Hello! And welcome to my first mini-post.
Saying No to Chemicals
If you’ve been reading for awhile, you’ll know that I spent some of the summer experimenting with homemade cosmetics. A reader named Goldie wrote in and asked if I had any recipes for sunscreens, particularly ones that were baby-friendly, as the chemicals in commercial sunscreens are not necessarily what you want to be slathering all over little people. (I totally agree.)
And Here’s a Recipe
Goldie pointed me in the direction of Wellness Mama’s blog. My own resources had a recipe for sunscreen, but nothing that sounded as effective (or safe) as what Wellness Mama had whipped up, which has a natural SPF factor of about 20. Of course, I had to give it a try. The recipe had ingredients I was already familiar with, plus non-nano zinc oxide. (“Non-nano” simply means that the particles aren’t so finely ground up that they might be absorbed into your system through your skin.)
It knocked together very quickly — about 35 minutes start to finish. Using essential oils, I gave it a very light scent of lavender, reasoning that this would probably be baby-safe. Half of Wellness Mama’s recipe nicely filled three 1 oz. jars, which were out the door that same afternoon. I gave two to testers and tried one out on myself.
How Dedicated am I to Research?
Now, given that I burn easily, I have to admit that I had some concerns about experimenting on myself (or anyone else) with sunscreen. I mean, if a cake recipe doesn’t work, there’s some ingredients wasted and a few dishes to do. But if the sunscreen didn’t work, I was in for some skin damage and a few days of annoyance. I applied a healthy dose and re-applied often.
My other misgiving was that the zinc oxide would turn white on my skin. I was willing to sit in the privacy of my backyard looking like a ghost, but not in public. Happily, that was not the case. The sunscreen seems to sink in and leave only a slight sheen.
But It Works!
And … I can say with relative confidence that this sunscreen works. Several tests on late-summer hot days were positive. No sunburn and nice soft skin to boot.
There’s More
Now that summer is well past us, the sunscreen doubles as a very effective moisturizing body cream. Since this particular recipe has a shelf life of about six months, you can simply segue out of suncare and get a jump on the dry skin that happens in the fall and winter. I LOVE it when a product is this useful. No waste at all.
Dollars and Cents
As to the dollars and cents, it works out to $1.61 for a 1 oz. jar. By my reckoning, I would use up two or three jars in an active summer. Sunscreens come in a very wide range of formulations and prices, so it’s difficult to do a comparison, but I’d say that an annual cost of $4.83 is quite a bit less than what I’ve paid for sunscreen for many years.
And that’s it! Thank you to Goldie for her question and see you again soon!
Hi Ms Sally, just wondering if you have any idea what the SPF factor is for this sunscreen ?? Great idea, love reading your posts. x
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Hello Ms. Faith!
Thanks so much for the feedback. You pointed up some important information — which I’ll edit the post to include.
Wellness Mama says that the recipe on her blog has a natural SPF factor of 20+, and that more zinc oxide can be added. I’m assuming that the more zinc oxide you add, the higher the SPF factor.
But … I also think that the more zinc oxide you add, the more opaque the finished product will be. At some point, it probably will start to make you look like a ghost! (I’m sure that babies don’t care, but we adults are a little more self-conscious.)
If you try it out, let me know — we’ll put you in the Check-Back section!
Hugs across the miles,
Sally
xox
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