Reef Safe Sunscreen 101

Coral reefs are disappearing faster than the Amazon and 50% of our reefs in Hawai’i are gone forever. Help us save our reefs 🌎

Is chemical sunscreen really that bad?

Yes, a single drop in 6.5 Olympic sized swimming pools is enough to ensure coral cannot regenerate. Not to mention the ramifications to the human body – penetrating so deeply it can be found in your blood stream and spike your estrogen levels.

But what if I’m not going to the beach?

When you shower, the waste water is cleaned of debris and cycled back into our oceans. While certain items are removed, we do not cleanse waste water of the reef harming chemicals. Remember what we said about a single drop causing havoc...😫

What about spray sunscreen?

Spray sunscreen is the absolute worst. Not only does it include the reef toxic chemicals, but the spraying action causes less sunscreen actually makes it to the person as a large portion goes directly onto the sand and into the ocean. This is why when someone uses spray sunscreen you can smell it so intensely even if you’re far away. It’s both wasteful and harmful.

How can I tell if a sunscreen is reef safe?

Flip your bottle and make sure the active ingredient is either Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide or a combination of the two. If you see any other active ingredient on that list, find another sunscreen. Larger companies take advantage of loopholes and label their products ‘Reef Safe’ when they actually are not.

Is chemical sunscreen really the reason our reefs are gone?

Global warming and rising ocean temperatures are the main causes of reef death. When ocean temperatures change even by 1 degree, coral (a living object!) gets stressed and sheds the phytoplankton it needs to breathe. What most people don’t know is that coral can actually regenerate after such events – mineral sunscreen prevent that from happening.

Have more questions? Slide into our DMs we could go for hours 😉