Bare Belly Natural Sunscreen: A True Alternative to Conventional Sunscreen
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This is not a sponsored post and I received no monetary compensation for writing this post. I received product samples from Bare Belly Organics in order to facilitate my honest review. The content and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of Bare Belly Organics. This is important to note.
We're coming into the last few weeks of summer and if you're anything like me, it's time to stock up on sunscreen again.
(Seriously – when we're a natural, crunchy, avoid-sunscreen-as-much-as-we-can kind of family, how do we go through so much of the stuff?!? I guess I'll count my blessings that my kids love being outside so much. 🙂 )
So, I specifically waited until this point in the summer to tell you about a brand-new company that's just come on the market in the last few months that is seriously revolutionizing the natural sunscreen industry. They are rockin' it, y'all!
Even though this is their first year in business, they have garnered two coveted #1 ratings on the Environmental Working Group's 2014 Best Sunscreens and they have become fully tested by the FDA for SPF, water resistance, and broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection (not an easy feat for a small start-up company). This brings excellent products and great peace of mind to natural mamas like me. 🙂
Currently, Bare Belly offers six different options for sunscreen, three delicious lip balms, and chemical-free bug spray.
Hats off to you, Bare Belly!
So, what makes Bare Belly so unique?
First of all, let me back up and tell you Bare Belly's story.
Once upon a time, there was a mom.
Like most of us who want to protect our children from the sun's harmful rays while not exposing them to other harmful toxins that will be absorbed into their bloodstream through their skin, this mom searched and researched and searched and researched to find a sunscreen she was willing to slather on her children – and came up empty-handed.
So for a number of years, she made her own.
Sounds familiar, yes? I do this and I *know* some of you do too, so no use hiding. 🙂
Now, you should also know that this mom has a growing family (she currently has six children), she is a pediatric ICU nurse who has had up-close-and-personal experience caring for children suffering from childhood cancers, and some of her own children are fair-skinned, red-headed beauties who burn easily in the sun.
Needless to say, when she decided to make her own sunscreen, she was not naïve about either the sun's dangers or sunscreen's potential effects.
After she had been making sunscreen for awhile, some friends started asking for containers of the good stuff and her batches became larger and larger. After awhile, her friends convinced her to share her simple-but-OH-so-effective products with the world, a second passionate conscientious mom joined the team, and the rest, they say, is history.
You can meet the two moms, Lisa and Jill, here. They're really lovely – go meet them!
So, while it's nice to hear a lovely story of a home-based business that has grown based on demand, what's the actual product like? What makes Bare Belly Organics sunscreen different than anything else on the market?
And no, the secret ingredient is not love, although I'm sure that's in there somewhere….
Here are a few things that makes Bare Belly Organic sunscreen absolutely note-worthy:
Bare Belly uses non-nano zinc particles.
I've described why this is so essentially important a number of times before, but to keep it succinct, here's Bare Belly's description:
“Nanoparticles are particles of matter that are small enough to enter the bloodstream through the skin (bad). NON-Nanoparticles, therefore, are those that will NOT enter your bloodstream (good). This is why we use non-nano zinc oxide as the active ingredient in all of our sunscreens. It is recognized as the broadest spectrum UVA/UVB reflector approved by FDA which helps prevent the risk of sun burn, skin cancer and early skin aging.”
For those of you who are interested, Bare Belly's mesh size is 325 nm and has not been micronized.
They are gluten-free.
It baffles my mind that this would even need to be brought up, but in the allergy community, this is a big deal and Bare Belly certainly fits the bill as a gluten-free sunscreen. (They're also egg-free and dairy-free, just so you know.)
They have scent-free options (and those with scents are 100% essential oil, not fragrance oils).
For those who want or need a scent-free option, all their sunscreens and lip balms are available in a scent-free version.
They nourish the skin.
In many sunscreens, the lotion part is only a vehicle for getting the physical or chemical agent responsible for blocking the sun onto your skin. In the case of Bare Belly and other all-natural sunscreens, the creams actually nourish your skin while they also block out the UVA and UVB rays.
They offer their sunscreens in stick form as well as creams.
Sunscreens, especially those with zinc oxide, coat the skin well. Thus, for the parent who's slathering sunscreen on their child, the hands are left a creamy mess. This really isn't a big deal, but it sure is nice to have the option to just rub it on, hands-free. (Or at least, hands-clean.)
There's not a single ingredient I wouldn't use myself.
There are no questionable or even unknown ingredients in Bare Belly Organics sunscreen. This is wholesome, nourishing stuff through and through. Read the list of ingredients on their sunscreen cream, sunscreen stick, lip balms, and bug spray and see for yourself!
They're tested and fully compliant with FDA regulations.
Now, I know this doesn't seem remarkable for a commercially-available sunscreen (in fact, it's rather essential), but considering many of us sometimes make our own sunscreen, this DOES make a difference.
The sunscreens you or I make in our kitchens certainly work, but we don't really know what the SPF measure of them are or exactly how well they perform with UVA and UVB rays (as well as in the water), especially if we can't ensure perfect consistency from batch to batch.
I do indeed make and use my own on myself and on my family, but since I've had Bare Belly in the house, I find that I reach for the Bare Belly products at least as often as I reach for the homemade versions, because sometimes, in some situations, it's just nicer to have that extra peace of mind. (Especially when friends will be over for a pool party and you want to make a healthy sunscreen available – it's nice to be able to offer something that's been tested and evaluated to those who may not be comfortable with a homemade version.)
The Bottom Line?
So, would I buy Bare Belly again after having tried their sunscreens and lip balms?
You bet. With pleasure.
You see, I'm the mom who geeks out over ingredients – and not in the hip, cool way. I'm the one who stands in the organic section of the store for 30 minutes flipping over bottle after bottle while my kids get restless and still walks out of the store empty-handed because I couldn't find one that was quite right. So when I see a sunscreen with Bare Belly's ingredient list, I get excited.
I said at the beginning that Bare Belly Organics is revolutionizing the natural sunscreen industry. Strong words, perhaps, especially since the bottom line is that there are a growing number of quality natural sunscreens – I would be lying if I said Bare Belly was the only one.
But Bare Belly has raised the bar significantly by offering truly natural, organic products that are not only “good enough” to use (how often do we say that?), but are excellent to use, both on ourselves and our children. Bare Belly Organics stands out above the crowd for their excellence in simple, effective, entirely natural skin care products.
As always, you have to decide whether a zinc-based sunscreen is right for you, as they don't rub on completely clear (which can be a good thing if you want to actually see that your child is protected) and you'll want to be careful about not getting it on clothing (remember how zinc oxide leaves a coating on everything it touches?), but neither of those things cause me near as much concern as using a chemical sunscreen instead.
Intrigued? Try them out with our exclusive coupon codes!
Bare Belly Organics has offered to provide two special package deals specifically for Nourishing Joy readers – GOOD THIS WEEK ONLY! Either of these coupon codes will save you almost 30%.
Each package deal includes three products AND tax and shipping and will come to a grand total of $24.18 (a reasonable, additional flat-rate will apply for international shipping). Seriously a good deal.
To use either coupon, just add the items into your cart, then type in the coupon code at checkout.
Package A: Add any body stick, any face stick, and any lip balm to your cart and use coupon code JOYSTICK.
Package B: Add any 4oz sunscreen cream, any face stick, and any lip balm to your cart and use coupon code JOYLOTION.
You are welcome to use both coupons if you are purchasing both packages (i.e. two face sticks, two lip balms, one body stick, and one 4oz sunscreen cream).
You're also welcome to add other items, such as their new chemical-free bug spray or an extra lip balm, to your cart. There won't be an additional discount, but there won't be any additional shipping cost added either. Yay!
Coupon codes expire at 11:59 p.m. Eastern this Friday, August 8.
Now go enjoy summer! What have been your favorite family activities so far? Please share in the comments below!
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post and I received no monetary compensation for writing this post. I received product samples from Bare Belly Organics in order to facilitate my honest review. The content and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of Bare Belly Organics.