Before kids, my sunscreen strategy for myself and Mr. Piñata was to use whatever sunscreen I happened to find on clearance. I was pretty fond of the spray sunscreens because they made application so easy, but I was happy with whatever I could find that was cheap.

But once we had kids I really started doing my research because I started hearing that the chemicals in many sunscreens were not as safe as I assumed them to be. I even found out that my favorite face sunscreen got a score of 10 on the Environmental Working Group’s sunscreen scale (1 is safest and 10 is most dangerous)! Yikes! And later I discovered that spray sunscreens are not really recommended either. So, I decided to start with the list on the Environmental Working Group’s safe sunscreen list, did some price researching, asked other moms what they used, and did some trialing of our own.

In the end, these are our favorite sunscreens for both us and the kids. They all scored a 1 on the EWG’s sunscreen safety scale.

Favorite-Safe-Sunscreens

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1) Baby Badger – This is the sunscreen we use for Sweet P since it has the fewest and safest ingredients. In addition to her digestive sensitivity she has very sensitive skin and eczema, so I have to be extra careful with everything we put on her skin. Thankfully this hasn’t aggravated her eczema at all, so we love this brand for her. It’s also water resistant, so when we are at the pool for a couple of hours I don’t worry about reapplying. Although I just recently discovered that the ingredients are almost identical to the Badger Sport sunscreen, except that the Sport is missing the Chamomile and Canendula scents. So we are going to try out the Sport too. The only downside is that Badger sunscreens are very thick, so they definitely leave you looking white and smeary after applying. But, that’s also a good sign that you are using a mineral based vs a chemical based sunscreen.

2) Baby Badger Sunscreen Stick – We use the Sunscreen stick on Sweet P’s face because toddlers are wiggly and I feel like it’s easier to apply without feeling nervous about getting it in her eyes.

3) Blue Lizard Baby Sunscreen – This is in our list mostly because of price. It’s still a good mineral sunscreen that has kept us from getting burnt, but there are some ingredients in here that don’t register as 100% safe on the EWG list. It’s also not water resistant, so it’s not best for a day at the beach. But, we do use it when we aren’t in the water and for those of us without such sensitive skin it works just fine. And is still high on the safe list and free of the most concerning chemicals.

4) ThinkBaby Sunscreen – If I had to choose my all-around favorite sunscreen it would be this one. It definitely has more ingredients than Baby Badger, so we don’t use it on Sweet P, but all of the ingredients are safe (they are all 1s except the Zinc Ozide is a 2 and is the necessary sun protecting ingredient). It’s also SPF 50+, which I love (vs 30 or 35 on the others), has the highest level of water resistance (80 minutes) and goes on really smoothly and doesn’t leave as much of a thick layer of white as other mineral sunscreens we have tried. We love it!

Of course, there are many other safe sunscreens on their list, and I definitely didn’t try every single one of them, but I am really happy using these brands on our family. If you are wondering how safe the ingredients are in your or your children’s sunscreen (or even cosmetics or body products), you can search for them on the EWG website. And also check out what the most common reasons are for giving a sunscreen an unsafe rating. I am shocked at how many baby and kids sunscreens scored a 10, and am glad I did some research before using them on our sensitive little girl. There are also some adventurous parents that have made their own sunscreen (here is a highly recommended recipe if you’re interested), but I’m definitely not ready for that yet!

What have you discovered in your sunscreen research? What are some really safe sunscreens you use but that I have missed?