Best Zinc Oxide Sunscreen?

Blossom

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CellularIconoclast said:
Dan Wich said:
To clarify since Butterbean has multiple products, the "Butterbean Original" looks like the best one to me.

Any idea how much apricot kernel oil is in there? It's about 23% linoleic acid (http://www.essentialoils.co.za/apricot-kernel-analysis.htm).
Good catch! I totally missed that ingredient. I hope no one minds but I went ahead and emailed butterbean because I was thinking about purchasing their product soon (tomorrow). I'll post their reply when I get one. It's probably still going to be one of the best store bought options if I had to guess.
 

Dan W

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If they use a similar recipe to Scratch Mommy brand (and assuming I did the math right!), there's about 1.87g of LA per ounce of sunscreen, which doesn't seem bad.
 

Blossom

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Dan Wich said:
If they use a similar recipe to Scratch Mommy brand (and assuming I did the math right!), there's about 1.87g of LA per ounce of sunscreen, which doesn't seem bad.
Oh thank you! I appreciate it. :D I'm planning a weekend in the sun.
 

Dan W

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Hopefully I'm not totally off-base on them using a similar formulation.

It looks like Jess of the Scratch Mommy recipe mentions jojoba oil being an option in place of the apricot oil for people making it themselves. If someone wants to make it that way and sell it, I'd love to feature your product :D
 

Blossom

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Dan Wich said:
Hopefully I'm not totally off-base on them using a similar formulation.

It looks like Jess of the Scratch Mommy recipe mentions jojoba oil being an option in place of the apricot oil for people making it themselves. If someone wants to make it that way and sell it, I'd love to feature your product :D
I got an email from butterbean and they said their product was less than 10% apricot kernel oil and that they had made a batch free of apricot kernel oil for someone who was allergic! I replied that I'd be interested in purchasing some from that batch if it's still available and I'm awaiting a reply. Maybe if there are enough of us interested butterbean would consider making a formula without the apricot kernel oil. If not I might try to make it myself. I have jojoba and the other ingredients and would just need to get the zinc.
 
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I'd be very interested in a group buy if they're willing to do an extra batch. I looked at those links on making it yourself and I just don't have time.

Is there a particular reason why coconut oil only doesn't really work? Jojoba sounds like an improvement (mostly MUFA instead of PUFA) but I wonder if it's possible to make a usable product using coconut and cocoa oils only.
 

Blossom

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CellularIconoclast said:
I'd be very interested in a group buy if they're willing to do an extra batch. I looked at those links on making it yourself and I just don't have time.

Is there a particular reason why coconut oil only doesn't really work? Jojoba sounds like an improvement (mostly MUFA instead of PUFA) but I wonder if it's possible to make a usable product using coconut and cocoa oils only.
I'm might try to experiment with the cocoa butter because I have some pure cocoa butter on hand from when I used to make handmade body care products. The only thing off the top of my head that I can foresee being an issue is that the cocoa butter is pretty much solid at room temperature so having a bit of jojoba oil would thin it out for easier application. Some people probably wouldn't want to smell like chocolate either! I used to put cocoa butter in lip balm and it worked well. Thanks for reminding me about the cocoa butter!
 

honeybee

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I actually made and used the recipe from Scratchmama last week. It was easy to make and use. I used it every day on vaca in Florida on the beach, in the pool, etc...It worked really well. I did NOT get burned-I got a little red (aspirin dissovled in aloe applied to the red allevitaed any issues). So definitely recommend re-applying frequently if you are in the water (which I was). The only thing I would do differently when making this is to increase the amount of zinc oxide to create more SPF factor. Otherwise, I was really happy with it. :D
 

Blossom

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honeybee said:
I actually made and used the recipe from Scratchmama last week. It was easy to make and use. I used it every day on vaca in Florida on the beach, in the pool, etc...It worked really well. I did NOT get burned-I got a little red (aspirin dissovled in aloe applied to the red allevitaed any issues). So definitely recommend re-applying frequently if you are in the water (which I was). The only thing I would do differently when making this is to increase the amount of zinc oxide to create more SPF factor. Otherwise, I was really happy with it. :D
Did you make it with jojoba? I was also wondering where you purchased the zinc oxide? Thanks honeybee!
 

Blossom

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I haven't heard back from the person at butterbean yet about the sunscreen without apricot kernel oil. I promise to post if it is available as soon as I get a response. Meanwhile I'm going to work on getting some zinc oxide and make my own like honeybee did.
 

Blossom

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Summer at http://www.butterbeansunscreen.com replied to my inquiry about making a special batch of sunscreen without apricot kernel oil. In her response she stated that she would be glad to make a special batch and to let her know how many I would like and she would email me a PayPal invoice. She said I could also order the original sunscreen on the website and put a note in the comments section reminding her to leave out the apricot kernel oil. I'm going to go ahead and place an order and see how it goes. I'll email DanWich and see if he would like to work his magic with the nice folks at butterbean and maybe if he is able to feature their product they might consider having the 'apricot kernel oil free' version as a regular product.
 

honeybee

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Blossom- I did usejojoba oil. I also used MCT oil instead of coconut because that is what I had on hand. I purchased the zinc powder from amazon 1lb Nature's Oil 100% Pure Zinc Oxide
make sure that you purchase NON-nano zinc. Somtimes its not obvious if the zinc is nano or not from the product label.
Also, when you make the sunscreen-make sure you wash your dishes and utensils immediatly. The lotion is almost impossible to remove from plastic (I ruined a spatula had to throw it out) and difficult to remove from the glass dish that I used. It was easier to remove from the metal sick blender that I used but i had to soak everything in hot water for awhile-and it ruined my cleaning sponge and a towel.
 

mt_dreams

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How much of the zinc oxide do I put in the mix? For ex, if I were to make enough for 5 whole body applications, how much zinc would I need to put in?
I'm sure I will test out the best amount for myself, I just wanted to know a baseline amount to start off with. I'm not worried about actual spf conversions or the such, I just don't want to overdose the sunscreen and waste the zinc, as I don't have much of it.
 

Blossom

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mt_dreams said:
How much of the zinc oxide do I put in the mix? For ex, if I were to make enough for 5 whole body applications, how much zinc would I need to put in?
I'm sure I will test out the best amount for myself, I just wanted to know a baseline amount to start off with. I'm not worried about actual spf conversions or the such, I just don't want to overdose the sunscreen and waste the zinc, as I don't have much of it.
The recipe is on www.scratchmommy.com. You could get an idea from looking at that recipe and reducing the ingredients proportionally. That's just an idea.
 

honeybee

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Her recipe makes 8 oz I think. If you were looking for 5 applications full body then I would halve that recipe.
 

Blossom

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I received my sunscreen order from Butterbean this weekend! Thanks Dan for the recommendation.
 

livesimply

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I realize this thread has been inactive for years, but here it goes!

What do you think of this sunscreen: https://myskinsfriend.com/products/organic-sunscreen-spf30
Ingredients:
Active ingredients: Non-nano Zinc oxide 20%
Inactive Sunscreen Ingredients: Anti-oxidant broth (a rich broth extraction from organic purple sweet potatoes and Ceylon cinnamon), organic Aloe Vera Juice from hand-filleted organic aloe vera, fresh energized spring water, organic beeswax, JoJoba oil, grapeseed oil, NON-GMO lecithin, xanthan gum.

I've used it and it does not go on heavy, disappears pretty quickly into the skin, and actually feels moisturizing. I'm waiting to hear back from the company about what percentage of grapeseed oil actually makes up the product.
 
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