 When I started my low-waste natural living journey one of the first things I wanted to change was the sunscreen I used. I'd learned about some of the chemicals that come in these really strong SPF 50 plus sunscreens that we get on the market and heard that they have quite a big impact not only on our own health and our body but also on the environment. Researchers discovered that many of the compounds found in sunscreen can actually harm ocean life especially coral. One of the things that these compounds in sunscreen can do is they have the ability to activate dormant viruses in things like algae. One such algae is a algae called zoanx theole. I don't think I pronounced that right so I write it on the screen. This algae provides food and color to the coral. The chemicals in sunscreen can cause the dormant viruses in these algae to duplicate until the algae host dies. This then causes the coral to die too. It's actually estimated that over 5,000 metric tons of sunscreen is washed off of swimmers each year. This sunscreen then pollutes the ocean and poses a huge threat to coral life which will have a flow-on effect impacting many other marine species as well. Ironically too sunscreen can cause vitamin D deficiency. This is because the sunscreen blocks the skin's ability to turn the UV rays or the sun's light into vitamin D. So if we use sunscreen too much all the time it can actually prevent our body turning the sunlight into vitamin D. Some of the toxic chemicals used in sunscreens are actually endocrine disrupting which means they impact our hormones and they've actually been shown to promote the reduction of free radicals and skin cancer growth in the body in many cases. But it's not just conventional chemical sunscreens that have these toxic ingredients. Natural sunscreens might often contain toxic ingredients as well. So you just need to be mindful when choosing a sunscreen. Some of the chemicals found in chemical sunscreens include homosalate, avobenzone, oxybenzone, ostelysalate, octocrylene and octinoxate. And these create a physical barrier on the skin to protect it from the sun. But the reason these chemicals raise such a concern is that they're able to cross over into the skin and thus enter our body. Like I mentioned before a lot of these chemicals used in sunscreen are actually endocrine disruptors. So they disrupt our hormones and may interfere with thyroid and other hormone processes in the body. I do talk more about the chemicals used in sunscreen and what to look out for when choosing a good natural sunscreen in my blog post which I'll use in the description below. But some things you want to keep in mind when switching over to a more natural sunscreen is that it is often not as strong as chemical sunscreens. So you want to pair it with things like covering up so wearing long clothing, sticking to the shade rather than lying out in the sun and sun baking. And you want to make sure that you're taking care of your skin. Whenever I use a natural sunscreen when I'm out and about I do tend to try and cover up as much as possible. Wear a hat, wear sunglasses and also stick to the shade. So even if I do go out swimming and use my natural sun butter sunscreen which I bought recently from flora and fauna. I still tend to stick to the shade. I don't tend to lie out right in the sun especially during midday because I'm still very conscious that the sun is very strong at this time in that sunscreen. Even a natural sunscreen may not fully protect my skin as well as the shade and covering up can. So the ingredients we'll be using in our natural sunscreen today are things like sheer butter, which actually has an SPF of between four and six. Coconut oil, which again has an SPF of between four and six as well. Almond oil, which has an SPF of around five. Red raspberry seed oil, which has an SPF of around 25 to 50. Carrot seed oil, which has an SPF of around 35 to 40. And zinc oxide, which has an SPF of around two to 20 depending on how much is used in the sunscreen. So the sun protective ability of the final product will vary depending on how much of each ingredient is used. And again, the ingredients used in this haven't been specifically tested for their SPF. So the sunscreen that we produce at the end of this video, I am actually not sure as to the SPF level. So I always use it in conjunction with covering up, sticking to the shade, wearing sunglasses, wearing a hat and just being mindful when I'm out in the sun. The recipe for this sunscreen will be linked in the description below. If you guys want to refer to it later on, so you don't have to keep watching this video over and over again, but feel free to do so if you like. So to make our homemade natural sunscreen today, you're going to need about half a cup of almond or olive oil. Now, I used both almond and olive oil because I actually didn't have enough almond oil left in my cupboard, so I mixed the both of them together. But again, if you want it to be more of a stronger sunscreen, I guess you want to keep to the almond oil. Then you're going to need a quarter of a cup of coconut oil, a quarter of a cup of beeswax, one teaspoon of red raspberry seed oil. This is optional, one teaspoon of carrot seed oil. This is also optional. I found both the red raspberry seed oil and carrot seed oil on Etsy. I love that site as it actually allows you to help support local small businesses. And I sourced these from Australian manufacturers, and it's just lovely to help support local small businesses. And they were really efficient and sending it out to me as soon as possible and gave me a lovely handwritten note. Plus, it was just lovely to be able to help support these amazing people. Then you need two tablespoons of shea butter. And as another optional ingredient, you can use vanilla extract or essential oils. I use lavender essential oil and my lavender oil that I made earlier last year. Just to give the sunscreen a nice sense, because if you don't use any essential oils, it can smell quite funky. It's just because of the zinc oxide used, I find it leaves an unpleasant odor. And if you're wearing it on your skin for long periods, you can smell it and it's quite strong. So just adding essential oils like lavender just really helps to make it smell really nice. Now, just a note, citrus essential oils can actually increase sun sensitivity. So you want to avoid using them. So again, essential oils like lavender or even using vanilla extract are great because they give a nice fragrance. You want to add all these ingredients into a glass jar, except the zinc oxide. You'll be adding that later on. Now, I used an old glass jar that I got from making kombucha. And I just removed the label by leaving it soaking in hot boiling water for a few minutes until the label became soft and was easy to remove. Now, keep in mind, you don't want to pour the boiling water onto the glass jar in the bowl. This was a mistake. I shouldn't have done this because it can actually cause the jar to break because the hot boiling water hits the jar and it just can cause it to crack and you don't want that. So whenever you're pouring hot water in, just pour it next to the jar, which is what I did after I realized. So you want to make sure don't pour hot water straight onto the jar. Just pour it next to it in the bowl. Then once the label is soft enough, you can just peel it off like I did. And it's ready to go. You can add the ingredients in. Then once the ingredients are in the jar, you pop it in a saucepan filled with two inches of water. Then pop it onto a stove on medium low heat, just to allow the water to slowly heat up. Loosely place a lid on top of the jar and leave it in the saucepan of water to heat up. As the water heats, the ingredients will begin to melt and you want to stir the contents every so often just to allow the ingredients to mix together while they're heating. Once all the ingredients have melted, add in the zinc oxide. You'll need about two tablespoons of zinc oxide for this recipe. Now when you're adding the zinc oxide in, make sure you're wearing a mask and gloves because it's actually toxic and you don't want to breathe that in. Nor do you want to touch it. It's not great to have direct contact of zinc oxide on your skin. You want to mix it in with things before you apply it on. And I also wore glasses just to make sure that none of the zinc oxide dust blew up into my eyes as I was pouring it in because it can cause irritation as well. So as you're pouring it in, just make sure to wear a mask and gloves. And as an optional, you can wear glasses like I did just to protect your eyes. Once the zinc oxide is in, you want to stir it well just to prevent it settling at the bottom of the glass jar. Then once it's stirred in and combined with the other ingredients, you can pour it into whatever jar you'll be using for storage of the sunscreen. So for me, once the sunscreen was finished, I took it off heat and poured it into a tin container that I bought at Flora and Fauna earlier that day when I was picking up my natural sun butter sunscreen as well. I just liked to store mine in a tin container for easy access. And it also looked very aesthetically pleasing. So I really liked using a tin, but you can just use an old glass jar as well. You want to make sure not to pour this sunscreen into a lotion pump because it won't pump well. It will actually get stuck in the pump and just cause all sorts of issues. So don't use a pump for this sunscreen. Just pour it into a jar and use your finger to spread it onto your skin. I added in the essential oils after it had been on the stove because if you add the oils in earlier before you put it on the stove, they can evaporate when heated. So to keep the essential oil fragrance, I added them in after putting it on the stove once I took it off. As it cools, stir the mixture quite a few times to prevent the zinc oxide from separating and settling at the bottom. I use a toothpick to begin with, but then switched over to a metal spoon as I found it mixed much better. But if you do prefer to use a toothpick to save up on washing up later, that is also optional too. While I was waiting for the sunscreen to set, I had Ari inside with me because it was actually storming outside and she doesn't like the storms. So she found her little spot on her bed and just fell right to sleep. Oh, it was so cute. Once it's finished setting, you can store it in a cool, dry place at room temperature. I just keep it in a bag that I always take out with me whenever I go hiking or when I'm at work, just to apply onto my skin. So I have it all ready to go and on hand and it just prevents me from forgetting it if I ever go out in a hurry. Now, just a word of warning, the glass jar that I used was very, very challenging to clean at the end. After using zinc oxide, it's very challenging to remove. So you may want to set aside this one glass jar to use whenever you're making sunscreen, as it will prevent having to wash up as much later on. And also, it's very, very, very, very challenging to get off the glass jar. So you want to set aside certain equipment to use whenever you're making sunscreen, just to save up on washing up and prevent having to throw it away later on because you don't want the zinc oxide to mix with other recipes that you'll be using later on if you do use that same glass jar. Now, when you're applying it onto your skin, just simply rub some onto your fingers and gently massage it into your skin. It does leave an oily residue on your skin, but that's natural. It just helps to keep a protective barrier there over your skin while you're out in the sun. And again, the sunscreen isn't going to be as strong as chemical sunscreen. So it is advised not to use it when out in the middle of the day or if you're going to sunbake because it is not as effective at protecting skin as the chemical sunscreens. So when I use the sunscreen, I just use it if I'm going to be outside for short periods of time or if I'm just going to be out walking or hiking for a short time during the day. I just keep it on my skin as an extra protective layer. Or if I'm going to be sitting in the shade along with wearing long sleeves, a hat and sunnies, I'll put the sunscreen on as well. So the sunscreen's finished. It looks awesome. I did put one into a glass container because I had a little bit left over. So one is in the tin and then one is in just an old glass that I had. And it's finished setting. It took about an hour or so to set at this room temperature, but it looks great. And I just started like trying some on as you do when you finish making sunscreen. I've put it on and it rubs in so well. A few tips to keep in mind is that it's actually not waterproof. So if you do get sweaty or if you go swimming, you do have to reapply on after that because it will wash off and it won't be as effective. Also, another thing to keep in mind is that I'm not entirely sure what the exact SPF is for all these ingredients. It varies depending on what you're using. And also the SPF kind of varies too. So you don't know the exact SPF number if you can't get what I mean. So I'm not entirely sure exactly what the SPF is for this. It's quite sun protective. Like for me, I'll be using this when I go out like for like short periods of time outside. So say I'm going for a walk or I just know I'll be out. I'll still be like wearing hats like covered in proper sun protective clothing and things like that. I'm not going to be like using it to sun bake on the beach sort of thing. Or if I'm going to be out hiking for hours and hours, I'll probably want something stronger. Like this will be something that I use just on the other occasion. Just like put on my face, kind of keep it protected more because I know your face, back of your hands, chest area is more like prone to like damage from the sun. Just the way it hits you and kind of like ages your skin. So it's a good way to sort of keep your skin young and healthy. Wearing sunscreen, natural sunscreen that doesn't have all those chemicals in it, but also kind of a pretty good job at keeping the sun UV like away. But yeah, don't use it as like a normal chemical sunscreen. That's something just just somewhat that's what you want to do. The sunscreen is not like that. It's just a natural sunscreen. So I won't be strong, but it's still pretty effective at keeping the UV very level down on the skin. Yeah, anyway, so that's what I'll be using it for. And another thing you can do is you can actually just use this recipe without the zinc oxide and use it as a lotion. So it's great body lotion as well. If you want to do that, just leave out the zinc oxide and you can use it as a body rub lotion thing as well. So yeah, it's pretty much the end of the video. So that is how you make your own homemade sunscreen. It's all natural, much better for you than those oxy benzone chemical field. Excuse me, sunscreens. If you do want something stronger, actually, I'll show you what I use. I have another sunscreen that I use that's like coral refriendly and I just got today. Actually, you would have seen it earlier a bit. So this is a sunscreen that I use when like sun baking and out in the sun. So it's a more natural sunscreen. It's SPF 50 and it covers UVA and UVB. So this one lasts for hours, but I always just apply it every hour just to be safe, because I always think, you know, especially in the middle of the day, you want to make sure. So this is the one that I use. It's a natural sunscreen as well. And it's actually it's called sun butter, but it's coral refriendly. It doesn't contain palm oil. It's just really, really good. And I find it very effective as much. It's kind of like I would say it's stronger than this one. So I would use this to go sun baking. And that's the one that I kind of take with me when I got today. I actually found it off plastic for a moment because it comes in plastic free containers, which is great. So this is one that I use and it looks pretty similar to. And it has zinc oxide in it as well. You can get a tinted one so that you don't look super wide when you apply it on. But I find it very effective. So I've asked to be out in the sun for long hours. So like hiking for eight hours or sun baking. That's what I would use. But just as a quick thing, like when I'm just going out about riding, not going to be out in the sun for too long, but just want something just to kind of keep my skin protected. That's why I use. So yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed today's video. Thank you so much for watching. If you make it, please let me know if you have another sunscreen recipe that you've tried and it's really worked well. Share with us in the comments. We'd love to try it too. Yeah, thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed today's video and I hope to see you again in future videos. Bye.