Using Coconut Oil as a Natural Sunscreen – Organic Sunblock Recipe

by Natural Remedies World

You can use a natural sunscreen to protect your skin from dangerous UV rays. Anything you put on your skin will be absorbed into the body. If you’re sunblock contains toxic chemicals, they will be absorbed into your body. To prevent this from happening make your own organic sunblock at home for daily use.

Virgin Coconut Oil

You may not believe it, but you can use coconut oil as a sunscreen. I know that using oil to protect your skin from the sun seems counterintuitive, but it works. When I first read about using virgin coconut oil as sunscreen I didn’t believe it.

My husband is very fair and will burn within twenty minutes of being in the afternoon sun. Recently on a trip to Florida we tested out using coconut oil instead of sunscreen on him. He put the oil on before heading out and he didn’t get burned. He did get a bit of redness in some areas, but they turned in to a tan and not a burn.

You can get even better results if you combine using it externally with using it internally as well. Try eating a tablespoon of coconut oil daily in addition to putting it on your skin.

Sunscreen Recipe

Here’s a natural sunscreen recipe you can try if you want to use more than just coconut oil.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unrefined sesame oil
1 tablespoon unrefined jojoba oil
1 tablespoon unrefined avocado oil
1 tablespoon almond oil
2 tablespoon cocoa butter
1 tablespoon shea butter
1 teaspoon bee’s wax
1 teaspoon lecithin (sunflower or egg-based is best)
2 tablespoons aloe vera gel
2 tablespoons rose water
1/2 teaspoon borax
20 drops carrot seed essential oil
3 to 5 drops coconut fragrance oil (optional)

In a double boiler, melt the cocoa butter and bee’s wax slowly. Add the sesame, jojoba, and avocado oils. Now add the lecithin. Mix well and remove from heat. Add the shea butter and mix it until the shea butter dissolves. If it gets too hot shea butter becomes grainy that’s why you should remove it from the heat before adding it.

In another small pot mix the rosewater, aloe vera gel and borax. Heat the mixture gently while stirring constantly. Once the borax has dissolved completely remove it from the heat and let cool.

Place the small pot containing the liquid ingredients in a bowl of ice. Pour in the oil mixture while stirring vigorously to make a creamy natural sunscreen. You’ll have the best results if you use an electric mixer. Once combined add the carrot essential oil and fragrance. Stir well, put into a jar and store in your refrigerator.

Diet

What you put into body can contribute to getting sunburn. When your diet is balanced with a good ratio of essential fatty acids and is full of nutrient dense foods and antioxidants you’ll be less prone to burning.

When you eat a diet that contains too many omega 6 fatty acids it throws the balance of your skin out of whack making you more prone to burning. The ratio of omega 6 fats to omega 3 fats should range ideally from 1:1 to 3:1. When people have a ratio of 4:1 and above they start to see health problems.

In our modern society we eat way too many omega 6 fatty acids because we consume lots of vegetable and grain based oils. Cutting down on these oils and eating more flax and oily fish will help increase your omega 3 intake while decreasing your omega 6 intake.

I suggest cutting vegetable oils out of your diet all together. You’ll still get the omega 6 fats you need from the grains and vegetables you eat, but you won’t be getting an overdose of them from oils. I mainly use coconut oil, palm oil and grass-fed organic butter for cooking. These are good fats that will help provide your body with fat soluble vitamins. I also use olive oil in my kitchen for making delicious homemade salad dressings.

Foods rich in lycopene will help protect you sun from sun damage. Tomatoes, watermelon, and red peppers are all high in lycopene.

The antioxidants in green tea help boost the skin’s ability to protect itself. Drink a cup of green tea a day to decrease the risk of sunburn.

St. John’s Wort

You can make an oil infusion with St. John’s Wort to use as a natural sunscreen. Here is a video about how you can use St. John’s Wort as sun protection.