The REAL Facts about Sunscreens

There is a lot of nonsense out there about how sunscreen ingredients cause cancer. ALL OF THEM. This is simply not true. Here are some things I know for sure:

1) UVA rays cause cancer.
2) UVA rays cause premature aging of the skin including wrinkles and sagging by destroying the elastin and collagen in your skin.
3) UVB rays cause painful and serious burning of the skin.
4) A base tan does not protect your skin from UVA or UVB rays
5) Tanning in a tanning bed is as bad or worse than tanning in the sun.

Fortunately, we have these wonderful products that can prevent all of these from happening. They're called sunscreens. There are two types of sunscreen ingredients; chemical blockers and physical blockers. Now before you start raging about putting CHEMICALS on your skin, please refer to my post on why chemical free anything is a lie. Ok, so now that we have that out of the way- chemical sunscreens work by absorbing UVB and in some cases UVA rays. Physical sunscreens work by forming a physical shield that blocks both UVA and UVB rays. A good sunscreen will provide both UVA and UVB protection and it will say "Broad Spectrum" on the package. Sunscreens that claim an SPF value must be validated to perform to the stated level and are sold as a drug product. SPF (Sun Protection Factor) means that for an SPF 15 product you will be protected for 15X the amount of time you would burn in with no protection. So if you would burn in 10 minutes without sunscreen, you should reapply an SPF 15 product every 150 minutes. The problem with high SPF products is that, yes, an SPF 70 product will block the sun for 700 minutes (using our previous example) but ONLY if the product remains in a continuous film on the skin that long. Which, if you're working in the garden on a sunny day and sweating, chances are slim to none that your SPF 70 product will still be an effective coating after 11 hours in the sun. In my opinion, you're better off with an SPF 30 product applied more often.

So let's review all the different ingredients that could be in your sunscreen so you can make a wise and informed decision about which sunscreen to purchase. Some ingredients can have two names, one for when used in drug products (or products claiming SPF) and another for when they are included in the formula but no specific SPF is claimed.

UVB Blockers (also have some protection against UVA but are mainly for UVB)
1) Octinoxate (AKA Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate) A very common chemical blocker. A recent study concluded that octinoxate  and other chemical sunscreens do not penetrate the skin in sufficient concentration to cause any significant toxicity to the underlying human keratinocytes. It does have some effect as an endocrine disrupter in rats. While I would not actively avoid this ingredient based on this, I do think there are better choices.

2) Octocylene - this is an excellent option for blocking UVB rays. A small number of people do have a sensitivity to this ingredient. If you happen to be one of those who has a reaction (contact dermatitis) when using this ingredient, avoid it. Otherwise this would be my top choice for UVB.

3) Oxybenzone (AKA Benzophenone-3) As with octinoxate, oxybenzone was studied to see if it penetrated this skin in this study. It does not. Therefore, the myth that these chemicals are causing increased cases of melanoma is false. The FDA and governing agencies in Canada and the EU have approved the use of oxybenzone as a safe and effective sunscreen ingredient. The safety of oxybenzone has also been reviewed and confirmed by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review expert panel.

4) Padimate O Some preliminary studies indicated that padimate O was a phototoxic ingredient, meaning it caused cell damage or death with UV exposure (something that would be undesirable in an ingredient designed to protect you from the sun) however, multiple in vivo studies conducted in hairless mice following topical application of padimate O have demonstrated no carcinogenic effects and that padimate O reduces the number of and delays the appearance of UV-induced skin tumors.

UVA Blockers (also block some UVB)
1) Avobenzone (AKA Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane) absorbs all of the wavelengths of the UVA spectrum. It also degrades significantly in light, which is one of the reasons sunscreens need to be reapplied. It can be significantly stabilized by using it in combination with octocrylene or another photostabilizer. Avobenzone can also react with minerals like iron to form colored complexes that can stain.

2) Titanium Dioxide is a physical sunscreen. Most sunscreens that use titanium dioxide use nano-sized titanium dioxide because it scatters visible light less (meaning it doesn't look white, it looks clear) but it still provides UVA protection. There has been controversy over the nano-sized titanium dioxide products because as with the chemical sunscreens people are afraid that they are being absorbed by the skin and in to the blood stream where they are wreaking all kinds of havoc. As with the chemical sunscreens however, studies have show that this is not true. Titanium Dioxide is not absorbed at any significant level by the skin. As with nearly all ingredients, some people can be allergic to titanium dioxide.

3) Zinc Oxide also a physical sunscreen. It's thick, pasty and white unless nano-sized zinc oxide particles are used. Refer to the titanium dioxide discussion above.

Now for the specific points of the "controversy":
1) The absence of UVA filters combined with a longer exposure time of the sunscreen user causes more melanoma than a non sunscreen user.

• This one is easy- use a broad spectrum sunscreen. UVA rays are mostly responsible for the DNA damage that causes skin cancer. Make sure your sunscreen protects against both UVA and UVB. Recent changes to how sunscreen products are labeled ensure that only products that protect against UVA and UVB rays are labeled "Broad Spectrum" 

2)  By reducing the exposure of the skin to UVB radiation, sunscreen suppresses the skin's production of the natural photoprotectant, melanin, and the lack of melanin leads to an increased risk of melanoma. 

• This has been disproved multiple times. Getting a base tan (increasing the melanin in the skin) offers an increase in SPF of 4 or less. The larger issue is that any darkening of the skin indicates UV damage to the skin. So you're not helping yourself, you're hurting yourself.

3) Melanoma is caused by free radical generation by sunscreen chemicals that have penetrated into the skin. 

• As I have cited in this post, multiple studies have disproved the notion that any of these chemicals are absorbed in any significant amount deep enough to cause damage to the keratinocytes. 

4) Melanoma is caused by the pathogenic cytotoxicity and carcinogenicity of micronized titanium or zinc oxide nanoparticles. 

• Again, as I have cited in this post, multiple studies have confirmed that nano and micro sized titanium dioxide and zinc oxide do not penetrate into the skin in any significant amount to cause any health effects. 

5) Malignant melanoma has been found more frequently in sunscreen users compared to non-users in some studies. Other studies found fair skinned people used more sunscreen and had more skin cancer, but did not address cause and effect.

• This is a case of confusing correlation with causation. Several metanalyses have failed to demonstrate any causative relationship between sunscreen use and cancer rates. 

There can be only one conclusion in my mind. The sun causes cancer, sunscreen doesn't. Use sunscreen!

How Makayla got a brother- as told by Makayla

One day, no wait, once upon a time, it was dark, but it was also sunny. So it was dark and sunny on the community rug. We were sitting on the community rug and I was sitting next to TY! We had to sit criss cross applesauce with our hands in our laps. So we were sitting on the community rug and I was next to Ty and we started talking and he became my brother. So Ty is my brother at school. And I'm his sister!

My TMJ Odyssey

    Around the age of 20, my jaw started clicking occasionally when I opened it or ate something hard to chew. It wasn't terribly bothersome at first but over the course of several years it degraded to me being unable to open my mouth without feeling like I was breaking my jaw. I couldn't eat ANYTHING without my jaw popping. I couldn't even kiss my husband or talk without pain. While my jaw was disintegrating, I also had headaches everyday, constant pain in my jaw, painful and stuffy feeling ears and pain in my neck and shoulders. I did do some research on the internet about TMJ (Temporomandibular joint) disorders to see what the options were. I had my only two wisdom teeth removed when I was 23, hoping that it would help. It didn't. Everything I found said surgery or tooth remodeling were the only options and that it was expensive with no guarantee that it would work. After 6 years the pain and inability to function normally finally got to the point where I had to do something about it. I was living in Nashville, TN at the time and I went to my regular dentist who had some familiarity with TMJ disorders but she did not treat it. She evaluated me and immediately wrote me a referral to Dr. H Clifton Simmons DDS a TMJ specialist in Nashville.

    Dr. Simmons has a busy practice and it took three months before I could get in for an evaluation. At the evaluation, I filled out a questionnaire with all kinds of questions about pain and symptoms of TMJ. At this point, I did not know that nearly all of my pain was actually linked to the problem with my jaw. In a two hour  appointment Dr. Simmons explained what had happened to my TMJ, how all of my symptoms were related to my TMJ, what I could expect with treatment and how much it would cost to treat it. 

In a person with a healthy TMJ, the jaw works like this:

The head of the mandible sits in the socket with a disk of cartilage on top, cushioning it and preventing bone from rubbing on bone. When you open your jaw that disk slides forward smoothly with the head of the mandible. Dr. Simmons told me that at some point I had suffered an injury to my TMJ and caused the head of the mandible to press against the back of the socket, compressing all of the nerves and blood vessels in the joint and causing pain. My jaw functioned like this:

So every time I opened and closed my mouth, the cartilage pad slipped over the head of my mandible, making an audible pop. Then when I closed my mouth again, the disc slipped back over the head of the mandible, again making an audible pop. Each time the disc got squeezed out of place, I was basically dislocating my jaw. If you've ever dislocated a joint (an elbow, shoulder, etc), you know that you can't move that joint without pain until it is reduced (put back in place) and that the reduction itself is also very painful. Dr. Simmons' theory is that because there are only two joints in the head (the mandible and neck), when one of those joints is injured, all of the muscles in the head and neck go in to spasm and it results in headaches. He said that it was very likely that with treatment, I wouldn't need my morning aspirin just to dull the constant ache in my head. He also said that the ear canal is located just behind the mandible head and when it is compressing the nerves in the joint, it also compresses the ear canal and can cause pain and a "stuffy" feeling in your ears. So basically, he told me that all the pain that I had been suffering through for 6 years stemmed from my TMJ disorder. 

So then we talked about how he treated TMJ disorders. His approach is to reposition the lower jaw forward to relieve the pressure on the nerves and blood vessels using first splints and then braces. Phase 1 was splints. First, they make a splint that sat over my bottom teeth to adjust my bite forward (I previously had a small overbite). It looked something like this:

I wore this splint whenever I was awake. It works because about 3 times a minute, everyone gently clenches then unclenches their teeth when they swallow their saliva. The top of the splint was formed to match my top teeth in the desired bite position. So every time I swallowed my jaw moved in to the corrected position and then came back to rest. I also had another splint for sleeping. This splint was all one solid chunk of acrylic that locked all of my teeth in the desired position. When you sleep your jaw slips back (because you are relaxed and laying on your back) and back is the opposite of what we were going for. 

I noticed improvement in almost everything almost immediately. It took about 2 months for the popping to stop but it was instantly lessened. My daily headache stopped, my ears felt normal and the pain in my neck lessened. I still get headaches and neckaches from time to time, but I'm pretty sure that everyone does on occasion. Once my symptoms were stabilized (Dr. Simmons calls it "as good as it's going to get" because not every one gets to 100% symptom free) for six months we were ready to move on to Phase 2: moving the teeth to fill in the repositioned gaps. 

At this point in my treatment, I moved to back home to Ohio. When I told Dr. Simmons I was moving I found out that there is nothing standardized about TMJ treatment and that if I wanted to continue my treatment, I had to keep coming back to Nashville every three months. Obviously I didn't want to go back to being in pain every day so I moved on to Phase 2. 

Phase 2 began by cutting off the backs of my splints and putting brackets on them similar to this:

I had to keep rubber bands on them (of varying strength) all the time to close the gap that moving my jaw forward created. This was the longest part of the process because they did one tooth at a time. So every three months they cut of more of my splints and put more brackets on my teeth. Complicating things for me were my two crowns on my left side molars (from cracking my teeth on a tongue ring in my intemperate youth, just say no to mouth jewelry). Dental adhesives do not stick well to crowns so they put metal bands around them, but they still have to be cemented in place and it just never worked well for me. I was constantly pulling the bands off my crowns and because I was not in Nashville and couldn't afford to travel there more than every three months, treatment got set back a lot because I couldn't keep tension on the teeth on the left side of my mouth. Eventually though, my teeth had filled in the gaps in the back. It was finally time to finish up with the front teeth as I had developed an "open bite" that had to be corrected if I wanted to be able to bite things with my front teeth. So they put brackets on all of my teeth and strung them up. Lord, it was painful when they tightened them. I had metal brackets in the back and tooth colored ceramic in the front. The ceramics did much less damage to the inside of my lips but they also got broken much more easily.  I never needed braces due to crooked teeth or anything like that, so this was my first experience with braces and I hated every minute of it. It took twice as long to clean my braces after eating as it did to eat. I couldn't eat the things I wanted because I broke brackets off so often. I'm still convinced I have some sort of adaptation in the enamel of my teeth that makes them more slippery than every one else's because I had at least one bracket off (and the bands on my crowns) every time I went to Dr. Simmons. Over the next year and a half, my teeth were moved to their final positions. Last week, they removed my braces, put in permanent retaining wires and made me a new sleep splint that I will have to wear for the rest of my life. My teeth look great, they are beautiful and straight but really I don't care about that, they were pretty straight before treatment, I'm just thrilled that I can eat a bagel, kiss my husband and talk to people without dislocating my jaw. It has most definitely been worth it.

As far as how much this shit cost- a lot. I don't actually remember the exact prices but Phase 1 was around 2,000.00 and Phase 2 was around 4,500.00. Insurance covered nothing. Dental insurance doesn't cover it because it's a joint disorder and my medical insurance at the time would not cover Dr. Simmons as he was not on their preferred list of providers (the two on their list that treated TMJ both treated TMJ by surgical breaking of the jaw, something I did not want to do). That also does not include my travel costs from Cleveland to Nashville every three months. There is really no comparison between my quality of life before and after treatment though. It's like night and day and 100% worth it. 

Creating Order from Chaos: Part II

So like I said, I love my little artists' "masterpieces". I don't want to stifle her creativity by telling her that I really DON'T need another picture of a three legged person, a sun or a flower. When Makayla was about 1, I bought an expanding file folder with the intention of storing all of her creations in it. Well, that worked fine until she was about two and a half and started spitting out new art by the dozens. Then after she started preschool this fall, the art work quadrupled again. I was getting buried in sweet little creations that I didn't want to throw out but I didn't know what to do with them!

This is actually the file of all of her art from 4-5 (and she's only 4 and a half right now!) So I decided to take control of the clutter and turn all of her artwork in to a collage that I can display instead of sitting in a file folder that no one sees.

I started by sorting all of her work by age: Age 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, etc. Then I got out my scissors and started cutting out all of the "good" parts. I don't know about your kids, but Makayla rarely uses the whole page. She puts one or two people on a huge sheet of paper and calls it a day. So I started by removing all of the extra white space. For her baby art, I cut out shapes from her full page finger paintings. When she actually started making recognizable things, I cut those out. Then I decided what I truly liked from her art and threw out the rest.

There are a few pieces that I didn't cut, like the watercolor she entered in our county fair this summer and won Best in Show for the under 5 set. Things that are truly special can stay.

I bought a 5 pack of 16 X 20 canvas boards, some Perfect Paper Adhesive, and a large brush.

Then you just start gluing. You can create the collage dry first if you want then glue it down or glue as you go. Generally, I try to start with the biggest pieces on the bottom and embellish with smaller pieces. Some washable inks can run with the glue, so brush gently. Once you get everything glued on, spread a layer of the glue over top of everything to seal it. You can use any finish you like, I'm using matte but PPA comes in a variety of sheen levels. Then let it dry overnight.

Here are the two that I've finished, age 1-2 and age 3-4.

I think it turned out neat, kind of "modern art" like. The best part is, my files are no longer exploding AND we get to see our lil fella's art every day!

Creating Order from Chaos

My 4 year old daughter, Makayla, LOVES art. I don't think a day goes by that she doesn't draw or paint or glue something. I love her "masterpieces" but I do not love the disaster area that is her art bench. Mostly I hate the crayon/ marker/ pencil/ pen bin that seems to breed more and more broken writing/ coloring implements. It was out of control:

So one day, while cleaning out old makeup in my bathroom I saw my travel makeup roll and thought "THAT WOULD HOLD ALL OF THE CRAYONS PERFECTLY!" So I ordered an inexpensive travel makeup roll from Amazon and Makayla had a good time organizing all of the various coloring devices into separate zip pouches. It turned out great!

As an added bonus, not only is everything organized and easy to clean up- it's also portable!

So, You Want To Make A Sugar Scrub.

Sugar or salt scrubs are one of the simplest things you can make for your skin. If you have dry skin, they are great for moisturizing. In my opinion, sugar and salt scrubs are too harsh for the skin on your face but can be wonderful for rough areas like your hands, feet, knees and elbows or to exfoliate your legs prior to shaving.

Making a sugar scrub is something you can easily do at home with ingredients from the kitchen. Really you only NEED two things- an oil and a sugar. Pour some oil in a bowl and add enough sugar until it gets to the consistency you like in a scrub.

Now, there are a lot of ways you can fuck this up and a lot of ways you can make it fancy. Here are some guidelines of stuff NOT to do when making your own sugar scrub.

1) Don't add anything that contains water or is water soluble. This includes any type of juice or extract (unless extracted in oil, unlikely to find in your house).
2) Don't add a bunch of sugar to hand soap and expect it to stay a scrub- the main ingredient in liquid soap is water!

The reasoning behind items 1 and 2 is that sugar and salt dissolve in water! It may start out a scrub but over time, the sugar or salt crystals WILL dissolve and you will be left with a very sugary or salty liquid! There is NO getting around this. A scrub with a water soluble scrubber (like salt or sugar) HAS to be anhydrous!

3) Don't add citrus oils or other irritating essential oils. The whole premise behind the anhydrous (without water) scrub is that you scrub loose any dead skin, etc and leave behind a nice moisturizing layer of oil. Citrus oils are phototoxic, meaning that when they are exposed to sunlight they kill your cells (resulting in a bleaching effect, which is why so many skin lightening products have citrus oils in them) but it's not healthy for your skin. So unless you're exfoliating your lady garden (or other areas that never see the light of day) leave the citrus oils out!

OK, now that I've covered what not to do, here's a few tips on what TO do!

1) Pick an oil that you love. There are literally hundreds of choices here. Some are substantially more expensive than others or significantly harder to get but if you have heard of it, it's out there. Some that are commonly available in grocery stores are: canola, corn, peanut, avocado, coconut, grapeseed, sunflower, olive and sesame. Personally, I like a lightweight oil so my choice would probably be grapeseed. If you have really dry skin you should pick something a little heavier like avocado, sunflower, olive, corn, canola or sesame (peanut if you don't have allergies). The only one that I would personally never use is coconut. Coconut oil is comedogenic, meaning it clogs pores and makes acne worse. I have acne issues, not just on my face but occasionally on my chest and body too- so I avoid coconut oil at all costs. If you don't have issues with acne go ahead and give it a try- it smells great!

2) Once you've picked your main carrier oil, consider purchasing a small amount of a more exotic oil or an oil soluble extract. Again the possibilities here are endless and the interweb is your friend.

Finally, if you want to get a little bit fancy, try making an emulsified scrub. All you need to make a sugar scrub into an emulsified sugar scrub is.... an emulsifier! :) Emulsifying wax (E-wax) is readily available from multiple suppliers on the internet. Emulsified scrubs are still anhydrous but when you are scrubbing your wet body part with it, it forms a microemulsion on your skin and feels like a lotion when you rinse it off. They are also easier to rinse off, don't feel as oily and don't leave a super slick, hazardous tub behind!
The recipe for an emulsified sugar scrub goes something like this:
10g E-Wax
90g oil of choice
Melt E-Wax in to oil in a double boiler
To this add as much sugar as necessary to create the desired level of scrubbiness (probably at least 100g)!

Also, since I've harped on this on my blog before, you actually do not NEED a preservative in this formula. Microorganisms need water and this doesn't have any. That said, dipping wet hands into a tub of sugar scrub CAN introduce bacteria and the water necessary, so a preservative wouldn't hurt. If you don't want to use a preservative, don't make a lot and store it in the fridge just in case. All oils do go rancid after a time, some faster than others. Keep this in mind when choosing your oils and if your scrub starts to smell funny- THROW IT OUT!

How is this healthy again?

There is a recipe currently going around Pinterest. I've seen it repinned at least 10 times now and every time I see it I think to myself: Is that really "healthy"? This is it. The pin says "When you need a healthy sweet: So good. Just five ingredients- coconut oil, cocoa powder, almond/peanut butter, honey, vanilla. 

I'm trying to lose weight and I like chocolate so a healthy chocolate SOUNDS great. But when I read the recipe it didn't really sound all that healthy. In fact, it didn't sound healthy at all. Coconut oil (fat), cocoa powder (ok, I guess), almond butter (fat and a little protein), honey (sugar) and vanilla (flavor). So.... fat, sugar and flavor. Then I thought, well is it better for me than a Reese's Cup because I love a Reese's Cup for a treat sometimes. So I entered the recipe into my favorite recipe site (www.food.com) because they calculate the nutrition facts from the recipe. Here are the nutrition facts for this recipe. 


Calories 210.5 
  Calories from Fat 168     
Total Fat 18.7 g                  28%
  Saturated Fat 10.3 g          51%
Cholesterol 0.0 mg               0%
Sodium 29.3 mg                   1%
Total Carbohydrate 12.0 g   4%
Dietary Fiber 2.7 g              11%   
Sugars 7.6 g                        30%
Protein 3.6 g                          

Compare that to the nutrition facts for a Reese's Cup.


Calories 80
  Calories from Fat 45
Total Fat 5.0g                             8%
 Saturated Fat 2.0g                  10%
 Trans Fat 0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.0g
Cholesterol 5mg                        2%
Sodium 55mg                            2%
Total Carbohydrates 9.0g         3%
  Dietary Fiber 1.0g                   4%
  Sugars 8.0g
Protein 2.0g

So the healthy chocolate has 2.5X the calories and nearly 4X the fat (including 50% of the daily allowance of saturated fat) of the Reese's Cup? I'm not a dietitian or even really in to health and fitness but this one seems 100% bogus to me!