Summer is fast approaching and I get a lot of questions this time of year about what type of sunscreen to use. Types of sunscreen that is good for your skin, and if sunscreen to actually beneficial is probably one of my favorite topics, primarily because there are so many false claims on the internet.

Everyone with a blog post improperly sites the same research paper that was done by someone in India about 20 years ago, now the research paper is actually a fine study, but bloggers have improperly cited it because they either don’t know how to read a research paper or they’re trying to manipulate his research to sell something.

Basically the guy did research on a bunch of different sunscreens, each one of the sunscreens contained a small amount of oil in it, one had carrot oil, one coconut oil, etc. The sunscreen that had carrot oil in it came out with and SPF between 38 to 40 now people. The problem is that bloggers are taking that and saying that carrot oil by itself has an SPF of 38-40.

There is an actual scientific study that is focused on finding strictly the SPF of different oils, and that shows that olive oil has the highest SPF. It contains an SPF of 7.5, coconut oil and SPF 7, castor oil SPF 5, almond oil SPF of 4 so if you’re looking for a totally natural oil out there the best when you could use is olive oil and the best case scenario you’re going to get a 7 to 8 SPF, which isn’t that much but it’s a little bit so all right so that being said ignore all the blog post that you read out there saying to use carrot oil and you won’t burn you’ll burn.

If you believe Dr. Weil’s claims, and I know a lot of people that do especially now with people getting more into a natural approach to things, Dr. Weil believes that the reason that more people are getting skin cancer lately is not only because not only are we putting toxins in our body when we put general sunscreen on like Coppertone or whatever it might be, but because we’re wearing sunglasses.

He and others believe that when you go out in the sun your eyes recognize the ultraviolet light and then your body produces an enzyme that helps the skin protect itself from the harmful rays. That’s not to say you won’t get sunburnt, but it will help protect from mutation. It’s the mutation that causes the skin cancer.

So if you wear sunglasses and you go in the sun your body doesn’t know that you’re being exposed to ultraviolet light so it doesn’t produce that enzyme and your skin gets damaged. It’s that damage that can cause mutations.

Growing up and to this day I never wear sunglasses, growing up I didn’t want the raccoon eyes when I went fishing I didn’t want to come back to school the next day and have bright white circles around my eyes.

I hope what Dr Weil is saying is true, and to some degree I believe it.

Our bodies are perfect, they know how to survive in this environment and in this environment we were supposed to be in the Sun. I also believe that our bodies have a defense mechanism against mutations like the sun.

Let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the sunscreen issue.

First one coconut oil, as I read earlier, coconut oil does have an SPF of 7.5, so if you’re going to be in the Sun for a little while or you got a darker skin color coconut oil might be the way to go.

Whenever you’re putting anything on your skin, I really recommend putting only natural things your skin, skin is your largest organ and it’s absorbing everything that is put on it. So if you are going to use coconut oil for a sunscreen you want to find a natural sourced coconut oil, you want to find cold pressed if possible, but more importantly is that it is organic.

Another great option, and this is the one we put on her daughter, but this one I really like, Baby Badger. Baby Badger is very natural it’s got about three ingredients the primary ingredient is zinc oxide. It works great, they all have an SPF between 30 and 50.

The one downside to baby badger is that when you put it on, you almost look like you’re grayish because it leaves a white film all over your body.

The last sunscreen option that I want to mention today is Eminence Organics. At the Green Physique we carry this line of skin products. It goes on easy, looks good, and feels clean. Best of all, it is totally organic and natural. It is really the best of sunscreens.

So go in the sun, don’t wear sunglasses, and get your fill of vitamin D. And now if you want to avoid getting sunburnt, you know some great options.