Let the sunshine in! Naturally. I’ve purchased three seven-ounce tubes of UV Natural SPF 30+ sunscreen, which is now selling at Whole Foods, Nordstrom, and in the Chinaberry and Isabella catalogs. (Pssst: here’s a link to a place that reduces the price if you buy more than six tubes.) Glowing write-ups insist this non-greasy formula contains none of the toxic chemicals you’d find in grocery store sunscreens. And even though the label doesn’t say it, UVNatural is also biodegradable, which means it won’t hurt marine life (years ago, shouldn’t that film we left in the ocean have told us something?). I feel safe in telling you this product is biodegradable because I just anonymously emailed the company’s California-based president (the company’s Australian) to ask if I could snorkel anywhere in it, and he said he’d gladly write a note to any resort attesting to his product’s biodegrade-ability since he hasn’t yet received new product labels that say as much! Nice of him to offer, don’t you think?

Explore other options by reading this excellent natural sunscreen guide in the Green Guide that lists sunscreens made by Lavera, Epicuren Discovery, Devita, California Baby, Jason, and a few others. Finally, here’s a pediatric dermatologist attesting that UV Natural’s most active ingredient (good old zinc oxide) is one of two good things (the other being titanium dioxide) to use on children more than six months of age. Gosh, it makes me recall one trip to Florida when our youngest Chat was fat, dimply, and too young for sunscreen. I walked with him in his snuggly on the beach daily, but he never saw a thing; I kept him covered head to foot with a white towel. Protective mom extraordinaire, that’s me!