How to Find Sunscreens that Really Protect the Skin Without Harmful Chemicals

Greening your exercise generally means doing it outside. With the sun's warming rays beckoning, seems now is the perfect time to oblige. But before you take the bait and bask, be sure to take the proper precautions and protect yourself with sunscreen—naturally.

Yes, even athletes use a barrier to thwart the sun's temptation to turn their skin into leather. But more than just skin deep, the harsh rays can potentially damage your immune system, breakdown collagen (the root of wrinkles), and form free radicals (which can lead to many cancers).

So what's an outdoor lover to do? Slather yourself with ample amounts of SPF, and wear a hat!

Now...don't even attempt to use sweating as an excuse to lather up! Because it's not an excuse anymore! That's one of the many reasons we love natural SPF's—they don't contain a lot of those nasty (and harmful) chemicals that turn eyeballs beat red if a bead of sweat happens to roll off your forehead. As for water sports—that's what waterproof is for!

Dr. Rob Streisfeld, a Naturopathic doctor, has never been a fan of sunscreens. "The skin is a living, breathing organ of the body. To cover it up with substances to protect it from the sun may be too often be counterproductive. This is definitely the case when chemicals and artificial ingredients are used."

The majority of sunscreens found on the shelves in drugstores and supermarkets touting SPF are loaded with harmful chemicals that don't just sit on the skin, but soak in and get absorbed into the body through the skin. Many of those chemical ingredients are obvious?you seemingly need a degree in Organic Chemistry to understand what they are. The problem is that many of them have been shown to disrupt hormonal systems and increase the production of free radicals, while hardly protecting you from UVA and UVB rays.