Best sunscreen for the money: Safe brands under $20 (part one)

In California, sunscreen season is year round. We all want to buy the best product for our kids. Fortunately, for under $20 or less, you can get safe, effective, chemical-free and organic sunscreens. It’s good news for budget conscious parents.
What sunscreen do you use right now on your kids? The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released it's 2009 sunscreen investigation. If you haven’t seen it, take a look HERE. It lists nearly 500 of the best and worst sunscreens on the market. The EWG set out to find the most effective and safe brands. The worst, according to the EWG, is Coppertone Ultra. Some of the best are Soleo Organics and Badger Sunscreen. You can read more about the Best & Worst Sunscreen brands for your kids HERE.

This summer, I set out to find the best sunscreen brands for parents on a budget. This list, while not exclusive, includes sunscreens under $20, a parent review, and where to buy it in the San Francisco Bay Area. After using a cheaper drugstore brand sunscreen for years, I always wound up with spotty burns, red skin and mediocre protection. Our family put 5 top-ranked sunscreen brands, according to the EWG, to the test. Did we notice a difference in effectiveness compared to our old drugstore brand? YES. These sunscreens were more effective in preventing burns and redness.  It’s impacted what sunscreen I will buy in the future for my family.

California Baby-  This company is known for it’s top-of-the-line kid’s skin care products.  California Baby also consistently ranks very high on the Environmental Working Group's list for safe and effective sunscreen. For kids sake, it’s tear free. Some are also very water resistant. It’s also contains no nuts, gluten, soy, oat or dairy. This company produces sunscreen for those with very sensitive skin. Kids and adults.

Parent Review: California Baby isn’t just for babies or kids. Our family tested two of it’s sunscreens and loved them. The first, California Baby SPF 30+ sunscreen, is labeled “very water resistant.”  This is a non-greasy, easy to put on, fragrance free lotion.  This sunscreen really offers great protection, just make sure you reapply every -80- minutes. When applying, the lotion is thick and does leave a “ghosting” type white sheen on your child’s skin. That is the zinc oxide in the sunscreen.  As a parent, I actually like the white sheen. It’s helpful in determining what areas of your kids skin needs to be covered with sunscreen. I always cover my child’s face, ears and neck with sunscreen. This didn’t cause irritation. The only downside, it contains the much controversial micronized titanium dioxide. California Baby SPF 18 moisturizing sunscreen is the second brand we tested. This lotion comes in a tube or a 4.5 oz pump container. The lotion is not as thick as the California Baby SPF 30+ sunscreen. It also does not leave a white sheen on your skin. This is ideal for a short stint in the sun. It is very effective as long as you reapply every -40- minutes, also great too for moms or dads as an everyday sunscreen lotion for hands.

Find it in the Bay Area: Whole Foods, Mollie Stones Market or on line www.californiababy.com

Price: $19.99 for 2.9 oz. California Baby SPF 30+
$19.99 for 4.5 oz. California Bay SPF 18+

Green Screen-  This sunscreen is made in Boulder, Colorado by Kabana Skin Care. The company produces moisturizers, lotions and even baby products. However, it’s sunscreen called, “Green Screen” gets high marks from the Environmental Working Group. The EWG ranks Green Screen in the top 25, as a safe and effective sunscreens. CEO Erik Kreider says Green Screen is 86% organic and contains only 8 ingredients. The ingredients are items that don’t require a science degree to understand. This sunscreen contains things such as olive oil, shea butter and water. Kreider also tells me that Green Screen contains the most zinc oxide of any sunscreen on the market at 25%. It’s important because  zinc oxide protects against UVA and UVB rays. 

Parent Review: No titanium dioxide in Green Screen, this is an organic and fragrance free product. At first glance, what I love about Green Screen is the easy to read ingredient list and directions on the back of the bottle. It’s in large print compared to most sunscreen companies. It comes in a bottle that is also recyclable. This company produces a regular sunscreen and a tinted one. We put Green Screen to the test on a 90+ degree day, while at the pool for 2 hours. We applied it twice. The Green Screen SPF 20 regular sunscreen goes on easily and isn’t shiny or greasy. It will leave a white sheen on your skin. It can make your skin look like a ghost. As a mom, I prefer that. It aids in knowing where to apply sunscreen to kids. Green Screen doesn’t claim to be water resistant, however we got great protection during our two hours at the pool. We also tested the Green Screen SPF 22 skin tone “tinted” sunscreen. The color of the sunscreen looks very similar to make-up foundation. CEO Erik Kreider says it’s an option for people that don’t like that white “ghosting” sheen the regular brand leaves on your skin. For us, it looked a bit too “pink” on our skin. Our preference is definitely the regular brand. The only downside was when we accidentally got the sunscreen on our clothes and swimsuit, it did leave an unsightly white stain until it was washed. On the upside, Green Screen is safe and very effective for sun protection. Just make sure you do reapply often, this is SPF 20.

Find it in the Bay Area: Whole Foods or at www.KabanaSkinCare.com

Price: $14.95 for 4 oz. or $26.95 for 8 oz. Green Screen SPF 20 Organic Sunscreen
$14.95 for 4 oz. or $26.95 for 8 oz. Green Screen SPF 22 Organic Tinted.  

Soleo Organics - If you are an organic purist, then Soleo is your brand. This company touts a sunscreen with NO chemical UV absorbers, titanium dioxide, oxybenzone or synthetic preservatives. Compared to other sunscreens, it has more than double the zinc oxide at 22.3 %. Soleo Organics is the #1 safest and most effective sunscreen according to the EWG. CEO Rick Sample says Soleo is made in Australia.  A country that has some of the strictest sunscreen standards in the world. Soleo has been selling in the U.S. market for just 3 years.

UP NEXT:  Best sunscreen for the money: Safe brands under $10   (part 2)

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