Sunscreens are an essential part of your everyday routine, if it’s not, then maybe you might wanna start including it now (You may read all about sunscreen in our previous blog posts). However, have you ever thought about its environmental impact?

Wait, whaaat?

Sunscreens are important to keep the harmful UV rays away from your skin, but some actually pose a threat to the environment, namely the corals and marine life. We know, you must be wondering, how could that possibly happen?

Let us explain the logic to you (We were mind-boggled about this at first, too). According to experts, most sunscreens contain harmful ingredients (that are safe to us, don’t worry) but unfortunately, pose a threat to the beautiful reefs and our fellow fishies in the sea. The following are the harmful ingredients: Benzophenone-1, Benzophenone-8, OD-PABA, 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor, 3-Benzylidene camphor, and Octocrylene.

Even if you don’t swim, the harmful ingredients can somewhat end up in the ocean. When you shower, the sunscreen that you lather in your skin will melt and end up in the world’s waterways, multiplying it by everyone else in this world, that causes coral reefs to be bleached, deformed and worse, killed. Not only that, it also decreases the fertility among fish, causing birth defects. These ingredients also negatively affect the algae in which it impairs their growth and also disrupts their photosynthesis process.

Remember, whatever that is happening in the Sea, could eventually affect you too, hence why it’s important to make environmental-friendly decisions when it comes to buying things. We understand that not everybody has the privilege to do so but dear reader, if you’re reading this and you think you can afford to make that purchasing decision, then get yourself a reef-safe sunscreen so you can help protect the precious marine life that’s simply important to the ecosystem and ultimately, irreplaceable.