If you’ve read the news lately, you have heard that Hawaii banned the sale of chemical sunscreens containing the ingredients oxybenzone & octinoxate. According to the Huffington Post, “…the chemicals are thought to be harmful to the ocean’s coral reefs. The ingredients can potentially increase coral’s susceptibility to bleaching, and up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen reportedly end up in coral reefs every year.”
The concern for our coral reefs has also led people to wonder, “If these chemicals are bad for our reefs, what are they doing to our bodies?”
This is a valid concern, people!
According to Breastcancer.org, “Many of these chemicals {in chemical sunscreens} are considered hormone disruptors. Hormone disruptors can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in the body, by blocking them or mimicking them, which throws off the body’s hormonal balance. Because estrogen can make hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer develop and grow, many women choose to limit their exposure to these chemicals that can act like estrogen.”
If that’s not scary enough, The EWG reports that oxybenzone is in almost every American’s blood! This is the same chemical that has been shown in one study to produce lower testosterone levels in boys. Scary stuff!
Let’s talk Physical vs. Chemical Sunscreens.
CHEMICAL SUNSCREENS use these ingredients to enter the skin and convert UV Rays into heat. They are called chemical because they use a chemical reaction to keep the UV rays away.
PHYSICAL SUNSCREENS use mineral ingredients such as zinc or titanium dioxide to physically block the UV rays from the skin. Nothing enters the skin.
So are SORELLA SUNSCREENS Physical or Chemical?
Rest assured that all Sorella Apothecary Sunscreens are pure physical sunscreens! Your endocrine system can take a sigh of relief, and you can throw it in your suitcase and fly straight to Hawaii- if you’re so lucky!
