Sunscreen Worse Than Sunburn?

I was doing some research online and came across an article about natural homemade sunscreen. If you keep up to date with my blog, you should know that I'm a HUGE fan of homemade recipes. I thought I should share this miraculous discovery with you guys because this is really something that can take years off of your skin, prevent harmful effects of sunscreen, and also give you another reason to not put chemicals on your skin.

First of all, I'd like to point out some dangerous effects of using store bought sunscreen that I didn't even know of until today. I've done some research on this and it was mind-blowing to me. You hear all this talk of "You'll DIE if you don't use sunscreen, blah blah blah." But did we even consider the harmful effects that sunscreen has? I agree that we should not get TOO much sun, but should we really push the limits this far and become modern day vampires suffocated with chemicals?
Most sunscreens contain the chemical oxybenzone, which penetrates into the skin and has been linked to causing low birth weights when used by pregnant woman. Along with this chemical, sunscreen companies use nano particles to make sunscreen less chalky, and if inhaled can cause horrible consequences. One of these nano particles is titanium dioxide, which is a carcinogen found among many spray-on sunscreens. These spray on sunscreens make it even easier to inhale these nanoparticles and allow it to enter your bloodstream because your lungs cannot properly filter out nano particles. Oh, and did I mention that there have been cases where people have used spray on sunscreen and have received pleasant third degree burns? Yeah, not appealing.
In addition to the chemicals that it contains, sunscreen use drops your vitamin D intake DRAMATICALLY. Especially if you don't get enough vitamin D through your diet.

Now back to the homemade recipe. Hopefully after reading this article, you'll consider taking store-bought sunscreen out of your daily skin care and switch to a more natural alternative.

Ingredients
- Shea Butter (Provides 5 SPF)
- Two tablespoons Zinc oxide (not in nanoparticle form) or 1/4 cup of diaper rash cream which contains zinc oxide. (Provides around 20 SPF)
- 1/4 cup beeswax
- 1/4 cup almond oil
- Two tablespoons coconut oil
- Two tablespoons aloe vera gel

Instructions
1. Mix all of the ingredients together into a glass bowl or measuring cup.
2. Place the glass bowl into a pot with enough water in it to cover 5cm or so of the bottom of the glass bowl.
3. Bring the water to a boil and allow the ingredients to melt together, stirring occasionally.
4. Turn off the heat, wait for the mixture to cool down, and voila! You have your natural homemade sunscreen to use at will.

Overall, this natural homemade sunscreen provides 20-30 SPF. Enjoy!