For as long as I can remember, I've been allergic to sunscreen. My grandparents owned a neighborhood pool, so sun was a frequent summertime friend for us. My family started noticing that I would burn more and get little red bumps (like ingrown hairs) all over whenever I wore sunscreen of any kind. I'm a naturally darker skinned person though - I'd burn once or twice, and that would be it each summer (go go Native American blood!!). It was never really a worry in my family though - we were poolside or at Six Flags pretty regularly, and so we were always tan. Even when my grandpa got skin cancer...my family treated it as a "let's cut it out and go on our merry way" kind of thing. It was never really like cancer.
But. I know that the sun isn't very nice to skin in general. I know that I should be protecting myself in some way. I'd rather not deal with ridiculous wrinkles and skin cancer when I'm 50. I already have ridiculous complications (like Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is combated with Vitamin D, but my body ONLY absorbs Vitamin D through sun exposure - so in the winter, my options are depression or tanning beds. My body hates me, and wants cancer). I needed a sunscreen I could wear!
A blogger friend of mine mentioned that she had an Oxybenzone allergy, which caused the exact same symptoms that I was getting whenever she tried sunscreen. She also suggested the EWG's Skin Deep website - some sunscreens are better for you than others. Thanks to the site, I found a great sunscreen, Coppertone Sport Pro with Duraflex. It's spray, so it doesn't absorb as much into my skin (which helps with my allergies to other things), and there's absolutely no Oxybenzone in it.
Thank you, for protecting me from cancery things.
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