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 Please check out your sunscreen!
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MissLiss
Farmgirl Legend Schoolmarm

322 Posts

Melissa
Corona CA
USA
322 Posts

Posted - May 26 2010 :  5:32:53 PM  Show Profile
I just read an article about a study that found that a large number of big brand sunscreens have been found to actually CAUSE skin cancer! The very thing they are supposed to protect you from! Please check out the Environmental Working Group's website at http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/ to learn about the study and get a list of the products they deem safe.

Melissa ~ Farmgirl #724
Mother Hen to The Knitty Gritty Farmgirls of the Inland Empire

texdane
Farmgirl Legend Chapter Leader Chapter Guru

4658 Posts

Nicole
Sandy Hook CT
USA
4658 Posts

Posted - May 26 2010 :  5:56:42 PM  Show Profile
Thanks for the website. I love that. It's scary what companies put in their products.

Nicole

Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE
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clothedinscarlet
True Blue Farmgirl

1333 Posts

Siobhan
Battle Creek MI
USA
1333 Posts

Posted - May 26 2010 :  7:54:03 PM  Show Profile
Thanks for the link Melissa! I was just looking at sunscreens tonight at Target and wondering what I should get for the kids. This was what I needed. Now I know what to get.

Farmgirl Sister #1110
Siobhan - AKA Liza-Jane (my farmgirl name), wife to my best friend, Trent, and mommy to Camden (11/28/05) and Bennett (7/11/07). and Truman (7/28/09)
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craftystranger
True Blue Farmgirl

525 Posts

Barbara
Franklin NC
USA
525 Posts

Posted - May 27 2010 :  12:14:58 PM  Show Profile
Thanks, I heard about this on the radio this morning. Going back to large hats, and shade trees for me! Barbara

Don't forget to laugh!
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DvilleMama
True Blue Farmgirl

159 Posts

Lyn
Small Town MI
USA
159 Posts

Posted - Jun 05 2010 :  2:26:49 PM  Show Profile
Thanks for sharing, Melissa. It's sad that our own government allows these secrecy laws for companies to not be required to list all ingredients/chemicals on their labels. They say it's so competitors don't steal their recipes. I think it's because if consumers knew what is in the store bought stuff, we'd stop shopping @ stores and companies would start going out of business. I've often wondered if there is a home remedy for sunblock...other than Barbara's big hats & shade trees...although, add a pitcher of cold lemonade and a good book & it sounds like a perfect day, Barbara! :)
P.S. I just discovered that when you visit the site, after you click onto "find your sunscreen", click onto the "Overall Score" in the blue heading & it will sort the sunscreens in order, starting with the 1's/the green scored ones. Saves on going through all of them to find the better ones.

Lyn
Rural Mid-Michigan
Farmgirl Sister #1574

Edited by - DvilleMama on Jun 05 2010 2:42:33 PM
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shabby-mama
Farmgirl in Training

45 Posts

Nicola
Fowlerville Mi
USA
45 Posts

Posted - Jun 05 2010 :  4:09:26 PM  Show Profile
Hi Ladies,
I thought I would jump in on this conversation. I researched suncreen years ago and decided NOT to use them on my children. I use organic coconut oil on them as sunscreen. I also make sure they aren't in the sun too much. They spend HOURS in the pool and outside, but they barely ever have their shoulders out. One daughter has olive skin and doesn't burn as easily, but the other 4 kids have more light skin.
They have NEVER been burnt under my care. HOWEVER! It is a subject that has come up many times with friends and other mothers who just think I am crazy. I nicely plant a seed about the dangers of sunscreen but then they have to make up their own minds. I don't put any one down, yet I have been treated pretty cruel by some. So the only time that my daughter was burned was at a friends house. I was tag teamed by her and her friend about letting them apply sunblock to my kids. I left her there for a couple of hours and said the kids MUST wear t shirts etc. I don't know if she was trying to prove a point, but I came back to a sunburn on my fair skinned child. She had told her NOT to wear a t shirt in the pool. I was VERY upset.
So my point is that you have to be sensible about the sun. Hats, not too much sun on bare skin, etc.
BTW, I thought that coconut oil would cook them but it doesn't. I learned that they use this in tropical countries where they have lots of hot sunny days.
It is very sad that companies would knowingly harm us and our children. :(
Nicola
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DvilleMama
True Blue Farmgirl

159 Posts

Lyn
Small Town MI
USA
159 Posts

Posted - Jun 05 2010 :  4:31:16 PM  Show Profile
Interesting! I eat coconut oil everyday. I've even thought about using it as a tanning oil, simply because it smells so good! But really? I'm game to try anything once. I'm trying this one! We're all olive skinned. Do you heat it a bit first for easier application?

Lyn
Rural Mid-Michigan
Farmgirl Sister #1574
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shabby-mama
Farmgirl in Training

45 Posts

Nicola
Fowlerville Mi
USA
45 Posts

Posted - Jun 05 2010 :  6:15:47 PM  Show Profile
Hi Lyn,
I usually keep it in a glass jam jar. It has a really low melting point, so if it is warm enough to need it, it should be very soft or even liquid. It can get a little greasy, so I only put it on the exposed areas and don't overdo it. I even put it on my super dry hair, but have to be careful not to make my hair look greasy :)
One caution would be to NOT leave it in the sun. My Grandad did that with tanning oil on his honeymoon to his second wife. They were on the beach, with the bottle in the sun. She asked him to apply it to her back and he literaly cooked her. She was burned pretty bad. So since we use it for cooking, I would imagine it could overheat too.
My husband has burned a few times. He has white skin and would have reddish/blonde hair if he wasn't bald, haha. But he doesn't bother covering up or applying oil sometimes. Lavender oil and aloe vera oil are very good healers for sunburn ( or any burn, really).
Let me know if you have any questions,
Nicola
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vegetarian farmer
True Blue Farmgirl

249 Posts

Jane
Freedom pa
USA
249 Posts

Posted - Jun 06 2010 :  05:57:02 AM  Show Profile
As someone who has skin cancer in their family (and very light skinned) I have researched this quite a bit. I agree that suncreens are no good. Plus think about all the chemicals people put on their bodies in a day. Soap with sodium Laueth Sulfate (know carcinogen), shampoo(with parabens-hormone disruptors), moisterizer, makeup, perfume -all made with toxic ingrediants. They eat diets with no fruits or veg that have anti-oxidents that repair skin damage.But no one says maybe that had something to do with it, just buy more chemical laden products. Humans have been in the sun for thousands of years. Skin cancer is new. We need to be in the sun to get vitamin D. I refuse to slather on more chemicals and hide like a mole. Like Nicola said there are natural solutions.
Jane

http://hardworkhomestead.blogspot.com/
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shunger
True Blue Farmgirl

224 Posts

Suzanne
Helena MT
USA
224 Posts

Posted - Jun 07 2010 :  06:27:51 AM  Show Profile
Thank you for the ewg.org website. It's information agreed with my dermatologist's suggestions for the ingredients in sunblock. I'm throwing out the stuff I have and going to buy new. I burn like crazy, so it's a necessity. Suzanne, gardening fool and loving it
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justbe
Farmgirl in Training

48 Posts

Kris
Garland Texas
USA
48 Posts

Posted - Jun 15 2010 :  06:39:40 AM  Show Profile
I just had this conversation with a good friend who uses olive oil as her natural sun screen. It's not greasy like I thought it would be and she never burns she just turns a golden color.

I hear ya Jane!!!

Kris

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
- J. R. R. Tolkien
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MissLiss
Farmgirl Legend Schoolmarm

322 Posts

Melissa
Corona CA
USA
322 Posts

Posted - Jun 26 2010 :  10:23:52 PM  Show Profile
All good information ladies! My family has a history of skin cancer as well and my father is right now healing from his latest bout with it...and missing half his nose to boot. He has always been religious about putting on sunscreen, wearing hats and covering up...but he was a cop for 20 years and that was back in the day before anyone really cared about sunscreen. Now it's catching up to him and we are seeing what will happen to us and our kids if we don't take care of our skin. I am pretty olive toned, but my husband and daughter are very light (Irish) and burn easily. Though my husband practically refuses to wear the stuff, I have been slathering it on my daughter since she was old enough to use it. Along with hats, sunglasses and those UV protectant swim shirts, I thought I was doing a great job - no burns! But as soon as I heard about this sunscreen/skin cancer link, I literally threw out $40 worth of sunscreen (I told you, I used it a lot! We had bottles everywhere!) and went right to the store. The "safe" stuff is a LOT more expensive, but it's an investment into my child's future. I just can't put that other stuff on her knowing that I could be contributing to her getting cancer down the road.

Melissa ~ Farmgirl #724
Mother Hen to The Knitty Gritty Farmgirls of the Inland Empire
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Leilaht
True Blue Farmgirl

155 Posts

Elizabeth
Highland MI
USA
155 Posts

Posted - Jul 25 2010 :  09:32:32 AM  Show Profile
I have heard some people stopped getting sunburnt after they quit eating hydrogenated oils. If you eat any processed foods at all you are getting hydrogenated oils. They are all transfats that have the same chemical formula as plastic. Your body can't absorb them so they sit there and cook you when you are out in the sun. I have been trying to avoid processed foods and have only been burnt once this summer after being outside for hours.

Liz

Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Proverbs 31:25
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corrabelle
True Blue Farmgirl

71 Posts

Corrabelle
Hamilton, Morrowville ontario, Kansas
71 Posts

Posted - Aug 24 2010 :  08:38:09 AM  Show Profile
I won't touch the stuff with a ten-foot pole! The only sunscreen I used is completely natural (burts bees etc.)

Corrabelle
http://themayberrysparrow.com
A Kansas gal living in Ontario. Sigh.

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