Each year we eagerly await the Environmental Working Group’s list of the safest sunscreens for kids (and grownups too) and we’re so glad to see the 2013 list is ready, just in time for the unofficial start of summer.
Click over to the list of the safest sunscreens and you’ll find not only more than 180 beach and sport sunscreens–the ones we’re most interested in for our own kids–but SPF moisturizers, lip balms and makeup that all meet their criteria.
We’ve culled it down to their top picks all scoring a “1” that are made especially for babies and children. In no particular order, here are the 20 winners:
Eco logical skin care Baby All-natural Sunscreen SPF 30+
All Terrain KidSport Face Stick, SPF28
California Baby Super Sensitive Broad Spectrum Sunscreen Stick, SPF 30
Badger Kids Sunscreen Cream SPF 30
Seventh Generation Wee Generation Baby Sunscreen SPF 30
Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Sunscreen Stick SPF 30
TruBaby Water + Play Mineral Sunscreen, SPF 30+
(Also TruKid Sunscreens)
Kiss My Face Kids White Sunstick, SPF 30
Green Babies Zinc Oxide Sunscreen, Unscented, SPF 30
UV Natural Baby Sunscreen, SPF 30
Goddess Garden Sunny Baby Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30
Sunology Natural Sunscreen Creme for Kids, SPF 50
Elemental Herbs Kids Sunscreen, SPF 30
Aubrey Organics Natural Sun Sunscreen, Sensitive Skin/Children Unscented, SPF 30+
thinkSport thinkBaby Sunscreen, SPF 30+
(Also thinkSport Kids Sunscreen )
BabyGanics Cover-Up Baby Pure Mineral Sunscreen Stick, SPF 30
COOLA Baby Suncare Moisturizer Mineral Sunscreen, Unscented, SPF 50
Marie Veronique Organics Kid Safe Screen, SPF 30
Jersey Kids All-Natural All Green Sunscreen, SPF 30
While you’re there, take a look at their roster of informative articles about sunscreen, like why SPF over 50 is bad.
And of course as always, we suggest you take the rating system with a wee grain of salt; EWG is amazing but some of the products have limited testing info, and the organization itself is overly cautious for sure. That means otherwise excellent products get dinged for having ingredients like fragrance of any kind, or something like natural lemon oil because its usage is restricted in large quantities. (i.e. don’t bathe in pure lemon juice.)
So just because a product doesn’t score a 1 doesn’t make it bad–and in fact there are tons of great choices ranked 2 and 3 as well. Which only means lots of good sunscreen news for more parents. And of course, for more kids. –Liz
Visit the the EWG safe suncreen list 2013 and if you love their work, consider making a donation to Environmental Working Group and you’ll even get a wallet-sized guide to safer sunscreens, free.
Is this purely a recap of the EWG ratings? Have you researched further for effectiveness, user ratings, and/or true ingredient toxicity?
Thanks for the list of baby safe sunscreens. So glad that you mentioned Jersey Kids; it really is a good chemical-free sunscreen and it blends well on all skin tones. We were using it before it made top rating on EWG. It’s note worthy that this, like a lot of sunscreens should be shaken before use and blended in really well. When rubbed in well, it’s near transparent.
Just a tip for most whitish, mineral sunscreens; warm in hands first, before blending. This helps the sunscreen to blend in better therefore, a little goes a long way.
Many of the brands (Babyganics, TruKids, Marie Veronique, California Baby, Badger, etc) are already reviewed and recommended on this site. Most of the others are being endorsed by our own readers on Twitter and Facebook as we speak.
The ingredients are described in great detail on the EWG site (including why it may receive a higher rating for toxicity) and we find it to be the most reliable objective source on that information.
By all means, as with all things, be your own consumer advocate and cross-reference with ratings from other reliable sources.
I’d also like to rave about the Epinscial Baby sunscreen. It’s on the EWG List (and was #1 last year!). My 2 girls with very fair sensitive skin never ever burn and it goes on really smoothly and not greasy at all.
I just received my Ava Anderson sunblock and I LOVE IT!!!!!!
Ava Anderson has the absolute safest sunscreen and bug spray. No toxins and no harmful chemicals!
The EWG is a resource for evaluating sunscreens. Some of the data presented on the site is technically suspect. There are also better ways to determine the amount of protection provided by a sunscreen than those used by the EWG.
The safety of the ingredients data provided by the EWG is also open to interpretation. Not all experts agree on this information, especially how it is presented by the EWG.
Use resources like Consumer Reports and Good Housekeeping (both follow laudable testing standards) as sanity checks against EWG data.
I read a report on sunscreen a while back that completely changed my thoughts. I never knew for instance that UVU affects your skin cells or how it can affect your hormones. So I would suggest everyone do a little research before using any type! I was amazed how complex it is.
Thanks Dawn, we are always pretty clear about taking some of the stats with a grain of salt. However the low toxicity sunscreens are accurate across the board as far as ingredients. The ones with higher ratings…as we said, we’re not so sure that an otherwise good product should get dinged for containing citrus or lavender. EWG is an excellent organization with pure motives. But by all means, cross-check with other sources! We do too.