And Alice fell deeper down the rabbit hole until up was down and down was up and all the insane people were normal and the normal…were insane.

The deeper I delve into “normal” and even “organic” and “natural” beauty and skincare products and their affect on our bodies and nervous systems, our hormones and brains, the more concerned I become. I won’t say panicked because I’m not, the alternative and solutions are simple enough to make however the vast majority of people are unaware of how unhealthy mainstream suncream really is.

I began making my own products because hey, it’s Christmas and I want to create beautiful presents for as many people as possible. Well, that’s explanation No. 1 and it got me moving finally, whereas before I would think “I really should be making this” whenever I bought an expensive “natural” skincare product.

This morning I made my own sun cream. Super easy to do and although I won’t be gifting it to anyone else until my self trial ends, and I’ve added whatever tweaks I deem are necessary, it was an opener.

I’m fair skinned and I grow freckles in summer, although I do tan as well. I’m Australian and I love being outdoors so I occasionally burn and if I’m out in the midday sun I’m mostly wearing sun cream (even though I am mistrustful of commercial products). I reckon better to be less burnt and worry about the chemicals I’m absorbing later.

Then later arrived (as it always does)

My sister had a nasty sun cancer surgically removed from her nose last month. We share the same skin and upbringing. I wear a hat, and long sleeves when working outside, but my aversion to suncream was at an end. I decided to buy a good natural safe one to just add that extra layer of protection.

Kudos to me, but it cost a bomb and the list of ingredients was still extensive and chemically ambiguous. I’d made so many other beautiful products successfully the last couple of weeks that I thought “why not suncream?”

Why not indeed. It took me about half an hour in the thermomix (most of that was waiting for it to cool down to 50 degrees again so I could add my plant based preservative and essential oils) and has a shelf life of six months. It glides on like velvet thanks to the red raspberry oil, coconut oil, Shea butter and olive oil (all of which are high in various antioxidants and are feeding my skin). I used non nano (meaning it will not penetrate the skin) zinc oxcide powder for an SPF protection of 20+. Which is fine for what I need, but with the added red raspberry oil that SPF increases to over 30 and if you needed more than that, you just add more zinc. Oh and it’s cheap.

I am protected from the sun, in a product full of products that I understand from the inside out, and it won’t do me any harm – to the contrary it is doing my skin a lot of good.

All the other oils and butters are fairly standard so we know their benefits. In fact we use them in cooking – this time our skin will be eating them instead of our mouth, but same same.

The RRO is a little more obscure. Red raspberry seed oil is a magical ingredient for skin care. Here is an article (and a quick google search will produce hundreds of similar material) on how brilliant this oil is.

Whilst we are on the subject of articles. Here is a link to some of the scary ingredients to be found in ordinary sun cream (including those by organisations that brand themselves as being healthy and trusted).

So that’s the post today. Recipes for natural home made sun cream abound on the internet but I’ve added a couple of tweaks to mine like cacao powder (again edible, healthy and recognisable) for a slight tint. I definitely don’t want to encourage anyone to stop the slop (in the slip slop slap Aussie jingle) but take a look at the ingredients.

And realise that it is quite easy to make your own alternative.