Sunscreen products are probably the most boring thing you can buy. But having sustainability in mind when browsing these products are quite important. Loads of sunscreen companies have received a good portion of criticism over the last years as their products have not been labelled “eco-friendly”.
Table of Contents
- Why are some sunscreen products environmentally friendly and some don’t?
- There are mainly two things that make a difference.
- The test
Why are some sunscreen products environmentally friendly and some don’t?
There are mainly two things that make a difference.
Packaging
Unfortunately, most of the products designed for day-to-day use is packed into plastic. This is a cheap material that really does the job by keeping wet materials inside a dispenser. And that is fine. But a more annoying thing is the way many of the sunscreen products have been designed. Some of them have been created in a way where you are almost certain to lose at least 10 % of the product because its simply not possible to get it out of the bottle.
That is annoying. If every sunscreen product end up in the trash can with a lot of white material still inside the bottle, we might have a big environmental issue.
Ingredients that hurt the ocean wildlife and coral reaves
Scientists have found out that certain ingredients used in sunscreen sprays can be traced back to the death of coral reaves, fish and other sea creatures. It got massive news coverage some years ago, but not all sunscreen companies wanted to change towards a more sustainable product range. That is something we, as consumers, should do something about.
You can be sure that the product is safe towards yourself and the sea environment if they use marketing messages such as:
– “Only natural ingredients” and/or
– “No harmful chemicals”.
The test
We bought, tried and reviewed two different sunscreens that we found on Amazon. And we did not just go and buy the first one that popped up when we searched for “ecofriendly sunscreen”. We actually read the comments and made sure that the product had great reviews before buying them.
Product 1
If you struggle with allergy towards cosmetics products, this is probably the sunscreen you are looking for. No perfume. No chemicals. All natural ingredients.
The question when the ingredients list look a bit too healthy is: does the product even work? And yes, it does. It is very easy to apply to your skin, does not smell at all (which is almost scary) and after 1 minute you cannot even feel that you are protected against the sun.
Some sunscreens have the tendency to be fat and oily on your skin. This one does not.
A lot of the customers tend to agree with the high comfort argument. The highest voted review on Amazon is this comment:
“First thing I noticed when I received it was the product had no scent (good sign of being chemical free). The ingredients are simple and refreshing. In fact, a lot of the ingredients are actually Good for your skin. The SPF is perfect for my husband and kid (30). I am very satisfied with how it went on my skin and rubbed in without a thick white residue or being too oily. Very happy I was able to find a product for our very hot summers!”
The small disadvantage that we have to mention about this product is that it seemed like some of the content had separated inside the bottle. So the first time we tried to squeeze some sunscreen out, it just came a bit of water instead. However, it was a very little amount, but we also notice that other people on Amazon have experienced the same thing.
Product 2:
We were not that impressed with this one. And we are not sure if that means that high price equals quality, or if we were just a bit unlucky with this sunscreen product.
