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Join us for a #RunSafeSunSafe Giveaway with our friends at Bu Sunscreen! Winners will receive a Zensah Fluid Art Running Hat, A Bundle of Bu's best spray sunscreens (2 versions!), and 1 pair of Zensah Compression Arm Sleeves!
Enter at the link below or in our flyout pop up! Closed the pop up? Just refresh this page and input your email!
Giveaway ends on Monday July 18th.
Don't believe everything you hear. There are lots of myths about sun safety and we're here to shed some (sun)light on some things you may not know about sun exposure, sunscreen, and the branding of sun products! Read on to see what you should know about sunscreen and sun safety and thanks to our friends at Bu Sunscreen for helping us be more informed and sun safe!
Fact: Skin Cancer Foundation President Dr. Deborah S. Sarnoff acknowledges that melanoma diagnoses in children are quite rare (accounting for only 1% of all cancers in children from birth to age 14, and 4% of all cancers in adolescents from age 15to age 19), it can and does occur, making sun protection and vigilance iscrucial at any age. “A family history of the disease or the presence of certaingenes can increase a person’s risk for developing the disease at a young age,” she says, noting that genetic factors are the most common cause of the uncommon occurrence.
The other? Tanning culture. “I do see young women presenting with all kinds of skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which are usually caused by unprotected UV exposure,” says Sarnoff. “I’m seeing these pop up in even younger girls now than in years past. There is a culture of sun worship among many adolescent girls, which leads to dangerous amounts of exposure to UV rays.
Fact: Every sunscreen company has a limited number of Active ingredients to work with, so many should be the same but they all have their own formulations and many do not use as much active ingredients as they should to keep the costs and retail price low. The problem is that the consumer thinks they are getting an SPF 50 (98% UV protection) when they are only getting an SPF 15 or 20 or ? (93% - 96% protection).
The type of clothing and material matters when it comes to sun protection. Darker and brighter colors absorb more UV radiation, and therefore provide more sun protection than white or light colors. Fabrics with tighter weaves offer more protection than thin, lightweight fabrics with loose weaves. A white T-shirt, for example, doesn’t offer much sun protection at all and when it’s wet, it offers less than an SPF 8.
Check out Zensah's Compression Arm Sleeves, which offer UV protection and comfortable, light compression!
When your skin is exposed to sunlight, it begins to make vitamin D. The sun’s UVB rays interact with a protein in the skin, converting it to vitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D. Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body—nutrients needed to keep your bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
Even if you apply sunscreen well and frequently, it still allows 2 to 3 % of the sun’s UVB to reach your skin, and your body only requires a small amount to produce vitamin D. “Studies have never found that everyday sunscreen use leads to vitamin D insufficiency,” an article published by the Skin Cancer Foundation states.
Many scientists and dermatologists suggest that just 5 to 30 minutes of sun exposure per day can create the proper amount of vitamin D in the body.
There is no Regulatory Body in the USA (FDA, EPA) or globally that has a “Reef Safe” monograph, designation or mandate. As such, “reef safe, reef friendly” marketing doesn't have a definitive standard to adhere to.
Most recently, a class action suit has been filed against a sunscreen company for claiming “reef safe” while using chemical ingredients, other than Oxybenzone and Octinoxate. Oxybenzone and octinoxate are the first two ingredients to be officially banned in places like Hawaii, Florida, the US Virgin Islands, and Australia still debating it, because studies show they damage reefs, even at incredibly low concentrations, and many more ingredients could follow based on new findings.
Unfortunately there is no solid science letting us know that certain products are actually “reef safe” or better for the reef. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US agency tasked with the protection of some marine species (among many other important ocean-related environmental cuases) has added eight other chemicals, including two mineral ones, to its list of ingredients that can harm marine life.
This isn't to say that reef safety isn't a concern (alongside sun safety), however we challenge the customer to think critically about the marketing of products and how this marketing could actually be greenwashing.