Reefsafe Sunscreen: What is it?

People ask me about reefsafe sunscreen all the time and I am more than happy to answer their questions. I would like to offer some more extensive resources here for those of you who want more information on the subject. Wearing reefsafe sunscreen is one of those extremely important things you can do to curb your impact on the wildlife of our planet. When we visit the Caribbean one of the first things we want to do is get our snorkel gear on and jump in the water! Show some love for all that beauty, wear reefsafe sunscreen!

Wear reefsafe sunscreen when you're snorkeling on your next vacation.

Four common sunscreen ingredients have been found to kill or bleach coral at extremely low concentrations (as low as one drop in 6.5 Olympic sized swimming pools). This means that the conventional sunscreens many people are wearing are extremely TOXIC to the LIVING coral.

• Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3, BP-3) - Sunscreen ingredient that disrupts coral reproduction, causes coral bleaching, and damages coral DNA. Oxybenzone is found in over 3500 sunscreen products worldwide.


• Butylparaben - Preservative ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching.


• Octinoxate (Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) - Sunscreen ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching.


• 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC) - Sunscreen ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching. Allowed in Europe and Canada, not in USA or Japan. 

My favorite reefsafe sunscreen is Badger. They are a fabulous company that really cares about the environment and offers alot of information on the topic. Check out their page here. There are other brands on the market so choose one that works the best for you. Anything that is biodegradable is ok. Zinc based sunscreens are the best!

A great article in the Washington Post in 2015 will really help you understand how very seriously terrible Oxybenzone is. Check it out! Here is a link to the study. Oxybenzone is really nasty stuff that you probably don't want on your skin anyways. Coral reefs are vital to the life of the oceans and are home to 25% of the ocean's marine life! They are amazing living creatures. You will find some amazing information on coral at earthjustice.org

If you enjoy snorkeling you should really pay attention to this. Change starts with you! I always remind myself that just because everyone else on the beach is spraying themselves with chemicals doesn't mean that I should get discouraged and give up! We need to remember to try to make our impact on the environment as small as possible. Our places we call paradise are being jeopardized and it is up to us to show our gratitude.

Paradise in the Caribbean sun.