It's Summertime! What are you putting on your skin?

http://www.lavera.com/education/ingredient-watch/synthetic-sunscreens
Check out this site! I don't use commercially made anything on my skin or on my children, but this site provides some additional information that I did not know about! When my kids go outside, I just slather them with raw coconut oil (SPF of 10) and make sure they stay hydrated! I did find a site http://frugallysustainable.com/2012/03/a-recipe-for-natural-homemade-sunscreen/ that has a wonderful homemade sunscreen that I can use (and that I AM going to make and use:-) on all of us that will give excellent UVA/UVB protection when we need to be out in the sun for longer periods of time. The sun is not a bad thing! We get our Vitamin D from the sun and we need that desperately! What we don't need is sunburn:-) A poor diet contributes largely in one's sensitivity to burning as well, but that's a whole "nother" story:-) The key is to choose your going out in the sun time carefully, stay very hydrated and use some healthy oils on the skin to protect it from the inside out!

There is just too much stuff in US Cosmetics and body care products that is cancer-causing, endocrine disruptive, and damaging to the nervous system for me to even use it a little bit. Did you know that there are currently 10,500 ingredients used in the US cosmetic industry and only 11% of those have even been tested for safety?!!! YIKES! These toxins are messing with our children, causing them to have health problems and reproductive problems that they should not have!

Does your child have a continuous runny nose, cough, watery eyes, or skin rash? Might want to check your labels on products that you are using! I know that I'm going to be even MORE diligent in checking ingredients of the things that I use. I buy only organic shampoo, but I still read the label very carefully, but I now know the names of more toxic chemicals so I need to go back and read again:-) I have found that RAW COCONUT OIL is pretty much a cure all for anything skin related. We use it for dry skin, bug bites, stings, sunscreen, cuts, and also use it in our hair so we don't have to use highly toxic conditioners that bind to our hair shafts, seeping sulfates into our system on a daily basis.

I am always excited to find more information about what's being used in either food or body products and I think I stumbled upon a good one! This particular company, Lavera, has very good reviews on Skin Deep for their products. So go out there, enjoy the sun, but don't get sunburned!!!