Nanoparticles are tiny versions of chemicals. It is new technology and not studied for the impact on human health. They are very absorbable and used in many products. There is lots of marketing by commercial products to make us think they are good, but they can be dangerous, especially if put on our skin because they can go to our brains and organs, etc. They penetrate quickly and deeply and can have toxic effects. They are not usually labeled unless it is used as a marketing tool. Good companies will say "non-nanoparticles" or micronized instead.
Sunscreens can be thick and chalky if they contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide because they are big molecules. Because of this, many commercial companies nanoize them so they go on the skin with out the white pasty look. Titanium dioxide has been found to increase the risk of lung cancer when in powder form, so don't inhale it or use it in nanoform. Companies that Vicki recommends with zinc oxide and other healthy ingredients that reflect the sun are Marie Veronique and Kabana.
Commercial sunscreens are often full of toxins and can become carcinogenic or inactive in the sun! The Environmental Working Group (EWG) research ranks products by efficiency and toxicity. If you are interested in checking out the products that you like to use or are thinking about using, you can go to www.cosmeticsdatabase.org.
SPF's can't be trusted. Anything over a 50 SPF is meaningless and many companies claim to have higher SPF's which gives people a false security in the sun.
Skin lightening/whitening creams can have excessive levels of mercury and the FDA has no authiority to recall these dangerous products. The FDA is not capable of insuring skin care product safety. See www.safecosmetics.org and lobby your representatives to sponsor the safe cosmetics act that was introduced in 2010 due to the lack of regulation.
Sun Screens are overdone. We need some sun to make healthy levels of vitamin D....20 minutes a day between 10 am - 2 pm. To learn more about safe sunscreens, go to Skin Deep at cosmeticsdatabase.com
