- Keep calm and trust in sunscreen!
- What are the pros and cons of making sunscreen at home?
- Best homemade sunscreens
- Are homemade sunscreens as effective as store bought ones?
- Frequently Asked Questions on Homemade/Summer Sunscreens (FAQs)
Afraid to step out in the sun? Allow sunscreen to come to your rescue. Prickly heat, ultraviolet radiation, tanning, sunburns, redness are all taken care of with the application of sunscreen. Slather on some of this protective cream and shine your light this summer.
Keep calm and trust in sunscreen!
Before we get into making sunscreen, let’s quickly re-emphasise on why you should use sunscreen. This quote sums it up beautifully!
“The best beauty secret is sunblock.” – by American model and actress, Christie Brinkley
Sunscreen is one tool in your beauty/skin care kit that is indispensable. Be it sunscreen itself, a moisturiser with SPF infused in its formulation or a homemade sunscreen – it is important to have it in your regimen, especially during the summers.
The ‘Sun Protection Factor’ or SPF is very important, depending on your exposure to the sun. The minimum requirement of SPF is 30 but if you are on vacation at a sunny or beach destination, have a field job or spend most of your day outdoors, then SPF 45 is the minimum you require in sunscreen.
If you would like to get creative and explore the DIY sunscreen at home, let’s dive deeper into how to make sunscreen.
What are the pros and cons of making sunscreen at home?
Formulation creators may agree or disagree with the concept of homemade sunscreen. That said, we can all agree that protection from the harmful UV rays of the sun is important, and sunscreen can prevent us from getting the most hazardous effect of skin cancer.
The pros of homemade sunscreens:
- Proportions
- Ingredients
- Custom-made solution you can provide yourself, based on your skin type
The cons of homemade sunscreens:
- Will not have an accurately known SPF
- Do not undergo clinical testing to determine their efficacy, safety, or stability
While the conversations around homemade sunscreen are still evolving, here are some ways to know how to make sunscreen at home.
Best homemade sunscreens
Here are some recipes with instructions and ingredients for homemade sunscreen options. Based on your skin type, every natural sunscreen recipe will have a different effect on your skin. Be sure to choose a homemade natural sunscreen that is best suited for your skin.
- Aloe vera sunscreen
Ingredients:
50ml mineral water
One teaspoon aloe vera gel
Half a teaspoon sunflower oil
Three teaspoons zinc oxide
Four drops of vitamin E oil
Instructions: Mix the ingredients well to make a lotion, then add the zinc oxide for SPF 15 and if your skin is normal to dry, add in the drops of vitamin E oil to moisten the mixture.
- Coconut, sesame, and sunflower oils sunscreen
Ingredients:
Two tablespoons coconut oil
Two tablespoons sesame seed oil
Two tablespoons sunflower oil
Few drops of vitamin E oil
Instructions: Mix the ingredients in a bowl and heat the mixture in a pan filled with water. Keep heating the mix till coconut oil has fully melted and add in the drops of vitamin E oil. Add 15% of the total weight of this mixture to get SPF 15.
- Turmeric sunscreen
Ingredients:
One cup aloe vera gel (extracted from leaves)
One tablespoon turmeric powder
Instructions: Mix the cooling aloe vera and antiseptic turmeric with water and freeze the mixture. These ice cubes are your sunscreen, which you can rub on your skin before leaving the house.
- Muskmelon sunscreen
Ingredients:
One cup muskmelon or kharbooja pulp (mashed)
Instructions: Apply the muskmelon mash on your body and face before taking a bath. It helps remove melanin stroke from the skin.
- Almond and olive oil sunscreen
Ingredients:
One tablespoon almond oil
One tablespoon olive oil
One cup coconut water
Some beeswax
Instructions: Mix the ingredients in a glass jar and place it in hot water. Once you add in zinc oxide, it will make it smooth.
- Tea leaves sunscreen
Ingredients:
Two tablespoons tea leaves
Half cup of water
Instructions: The easiest sunscreen to make, soak the tea leaves in water overnight and strain the mixture the next morning. Store the leftover water in a bottle and use it as your sunblock
Are homemade sunscreens as effective as store bought ones?
The natural sunscreen recipe that caught your attention above is a homemade natural sunscreen. To address your concerns, we let you decide if it is better than a store-bought sunscreen bottle. Here’s what makes an effective sunscreen:
- SPF or the Sun Protection Factor is the numerical value of how much a product can protect your skin from the UV rays of the sun. SPF 30 is the minimum requirement in any product.
- Sunblock is a layer sitting on top of your skin that protects it from the radiation, preventing it from getting absorbed. Most sun protection products contain the ingredients of both, sunscreen, and sunblock.
- Chemical sun protection filters or natural sunscreens – either of these have the same effect – where natural ingredients are preferred over harmful cancer-risk chemicals.
Now, you know how to make sunscreen at home and are aware of the safety measures as well! So, what are you waiting for? Homemade sunscreens are made with all natural ingredients, in proportions that are specific to your skin type. They add an extra layer of protection on your skin. All you need is a cooling summer sunscreen, made by you, for you!
Frequently Asked Questions on Homemade Summer Sunscreens (FAQs)
-
Is homemade sunscreen safe?
If you were unaware of how to make sunscreen at home, this article has given you a head start. However, it is advised that homemade sunscreens cannot be a replacement for dermatologically or clinically tested sunscreens with SPF 30 or 50+ that one should ideally use. To provide additional care and protection, a DIY sunscreen is an enhancer as it is made with all-natural ingredients is safe for your skin. Ensure the ingredients used are suitable for your skin type, and you are good to go!
-
What makes an effective sunscreen?
The best way to decode the effectiveness of a sunscreen is the Sun Protection Factor or SPF level of the sunscreen formula. SPF 30 is the minimum requirement for any sunscreen to effectively protect you from the sun’s rays. However, a properly applied SPF 50 sunscreen can successfully block almost 98% of the sun’s radiation and SPF 100 blocks 99%.
-
What is the importance of using sunscreen in the summer?
The painful and harmful sun’s radiation in the form of ultraviolet rays causes several problems for our skin as well as our health. Some of these are the risk of skin cancer, sunburn, wrinkles, premature ageing, irritation, and tanning. During the summer, the protection from these factors is more important and the topmost layer on our skin requires sunscreen – this essential gives you hydrated and healthy skin, keeping it glowing even in the scorching heat.