Sustainably Maija

Hi everyone and welcome back to the blog! I want to spread awareness about coral reef bleaching because it’s something that I wish more people knew about. With spring break coming up and warm weather right around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect article to write for this week. If you are traveling for spring break, please be careful and wear your mask. Now I’m going to tell you how protect your skin without harming the ocean! Happy reading!

I’m not an expert on this topic, but I do know a lot about it. Coral reefs are the lungs of the ocean and habitat for 25% of marine life. Some sunscreens are dangerous to the coral reefs because the chemicals in them don’t biodegrade and are extremely harmful. Did you know that 70% of American sunscreens aren’t reef-safe?

The two categories of sunscreen to know are chemical-based and mineral-based. The most harmful ingredients that companies put into chemical-based sunscreens are oxybenzone, octinoxate, and avobenzone. Mineral sunscreens are better, but only if they contain non-nano titanium oxide and zinc oxide. Mineral sunscreens are also better for sensitive skin!

All these big chemical words give me a headache, but now they are all jammed into my brain! Knowing those chemicals will come in handy for label reading. It’s important to always read the labels (especially the active ingredients)! Some companies will put “reef-friendly” instead of “reef-safe” on their product because they still have bad active ingredients. Companies that say “reef-friendly” are most-likely greenwashing and not friendly at all.

The ingredients I just told you about for chemical-based sunscreens are extremely dangerous, especially oxybenzone. The amount needed to destroy a coral reef is the equivalent to one drop of oxybenzone in more than one Olympic-sized swimming pool. If you think that’s bad, think about this…. 4000-6000 tons of sunscreen enter the ocean every year!

Coral reefs are getting wiped out all of over the world. The Florida Keys have lost 99% of their coral reefs and Hawaii has lost 40% of their coral reefs. Unlike Florida, Hawaii has actually done something to slow down the death of reefs. Hawaii has banned all sales of sunscreens that contain oxybenzone and octinoxate! GO HAWAII!!!

Now, if you have any non reef-safe sunscreen that has oxybenzone in it, don’t use it up or wash it down the sink. See if your local waste management facility has a drop-off area for those sunscreens because they cannot get into the water supply! Another suggestion is taking them with your next doctors visit. They should be placed in biohazard waste!

I’m going to provide a list below for sunscreens that are reef-safe. I looked around for sunscreens that would work for hopefully all skin types, while still trying to find reef-safe sunscreens. Almost all of these sunscreens are in plastic packaging, so please recycle properly!

Raw Elements Sunscreen

Raw Elements is a great company. Their sunscreens are oxybenzone-free, cruelty-free, reef-safe, EWG top-rated, recyclable, and some of their packaging is actually plastic-free. I recommend this brand of sunscreen over every other one!

Link here for plastic-free zinc sunscreen tin!

Link here for plastic-free face sunscreen stick!

Link here for bottles zinc sunscreen!

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Olita Mineral Sunscreen Lotion

Amazon link here!

Sun Bum

Sun Bum claims to be all reef-friendly, BUT IT ISN’T! Yes, it’s vegan, cruelty-free, and free of chemicals like oxybenzone and octinoxate. However, it contains active ingredients like avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene, which ARE NOT REEF SAFE! Like I said earlier reef-safe is not the same thing as reef-friendly. I did some research on Sun Bum and their mineral-based sunscreens have no harmful active ingredients. So to sum it up, you can use their mineral sunscreens- not the regular ones! Amazon link here.

Badger Clear Zinc Sunscreen Cream

This sunscreen is available at Target! Here is the Amazon link.

Babo Botanicals Zinc Sunscreen

This sunscreen is available at Target and on Amazon! Amazon link here.

All Good Makes Everything Better Mineral Sport Sunscreen

Amazon link here!

Bare Republic Sport Mineral Sunscreen

This sunscreen is available at Target! Amazon link here.

Mama Kuleana

This sunscreen comes in paper packaging instead of plastic! Amazon link here!

Raw Love Sunscreen

Amazon link here!

What about the ordinary sunscreen brands?

You didn’t see brands like Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, and Coppertone listed on this blog post. Those companies like to put harmful active ingredients in their products like avobenzone, oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene. If you have those sunscreens don’t feel guilty. Always remember that it’s the big corporations that are to blame and we as consumers can spend our money else where if they won’t change.

I really hope you enjoyed today’s post and you learned something! This is a topic that I wish more people knew about. If you’re a beach lover, please copy the link and share this so others can know about coral reef bleaching too! Together we can raise awareness on this issue. Thank you so much for reading this post. It really means the world to me!! Have a great rest of your day and remember to buy reef-safe sunscreen. 🙂 ❤

Love, Maija.

P.S. I started an Amazon shopping list, so you can all access the eco-friendly products I share on here! Linked here!