Diary

Avoiding sun exposure at the warmest hours of the day, wearing sun protective swimsuits and clothes and applying sun cream regularly. These are the basic recommendations when it comes to sun protection. While it is hard to imagine a world without sun cream, it is really safe for our skins and our planet? Not so sure…

Indispensables les crèmes solaires ? Oui mais…

Over 15 millions sun creams are sold in France each year. A very profitable market with lots of brands and laboratories competing with creativity and revolutionary technologies. In the end, consumers don’t really know what to choose when they are in front of the products in supermarkets or at the drugstore. Between sprays, milk, oil lotions or special sun creams for children, it has become extremely difficult to choose and pick the one, which is really efficient and not just well marketed. It is indeed very difficult for uninitiated people (including myself!) to make a choice just by looking labels!

A child skin absorbs more than twice the amount of sun cream than an adult. Their skin is thinner and therefore more vulnerable to sunrays but also to the chemical substances present in the sun creams. You then have to be very careful when you pick sun cream for your children. For the youngest ones, a good sun cream is a mineral one without chemical filters and a 50+ solar factor, without any preservative, without any endocrine disruptor, silicone, nanoparticle, alcohol or perfume. You need to apply sun cream regularly for maximum efficiency and again after each swim (good luck keeping up with children, which go back and forth between sand playing and regular swims). According to instruction labels, you need to apply at least 5 sprays per arm every 2 hours. Every parent knows that these episodes often become hectic but they are really essential for insuring sun protection. Far from us the idea of saying that sun creams are useless because we can’t do without them. But you need to keep in mind that these products have their limits and are not full proof methods. They have consequences on our skin and on the planet.

Sun cream: an environmental disaster?

Leaving the tap open when you brush your teeth, taking your car fetch bread around the corner, buying clothes that are made on the other side of the world, using sun cream, each of our actions have consequences on the environment. When we go for a swim, a quarter of the sun cream we wear goes straight away in the water. You may think it is not that bad because it is only a fine layer of sun cream. The problem is that on a global scale it represents 14 000 tonnes of cream polluting the oceans each year, especially places where tourists go during summer. This begs the question: what are the consequences of sun cream for ocean life and its biodiversity?

Chemical filters in some sun cream and chemical substances like oxybenzone have a deleterious effect on corals and certain fish species. The reproductive cycle of corals is disrupted causing whitening, affecting the entire coral reef ecosystem and preventing it from regenerating. In May 2018, Hawaii decided to take a stand against this dramatic impact and voted a law preventing sun cream using oxybenzone and octinoxate from being sold on the archipelago. This hugely significant turning point is a true alarm bell that forces us to find alternative sun creams that are certified non toxic for the marine ecosystem but also sun protecting swimming suits and clothes against harmful UV rays.

Econyl : an eco-friendly alternative?

Dermatologists and paediatricians are starting to recommend sun protective more and more. Rashtops are a simple and efficient way to protect from harmful sunrays but also represent an eco-friendly alternative for sun protection while respecting the environment. At CANOPEA we go one step further but offering sun protective swimsuits that are produced in Europe using recycled plastic. This little miracle is possible thanks to Econyl, a nylon fibre produced from abandoned fishing nets found in the oceans. Our swimsuits are also certified UPF50+ thanks to its tight weave, without using chemical filters. While it does not prevent you from applying sun cream on the face and non-covered body parts, we take care of the rest. While this is a drop compared to what should be done on a global scale, using recycled material sourced locally means that we use less water, less energy to produce our collections, reducing our carbon foot print impact on the environment.

Next time you are on a dreamy beach, with your feet in the transparent turquoise water, let’s think about this sentence from the writer Wallace Stegner: “visit those places for the wellness of your soul but don’t leave any trace”.