My Reality

Simple Homemade Sunscreen Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 batch homemade lotion, or 3/4 cup premade lotion with good, antioxidant rich ingredients like virgin coconut, avocado or olive oil.Here’s what I would use. If you’re using a scale the total weight should be about 9 oz.

• .4-1.6 oz uncoated, non-nano zinc. Weight will vary based on the level of protection you want (Find it here)

• Essential oils (optional – but make sure they are not ones that increase photosensitivity!)

• Iron oxides or cocoa powder for tint (optional) – find pre-blended iron oxide here, find cocoa powder here

Special Equipment:

• food processor (Here’s the one I have)

• mask (Nanoparticles should not be breathed because of lung damage but I couldn’t find a definitive answer on zinc. I just covered my face with my t-shirt. Okay, I didn’t really, but maybe you should :))

Method:

1. If you’re using my homemade recipe (which is 9 0z. weighed), add the zinc oxide right after you make the lotion. See below for details on how much to add.


2. If you’re using a pre-made lotion, warm it in a water bath and then add/blend in the zinc oxide in a food processor.


3. Add essential oils and tint as desired.


4. How you store depends on the composition of the lotion you used. If it’s premade it probably contains preservatives, so room temp is fine. If it’s coconut oil it will last at room temp for quite awhile, but longer if stored in the fridge. Olive oil tends to go bad quicker than coconut oil, so I’d probably store that in the fridge from day 1. I’m not sure about avocado oil, but I’m thinking fridge. I’ll bet it hardens when it gets cold like coconut oil, though, so you’d want to let it warm up before use).

Deciding How Much Zinc Oxide To Add

Anywhere from 5-20% of the total solution is generally considered to be effective, with 20% having  a higher level of protection. You may find the information below helpful in determining your measurements. I have not tested these ratios in a lab for SPF value.

If you’re looking for moderate protection, measure the lotion you are going to use and then add 10% of it’s weight in zinc oxide.

For example, 8oz. (weighed) of lotion + .8oz of zinc oxide (weighed) = 10% zinc ratio

Or 8 oz (weighed) of lotion + 1.2 oz zinc oxide (weighed) = 15 % zinc ratio

Note: Huge differences in SPF numbers are actually pretty insignificant when it comes to differences in protection. SPF 100 blocks 99 percent of UVB rays, while SPF 50 blocks 98 percent. SPF 30 blocks 96.7 percent, SPF 15 blocks 93%.

Edit: Just pour the stuff into the deodorent containers. If you wait until it's congelaed, it's much harder. But also make sure to use a whisk to integrate the powders. Otherwise you get chunks. "Stirring" gets you a mess.

I also reduced the beeswax a bit to just under 1/2c. Otherwise these are, as my son puts it, "underarm hair removal sticks." Too sticky.
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I'm not sure why it says to let it cool to get it into containers. I think that might be about making sure it doesn't break if you fill it to a line and then try to top it off. But I'm going to guess that if you fill it all the way up when it's liquid it should be fine. If it's cool enough to put essential oils into (which means warm but not hot to touch) it should be fine to pour into containers.

The Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil


• 1/2 cup shea butter, cocoa butter or mango butter (or a mix of all three equal to 1 part)


• 1/2 cup + 1 tsp  beeswax


• Optional: Vitamin E oil to preserve. I added 1 tsp vitamin E oil for  this recipe)


• 3 tablespoons baking soda (Omit this if you have sensitive skin and just use extra arrowroot)


• 1/2 cup organic arrowroot powder


• 2-3 capsules of high quality probiotics that don’t need to be refrigerated (I love Bio Kult brand)


• Optional: Essential oils of choice – I used about 20 drops of lavender essential oil (I actually used about 12 drops of lavendar and about a ts of vanilla fragrance oil)

This recipe can be adjusted to make any quantity that you’d like by increasing the amount of ingredients used. This batch made enough deodorant for my husband and I for about 2-3 months. You could also cut the recipe in half if you want to make a smaller amount.

How to Make:

Combine coconut oil, shea (or other) butter, and beeswax in a double boiler, or a glass bowl over a smaller saucepan with 1 inch of water in it. UPDATE: Combine in a quart size glass mason jar with a lid instead and place this in a small saucepan of water until melted. This will save your bowl and you can just designate this jar for these type of projects and not even need to wash it out…

Turn the burner on and bring water to a boil. Stir ingredients constantly until they are melted and smooth:

Remove from heat and add the vitamin E oil, baking soda, arrowroot powder, probiotics, and essential oils. Make sure the mixture is not hot to the touch (warm is ok) so that the heat doesn’t kill the probiotics.

Gently stir by hand until all ingredients are incorporated.

If you will be making these into bars, pour into muffin tins or other molds while still liquid. If you will be putting into an old deodorant container to use like stick deodorant, let the mixture harden for about 15-20 minutes at room temperature to harden and when it is about the consistency of peanut butter, use a spoon to scoop into the deodorant tube and pack down to fill. Then, leave the cap off overnight to completely harden before using.