Innocuous Children Sunscreens

On many occasions one does wind up buying one of those numerous sunscreens in the markets for children with their attractive casing and branding, feeling content that we made the right choice. But there are several pointers that one needs to be vigilant about before dabbing on that innocent looking sunblock on.

There have several concerns been raised regarding the chemical component Oxybenzone , the commonly used ingredient in hundreds of sunscreen and other cosmetic products. It assists in ready absorption of the product into the skin. About 97% Americans have been diagnosed with high Oxybenzone levels in their body that has shown to have a strong link to allergic reactions, hormone level imbalance and cell damage.

The skin of infants has a surface area that in comparison to their body weight is much greater than in adults which results in their skin exposure being 1.4 times more than in adults. Also, the child’s body is more responsive to low doses of hormonally active components. In comparison to adults, their bodies are not adept at flushing out toxins, making their organs more susceptible to harm from these chemical exposures.

The UVA rays are known to have a far deeper penetrative effect than UVB. Four components have been approved to protect against UVA rays that include titanium dioxide, avobenzone, mexoryl, Zinc oxide. One needs to keep a watch out for these ingredients when deciding on a sunscreen for your child. A safe bet of close to seven percent of concentration of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide that are proven stable and help ward off the UVA rays for near to two hours.

While avobenzone and mexoryl are in comparison very unbalanced and disintegrate when exposed to sun’s rays. Numerous brands use avobenzone as the sole UVA block which on its own is not effective. Many other brands combine avobenzone with other ingredients to enhance its stability on exposure to sun.

Oxybenzone, a major concern, is found not only in sunblocks but in a range of products like lipsticks, face creams to plastics. It is more damaging when it combines with the sun rays forming free radicals that have a strong link with cell damage.

Parents need to buy a sunblock product with sun protection factor (SPF) OF 30 or above for their children to limit the exposure to UVB rays. One needs to steer clear of powdered or spray versions of sunscreens as their inhalation is potentially harmful. One needs to avoid dual combination sunblocks that have added insect repellents as one would not want to reapply a bug repellent every few hours on a child’s skin.

Also one needs to watch out for ingredients like Triethanolamine and DMDM Hydantoin that are an allergens and irritants that can create cancer forming toxins.

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