Sunscreen

People are much more aware of the dangers of direct exposure to UV rays without protection these days...or so you'd think.

According to the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (and reported by bloomburg.com) melanoma rates among young women in the U.S. has gone up 50% since the 80s.

While my family and I are at the beach, we're making sure we have enough sunscreen on.

Many sunscreens, though, contain ingredients that may not be so healthy. I did a little research on the Skin Deep cosmetics database to find out which sunscreens were safest and most effective.

The Skin Deep site rates products on a scale of 0-10 on safety, with 0 being the safest. They have a list of 28 products that have tested effective with low hazards. Some of the names that fall in this category are California Baby and Badger products. I wanted to buy the California Baby sunscreen, but it was sold out EVERYWHERE...on line and in store. Guess everyone had my idea at the same time!

I did a little more digging at the Skin Deep site and was able to find that Aveeno Baby was rated a 3 (not bad) and I knew that was carried pretty much every place. So I bought that for the beach. So far it's worked great- no burns here!

Hope you're enjoying your summer and using your sunscreen :)