Cleanest Sunscreen Brands + My SPF 50 Sunscreen Recipe

Anyone who knew me back in high school and college, knows that I used to burn pretty much instantly in the sun. This was before I started researching food ingredients and was eating a pretty inflammatory diet at the time, which can definitely cause you to burn easier. During this chapter of my life, I worked as a lifeguard at an outdoor pool, and carried 2 or 3 different chemical/spray-on sunscreens in my bag. I may not have gotten burned very often as a result, but I definitely had a very high toxin load during that time.

If you take nothing else from this article, please at the very least avoid the aerosolized chemical sunscreens. They blast volatile compounds into the air that you breathe in, and are full of other chemicals (including benzene) that are really bad for you. And honestly, if you’re already switching to a non-aerosol one, you might as well pick one that won’t increase your risk of health issues. Several of the sunscreens I mention in this article are more expensive, so at the bottom of the article, I included the recipe I personally use for SPF 50(ish) sunscreen that is a lot cheaper to make.

Chemical vs Physical Sunscreens

Basically, when you go to buy sunscreen, there are 2 types you can pick from (plus there are some that use both methods to block UV rays).

Chemical sunscreens use chemicals like avobenzene and oxybenzone which block the sun but can absorb into your skin. These chemicals are sketchy at best, and are known to kill coral reefs, which is why they are not permitted to be used at certain beaches where the sea wildlife is more vulnerable. If they are really negatively impacting marine life enough to have them banned in this way, imagine how they are impacting our health when applied to our skin.

Physical sunscreens, on the other hand, use minerals like zinc to block the sun. So as long as the zinc used is “non-nano” which means that the individual pieces of zinc are relatively large, these particles won’t absorb into your skin. Zinc is actually a vitamin that your body can use though, and does support some biological processes such as immunity and skin health, so putting it on your skin shouldn’t have any ill effects.

Some brands combine the effects of both physical and chemical sunscreens, so make sure you read the ingredients, even if it says on the front of the bottle that the product uses zinc in their formulation. The sunscreen part of the ingredients will generally be listed under the “active ingredients” part of the label.

Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide is a mineral that is added to high percentage of cosmetics (probably like 99% of makeup produced for the US market). If you check your makeup products, most foundations, concealers and even lip products will often have this added to give them a little SPF protection. Unfortunately, this compound is not safe to use on skin (in my opinion).

Here’s some of the reasons I avoid titanium in my skincare:

• Tiny TiO₂ particles make free radicals in sunshine. The nano‑sized form used to keep sunscreens clear acts like a miniature photocatalyst, pumping out reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can injure skin cells and slow wound healing. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• Regulators can’t rule out DNA damage. A 2024 opinion from the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety notes that many cosmetic grades are >50 % nanoparticles and says it “cannot exclude” genotoxic effects, so it set no safe level. health.ec.europa.eu

• Particles can lodge deep in hair follicles. Laboratory work shows TiO₂ nanoparticles from these sunscreens can slip into follicles and sweat ducts; if the skin barrier is broken, some reach living tissue and are hard to wash out. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• Breathing the dust is a cancer concern. When applied as a spray, airborne TiO₂ can reach the lungs; the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies inhaled TiO₂ as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B). ccohs.ca

• It’s already banned as a food colour in the EU. Europe removed TiO₂ (E171) from foods in 2022 because long‑term genotoxicity couldn’t be dismissed, showing regulators are uneasy about chronic exposure. efsa.europa.eu

• Animal data hint at hormone and blood‑sugar effects. A 2025 mouse study linked dietary TiO₂ nanoparticles to disrupted gut hormones and impaired glucose control, raising wider endocrine‑metabolic questions.

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Okayy let’s get into the sunscreens!

8/10 Primally Pure Sun Cream SPF 30
$ 38.00

UNSCENTED SPF 30
Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide (25%) Inactive Ingredients: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Organic Tallow, Organic Beeswax, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Mango Butter, Tocopherol

My Summary:

This is one of the best ones I’ve found that still feels like a normal sunscreen texture. It applies smoothly and has a very neutral (non beefy) smell. They also have a scented version made with essential oils that I have heard smells good, but I avoid essential oils because many of them are estrogenic (linked in this section to my article about synthetic fragrance which also discusses the issues with essential oils). It does contain tocopherol which is a preservative, but it is the smallest amount of it, so It’s probably not a big deal.

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9/10 Sky & Sol
$29.99

Active Ingredients: Non-Nano 25% Zinc Oxide

Inactive Ingredients: Water, Grass-Fed/Grass-Finished Tallow, Jojoba Oil, Jojoba Ester (wax), Lecithin, Beeswax, Silica, Vitamin E (From Olives), Radish Root Ferment Filtrate

My Summary

This one rates the best of the commercially available ones, however because of the price point, I just don’t really think it’s worth it when you consider how easy it is to make your own (it takes literally like 10 min and maybe $5 in ingredients to make a batch).

The other thing about this one is that I’ve seen reports that it is very high in heavy metals, which are probably coming from the zinc oxide they used as the active sunblocking agent. The levels are so high apparently, that it is actually illegal for them to sell this product in Washington state. Will the heavy metals that are allegedly in this product absorb via the skin? I’m not sure, but in the interest of full disclosure of what I found during my research, I had to mention it.

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Heavy Metals In Everything

I have a theory about why everything is seemingly contaminated with heavy metals these days, and it’s something I’ve talked about at length in my recent article about geoengineering. My theory is that aerosol spraying is also what’s behind the massive insect die offs we’ve seen in the last few decades, despite the rise in more sustainable farming practices. We know it happens and that governments around the worlds have the technology to do this, and they’ve even recently reported in the news in the UK that they’re considering blocking out the sun to help combat climate change (there’s also a bunch of US patents for the technology itself, and historical use detailed in CIA documents released via the Freedom of Information Act from during the Vietnam war).

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5/10 Mad Hippie Ultra-Sheer Body SPF 40+

I threw this one in because I used to use it myself and obviously it works well as a sunblock, but definitely has some room for improvement. It does get points for not being a chemical sunscreen, but it does have some problematic ingredients, which I have highlighted in red below.

Active Ingredient: Zinc Oxide (non-nano): 20.5%

Inactive Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Extract, Arachidyl Alcohol, Arachidyl Glucoside, Behenyl Alcohol, Bisabolol, Butyloctyl Salicylate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Capryloyl Glycerin/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Caprylyl Glycol, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Cellulose Gum, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Citric Acid, Coco-Glucoside, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Echinacea Purpurea Extract, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Juice, Lecithin, Methyl Dihydroabietate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Quercetin, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Seed Oil, Silybum Marianum Extract, Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Squalane, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Tocopherol, Water

Why this one didn’t score better:

Safflower and sunflower oils are pro-inflammatory and tend to oxidize very quickly after being removed from the actual seeds. You may not mind these in your cosmetics, and they are added to so many things, but they are less than ideal, in my opinion.

Citric acid is typically made from black mold, not from citrus, so I avoid products, especially food that include this unless they specifically say that its made from citrus. 99% of citric acid that is used in food, cosmetics and beverages is made from black mold.

Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, and Tocopherol are both preservatives. Preservatives, unfortunately kill off/disrupt your skins microbiome, which is all the naturally occuring yeasts and bacteria that live on your skin, and keep things in balance. If you nuke all these cultures by using products with preservatives, I think it makes you more prone to bacterial or yeast overgrowth which can show up in the form of acne.

Behenyl Alcohol and Arachidyl Alcohol are ingredients that I personally avoid because alcohols tend to dry out the skin, which can prompt your skin to produce more oil to compensate which can lead to imbalances and acne. If you don’t have sensitive skin like me, it may not bother you.

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Formulas that Include Water-Based Ingredients

The ideal sunscreen, in my opinion, will contain no water-based ingredients like aloe. Any skincare formula (including makeup, moisturizer, and anything else you apply to your skin) that contains water will have some kind of preservative added to keep it from going moldy. Preservatives are added to kill off bacteria and other organisms, but many of them are unsafe to apply to your skin and are linked to health issues (e.g. parabens).

Another issue that isn’t talked about much is that your skin has a wide range of organisms living on it called your microbiome. Your skins microbiome is composed of bacteria, and yeasts that help protect your skin from pathogens. If you apply a product with a preservative in it that is designed to kill off bacteria and yeasts, you’re also killing off your own skins microbiome, which can leave you vulnerable to getting some kind of infection like acne or fungal overgrowth, similar to what many experience after doing a round of antibiotics.

Well what if you have dry skin? What about Hydration?

You can still incorporate hydration into your routine! Just apply it after washing your skin, but before applying any oil-based formulas. Personally, I spray my face with rosewater after washing, then apply any lotion or whatever over top of that, locking in the moisture. Rosewater is basically all the water from rose petals after the rose essential oil is removed via steam distillation. It requires no preservatives, but some brands say it needs to be refrigerated (I don’t do that and have never had an issue). It’s anti-inflammatory and it smells really amazing. I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs (affiliate).

🌞 My SPF 50 Sunscreen Recipe
(Coconut, Shea, Jojoba & Rosehip)

When shopping for your ingredients to make your own sunscreen, I recommend checking out Mountain Rose Herbs. Using my link really helps fund the upkeep costs for my website, and the time I take to write these articles for you all.

Mountain Rose is one of the very few companies I choose to work with because it is where I have found the best quality herbs of all the US-based herb retailers. The quality is a lot fresher and sourcing is verifiable, most of their products are either USDA organic or wildcrafted, which means it was foraged in the wild. It would mean so much to me if you’d use my link!

Makes about ~475 g of sunscreen (fills 2 cups)

Ingredients (by weight):

• Coconut oil – 150 g

  • Best: Wildly Organic Centrifuge Extracted, Economical: Kirkland Organic Coconut Oil

• Shea butter – 100 g Mountain Rose Herbs

• Jojoba oil – 70 g Mountain Rose Herbs

• Rosehip seed oil – 20 g Mountain Rose Herbs

• Non-nano zinc oxide – 133 g (28% of total weight, for SPF ~50) Sky Organics

Instructions:

1. Melt base oils:

   • In a double boiler, gently melt coconut oil and shea butter together. Avoid overheating. You could also use a microwave for this step.

2. Add liquid oils:

   • Remove your mixture from heat, then stir in jojoba and rosehip oils.

3. Add zinc oxide:

   • While wearing a mask and/or working in a well-ventilated space, slowly stir in zinc oxide until fully incorporated and smooth.

4. Jar it:

   • Pour into non-plastic jars or tins and allow to cool completely before sealing.

Use & Storage Tips:

Store in a cool, dark place (fridge in hot climates).

Reapply every 1–2 hours when in sun or after swimming.

Leaves a light white cast—a sign of real zinc protection!

Shelf life: about 6 months.