When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, what you put ON your body is just as important as what you put IN your body. In the same way that we digest the foods we intake, our skin absorbs the products we apply to it (up to 60% of it!).
If you have sensitive skin, certain ingredients found in chemical sunscreens can irritate your skin, and cause painful allergic reactions. It was one mother’s quest to avoid such allergic reactions on her daughter’s sensitive skin that inspired the Goddess Garden natural sunscreen product line. We asked our sponsor to share some information about their product line, and to identify which ingredients we should be watching out for when buying sunscreen this summer.
What is in Goddess Garden Sunscreen? Goddess Garden Organics prides themselves on their dedication to
producing an organic, chemical-free sunscreen product line. The
sunscreens are made to protect from the sun while nourishing sensitive
skin, with natural ingredients
such as zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, aloe, coconut oil, and lavender.
Even the most health and environmentally conscious consumers can feel
satisfied: Goddess Garden products are free of gluten and wheat-derived
ingredients, are vegan, cruelty free, and reef safe.
Why Does Goddess Garden Care?
Ten years ago, Nova Covington founded Goddess Garden for her infant daughter because she was allergic to conventional body care products. She created Goddess Garden with the simple idea that she could produce
safe, natural body care products for her family. Now, Goddess Garden has
grown into something much larger, but their ideals have not changed.
We often see the ingredients octinoxate and oxybenzone in conventional sunscreens. Are these ingredients safe? There are long-term health risks associated with numerous ingredients found in conventional chemical sunscreens; the most common ones to watch out for are the hormone-disrupting and coral bleaching chemicals called oxybenzone and octinoxate.
Oxybenzone and octinoxate are used widely in the sun protection industry for their considerable UVA and UVB protection. Humans are systemically exposed to the compounds which are readily absorbed into the skin; traces of the chemicals have been detected in human urine, blood, and breast milk. With high rates of skin allergies and their effects on hormone production, oxybenzone and octinoxate are considered some of the most toxic common sunscreen ingredients.
Read more about dangerous ingredients in cosmetic products
Are natural sunscreens as effective as chemical sunscreens (natural sunscreens don’t contain harmful chemicals, so how do they work)? While chemical sunscreens absorb ultraviolet (UV) rays into your skin, the mineral ingredients in Goddess Garden’s natural sunscreen, namely zinc and titanium, act as physical barriers and bounce the sun’s rays off your skin like a mirror. This method of sun protection has an added benefit of being effective immediately; so you don’t have to wait for any chemicals to be absorbed before becoming effective.
Are your products certified organic and Non-GMO?
Yes. When shopping for most natural products, informed consumers will often look for “certified organic” and “Non-GMO Project Verified” official seals on packaging. Products cannot legally display those seals without following strict standards set forth by the third-party standards. All of Goddess Garden’s sunscreens are QAI certified organic, which is the organic certifier for body care products (as opposed to the USDA certification, which certifies crops and livestock). It is important to know that any ALL certified organic products, whether QAI or USDA, are non-GMO. It doesn’t necessarily work vice versa–not all non-GMO products are certified organic.
Because Goddess Garden’s sunscreens are all certified organic, they are all non-GMO as well!
Read more about natural skin care ingredients
What is Goddess Garden's commitment to the environment?
Not only does Goddess Garden care about what is put on your skin, we are also are passionate about limiting our carbon footprint. We have gone the extra mile and created innovative recyclable packaging found nowhere else in the sunscreen market. Our continuous spray bottles are made from aluminum inside and out, rather than the industry-standard tin and mylar construction, and our lotion bottles are made from a special process that allows the label, cap, and tube to be thrown in the recycling bin.
You can find out more about Goddess Garden on their webpage at GoddessGarden.com.
