Hello there.
Hope you are all ok.
It is now June (can you believe it?) and hopefully, there are long sunny days ahead of us. With lockdown tentatively being eased, though there is some way to go yet, at least we can enjoy the summer sunshine, socially distanced in our parks, gardens and visit near by local beaches for a dip.
Now, every year, to protect our skin from harmful UV rays from the sun and resulting skin cancer, we rightly cover ourselves in sun cream when we are exposed to the sun. This is essential for our health and wellbeing.
Now I only recently found out that some of the chemicals in sun creams have a serious and detrimental effect on coral reefs, by causing bleaching and damage to other marine life.
Harmful chemicals that can be found in sun cream include; Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, Benzophenone-8 and nano-Zinc Oxide, among others you can find here.
The effects of these harmful chemicals are wide spread. From coral bleaching, the decrease of fertility and reproduction in fish, chemical build up in the tissues of dolphins and reduction in photosynthesis in marine algae. Clearly this is not acceptable. Yes we have to look after our skin that is not the issue here. The issue is every time we have a paddle in the sea or when we shower or bathe, these chemicals are entering the waterways.
Now you can imagine my horror when I found out about this. Maybe I am late to the party and others knew about this long before I did, but at least I know now, and you do too.
When I found out about these devastating chemicals, I started to research brands that manufacture sun care, free from these chemicals. That is how I found out about Tropic Skincare.
Tropic Skincare.
Tropic Skincare was founded by Susie Ma, who was greatly influenced by her Grandmother, a medicinal chemist and toxicologist, who instilled an awareness of the importance of natural ingredients. Such ingredients could be found or derived around her home city of Cairns, Australia, where Susie grew up.
Another good fact about Tropic Skincare is that they stand with the Vegan Society and Cruelty Free International and PETA and they are 100% cruelty free. So no animals at all are harmed in the process of making the sun cream or once it has been washed away into our waterways.
I contacted Tropic Skincare to ask about how their sun cream is not harmful to the oceans; here is their response:
‘Our whole sun care range is land and sea certified. This certification means that every product in the entire Tropic sun care range has been laboratory-tested using analytical-forensic techniques to verify that they are entirely free of the chemicals on the HEL LIST.
The HEL LIST is a list of chemicals, developed by Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, that are known pollutants in many different environments (freshwater, streams, rivers, beaches and ocean systems) or to wildlife (corals, fish, birds, marine mammals, sea turtles etc.) All of them pose a threat to ecosystem health.
When you see the Protect Land and Sea logo, it means that a product doesn’t contain any of these ingredients that have the potential to be harmful pollutants. It’s a standard led by one of the leading researchers on this topic, whose standards are updated every two years, to incorporate the latest research.
Being Land and Sea Certified means that a user can rest assured that when they use any product from the Tropic sun care range, whether they wear it in the sea or wash it off in the shower, no harmful damage will be done to the environment as a result.
Tropic is the first company in the UK and Europe to receive this certification, proving how cutting edge our new sun care range really is.’
Response kindly received from Tropic Skincare
So if, like me, you are looking for environmentally friendly sun care, look no further than Tropic Skincare.
They offer a wide range of sun care products from sun cream for the body and a lighter facial sun cream, as well as a sun stick; a balm offering SPF 50 protection to top up areas throughout the day AND a tinted cream.
The range starts from £10.
Please consider changing your usual sun care brand, to one that is environmentally friendly, it is something so easy and simple to do, but it will make a huge difference to our marine ecosystems.
See you soon.
Charlotte
xoxo
fox-glove-and-bee.com 