New regulations. Which products are safest? Get ready for summer with our Hawaii sunscreen safety info.
113 thoughts on “Hawaii Sunscreen Safety Updates + Products You Picked”
Comments are closed.
New regulations. Which products are safest? Get ready for summer with our Hawaii sunscreen safety info.
Comments are closed.
I like that there is now a ban on damaging sunscreens but how will it be enforced? Are they going to search your luggage at the airport? Obtain a search warrant to enter your premises to make sure you are in compliance? Force you to empty your bag on the beach? I put sunscreen on in my room before I ever go out so how will anyone know what I am using? Or is this just that there will be no sales of damaging sunscreens in the state? Just curious.
I use kokua sun care. Its Hawaiian natural zinc reef safe sunscreen. Ut also has 7 hawaiian grown antioxidant ingredients. I love it and support local hawaii products!
I totally agree with Frank, spray sunscreens are useless, most of it goes anywhere else but your body, and I for one am getting tired of being hit by stray spray.
I’m very sad to find coral-bleaching sunscreens on the shelves in Hawaii.
The ban on certain sunscreens is a god thing not only for the environment but for yourself as well. My suggestion is to skip packing your sunscreen (unless it’s a Rx) and just purchase a small amount in Hawaii (we’ve done this for over 20 years). Plenty of places to purchase I.e. ABC stores, Foodland , various drug stores, etc, etc!
During one of our return trips to the Big Island, we wondered what was the big fuss at the Farmer’s Market and a sunscreen display with old regular sunscreens containers and stats next to them about damage being caused to reefs overall. The company showing this display was Little Hands, a Hawaii owned and made mineral sun protection product. If you traded your existing sunscreen they’d give you a discount to try their sunscreen. We tried it and it was amazing. They have face stick, a body/face sunscreen and an after sun salve. Their website is littlehandshawaii.com they also sell it at some stores. Great sunscreen and it’s ocean, reef and keiki safe. We love it and hope you give it a try and like it too.
Thank you as well for sharing alternatives and options to choose from.
Hi Julieta.
Thanks for sharing that! We hadn’t heard of it before.
Aloha.
We use very little sunscreen any more because we just cover up. Columbia and Izod make shirts that have a 40-50 UPF so if we wear those when out sightseeing or snorkeling nothing else is needed. Columbia also makes other clothing with the same UPF
I have been using mineral based sunscreens for well over 10 years now after I found out that the EU, and Australia banned oxybenzone because of it’s cancer causing affect. Mexican Park authorities also banned the use of oxybenzone based sunscreens it’s it State and National where water activities took place.10 years later only Hawaii has the sense to do the same. Note almost all major sunscreen producers in the US have EU formulae’s ready to make.
This is the website that I have found that tests and ranks sunscreens for safety and effectiveness for a long time. It is the Environmental Working Group. http://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/
Well worth checking out. It will be updated for 2021 shortly.
GENE… Yes, Blue Lizard Face does go on white! But it absorbs very very quickly so if it had the opportunity to make you look “kabuki”(!!!), you probably used too much. You don’t use very much Blue Lizard – certainly not as much as you would other sunscreens.
DEBBIE… I’ve had numerous dermatologists tell me that anything over 50 is a waste of $$$ – in fact, some will tell you anything over 30 is purely psychological prevention. But do as your dermatologist tells you. I never went to medical school!
I swear by the sunscreens (and everything else!) from Stream2Sea – top-rated, reef-safe, created by a female outdoor enthusiast/cosmetic chemist.