Natural Sunscreen
I don’t want to slather on chemicals to prevent sunburn. I take precautions and wear a hat and try to stay out of the sun during that hottest time of day from 10-2. When we lived in Hawaii, the sun hardly bothered us at all. When we moved to a much higher altitude, we would get burned playing in the back yard in April. There are times when the sun gets me unaware. I certainly want to keep my kids’ skin healthy. Too many of my friends are going to the doctors for skin cancer–and these aren’t necessarily the ones who laid out on their rooftops, sunbathing with baby oil on either!
For all occasions, I have a couple of different recipes. One is just oil and essential oils and one is much more protective, with more ingredients.
Homemade Natural Sunscreen
This first recipe is a super simple oil with only two ingredients. This recipe really needs a pump bottle since it’s too thick to spray. Use a pump bottle or spray bottle –
- 1/2 cup olive oil or V-6 Carrier Oil Blend
- Essential oils (lavender – 20 drops, myrrh – 5 drops, carrot seed – 5 drops, helichrysum – 3 drops)
This recipe is for a great nourishing lotion with more protection. It’s more complicated, but oh, so worth it! Melt the oils and beeswax (except vitamin E and essential oils) over medium heat in a mason jar in a pot of water or double boiler, stirring with a wooden spoon –
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (natural SPF of 4)
- 1/4 cup beeswax (Try to get some locally!)
- 2 Tablespoons non-nano zinc oxide (natural SPF of 20+)
- 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil (I love this stuff!)
- 2 Tablespoons shea butter (natural SPF of 4-5)
- 40-50 drops of essential oils (lavender, helichrysum, myrrh, Roman chamomile, carrot seed)
Let the oil mixture cool to almost room temperature, but not yet solidified, and add the vitamin E oil and essential oils. After an hour or so, it will solidify to a nice creamy lotion. It’s at least 30 SPF with the essential oils and all those natural ingredients! Why must we add chemicals that harm us?
Make sure to mix and store in glass containers. If you do get burned, mixing a few drops of lavender oil with water and spraying that on your skin is helpful. These smell so much better than the chemical sun sprays and lotions on the market. I know the ingredients are safe, even nourishing for our skin, instead of being harsh. Have you tried to read the back of a bottle of sunscreen?! I love teaching my kids to be better stewards of their bodies and to care for their skin. Skin is the first line of defense, and if we don’t take care of it, it won’t be the good barrier it should be to keep disease out of our bodies. Protect your family’s skin well with homemade natural sunscreen.
I have never tried my hand at making my own sunscreen. This looks like an excellent recipe – will have to try!
We used it all summer and it worked great and smells great. No acne or rashes.
Does this go on smooth or does it leave a white or gritty residue because of the zinc oxide? Also, is there a reason you chose THAT particular variety of essential oils? Do they EACH contribute to the SPF, or did you choose some to create the right aroma? If I were to use just the carrot seed oil and Lavender, do you think that would be sufficient? (If possible I would avoid purchasing the helichrysum and myrrh for the time being, but of course would invest in the long term to come up with something natural and healthy that really works!). I was wondering if you thought a recipe without the zinc oxide would also have some SPF benefit, from those naturally occurring in the carrot seed oil, coconut oil, etc.??? Thanks for your input!
I’d like to try this recipe 🙂
When you say 40-50 drops of essential oils, do you mean 40-50 of each or in total?
Zoey, it means 40-50 drops total. You can choose with of the listed EOs you want to use and in what amounts until you’ve used 40-50 drops all together.
I was just wondering if I choose not to add the essential oils does the sunscreen have the same spf?
I am allergic to any strong smells and I would rather not add any essential oils but my son is very fair skinned and I want him to have the lost protection possible.
Thanks!
No, the sunscreen won’t have the same SPF if you leave out the essential oils. The mixture will still provide sun protection, but the essential oils do give added protection and a higher SPF rating.
Why glass containers? None of those ingredients are acidic?
EO are very powerful and can corrode and/or pull harmful chemicals out of plastic. Glass or aluminum containers are safe.