPF 50+), I was shocked at the BAD chemical ingredients in the spray and SPF 50+ “mineral-based sunscreen” versions, so honestly, why bother with the line? If they’re going to use chemicals sometimes it gets too confusing. I’d rather be able to recommend a brand for being upright and non-toxic all the time and not have to say, “Babyganics is ok but not this version or this version…”
Even in the mineral-based ‘screens of this brand, they use titanium dioxide which is not my preference at all. And it includes phenoxyethanol, which is pretty safe, but wouldn’t you rather have totally non-toxic and the best available?
Keeki Pure and Simple SPF 30
Price: $15.99 (4 oz.) ~4/ounce
EWG rating: 2
SPF: 30
Active ingredient(s): zinc oxide (7.1%), OM Cinnamate (5.9%)
Antioxidants added: coconut oil, Vitamin E
Where to purchase: Keeki
Ease of application: – not that great, a little sticky too
Scent: strong banana
Water resistant? unsure
My experience: Rejected! The ingredient OM Cinnamate is not a mineral ingredient. It’s a conventional chemical sunscreen rated 6 (moderate hazard) at EWG, has hormone-mimicking effects in lab animals and has been found to be persistent in breastmilk. #greenwashing at its finest!
Also, before I noticed this fatal flaw, it didn’t rub in all that well anyway and had the “paint drying” effect.
Get a printable guide to choosing sunscreens based on safe ingredients while you shop:
Business Changing Hands Update
The Ava Anderson company closed its door rather abruptly this spring. The company was supposedly bought out by Pure Haven Essentials. It’s likely that the sunscreen is the same formula, but since I haven’t had any in my hands, I can’t include it in the review any longer, which is too bad because I liked Ava Anderson! That brand had been a top recommended.
Hat Tip to Honest Company
I get asked a LOT about the Honest Company sunscreen, and I haven’t gotten my hands on a tube yet. I kept eyeing it up at Costco last year but couldn’t bear buying 2 tubes when we had 40 at home! 😉 That kind of worked out because they just reformulated this year. So. It’s a goal to get some for the 2017 update, and I’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime, my team member Helen has some and shared a few notes with me:
- a little heavy for the face (common problem with zinc-based sunscreens IMO)
- stains clothing if you don’t catch it right away (they almost all do that, sadly)
- she thought it rubbed in pretty well (score!)
The ingredients are good – the lotion is zinc-based and has a few not-AS-natural ingredients. Still non-toxic, but since I feel there are more pure options, I’m guessing Honest would be in my second tier “Other Good Alternatives.” Although, I see that their new cream is 50+ SPF, and as soon as I see that, warning bells start going off. That means they’re trying to talk to the world, not stay true to their green intentions, in my humble opinion. This new formulation (the 50+) has many more ingredients compared to the 30 SPF list I found.
I would not recommend the spray partly because of the spray action and also because it is titanium dioxide only, and that’s not giving you as effective as or safe coverage as zinc oxide. And now that I dig into Honest Co’s website itself, I can’t find the 30 SPF at all, so perhaps they don’t carry it anymore. Too bad! I liked those ingredients much better than the new one.
What’s a Mom to Do?
Thankfully there are plenty of options, although they change all the time. Kabana has been on my list since the beginning (the only grandfather), and Raw Elements and Badger brand are likely around to stay. I’m happy to welcome two more to the short list this year! Five good ones to choose from, not the hundreds that EWG now recommends (they only had 40 acceptable options in 2009 when I started this whole thing, and my family tested 28 of those that first summer).
One list from EWG that I DO want you to look at is the WORST scoring baby/kid sunscreens for 2016. A ton of common brands are on there along with some excellent explanations about why you should never use spray sunscreen plus the absolute worst ingredients to avoid. If you see something on this list that’s in your house, just throw it out.
Don’t use it up and then get something better.
Get something better right now – Amazon is quick! – and throw it out. This stuff is toxic and if you feel scared that you recognize something on that list from your home, well, that’s ok. We should be scared of things that will hurt our families. Now you know better – so get rid of them, please!
Educate yourself on why you should use a safe, natural, mineral sunscreen and spread the news (pun intended) to everyone who will listen. I need all the help I can get!
Oh, and if you need some sunscreen…come on over. We have extras.
Take a Bite (of conversation)