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Many beauty and wellness trends advocating a return to natural and homemade products are invading social networks. As summer approaches, influencers are riding this wave to offer recipes for sunscreens to make yourself. However, behind this seductive trend lie potential health risks.
Recently, the TikTok of the influencer @Nara Smith went viral after showing how to make homemade sunscreen. The trend immediately alerted dermatologists, who rushed to sound the alarm on social media.
In the video, which has been viewed over 20 million times, Nara Smith’s husband, Lucky Blue Smith, mixes together coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax, and jojoba oil. After melting the ingredients in a double boiler, he adds zinc oxide powder, then lets the mixture cool in the refrigerator before applying it to the skin.
Opinions on this ‘homemade’ recipe are varied. Some Internet users wonder about the power of the cream. ” “How do you know it works?”, “What is the ingredient that makes this cream a sunscreen?”, we can read in the comments. Others, on the other hand, believe it. The video has even been validated by the cosmetics brand Kiehl’s: “A homemade SPF? We love it!”
However, in the face of this new trend, dermatology experts have spoken out to warn the public of the potential dangers.
Although zinc oxide is indeed a sunscreen, the video does not indicate the proportions of the ingredients used, including the main element. For dermatologistsit is impossible to guarantee whether the final product offers SPF 30 or only 3 protection, which puts users at risk of sunburn or increased risk of skin cancer.
“Formulating sunscreen is very complicated and you can’t just mix zinc oxide powder with oils and expect it to protect you properly,” says Dr. Dray, who has 500,000 followers on TikTok. “First of all, zinc oxide at the microscopic level will be clumped. When applied to the skin, it will not provide a uniform layer of protection, and there will also be no film-forming components, so there will be areas where there will simply be no protection at all. I do not recommend doing this”, she adds.
While natural and homemade trends may sound appealing, the formulation of sunscreen products is not the safest.