Did you know that you can protect your skin from the sun and protect the marine sea life at the same time? Yes, now you can with Stream2Sea’s sunscreen products. This reef safe, biodegradable personal care company is committed to making a difference with the aquatic ecosystem. We are happy to introduce to Founder, Autumn Blum and her mineral-based sunscreens. You will get a chance to try the Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen SPF 45 and the Every Day Tint Mineral Sunscreen SPF 45 in the January 2023 Box. Find out everything about this woman-owned company from its commitment to reef safe sunscreen and how these biodegradable sunscreens can work for you.
How did Stream2Sea get its start?
I love the ocean. I love being on the ocean, in the ocean and under the ocean. My parents say that I learned how to swim before I could walk. The day that I learned how to breathe underwater was the day I fell in love with SCUBA. It was my super power!
I became a NAUI scuba diver when I was 14, and dove as much as I could as a kid. Then, I went off to college, became a cosmetic chemist and started a business. There was no time or money for diving for many years. In 2009, I sold my business and started diving again. I was diving in Palau when I first thought about how our sunscreens and personal care products might be affecting our coral reefs. I was making a slow ascent to the surface after a gorgeous dive when I saw a rainbow coming off a group of snorkelers. I realized it wasn’t a rainbow, but an oil slick coming off their bodies. When I got on the boat, I grabbed the nearest bottle of sunscreen and read the ingredients. I knew there wasn’t a health food store in the world that would sell this product. The ingredients weren’t safe for our bodies, let alone for our reefs. I obsessed over this concept for the rest of the trip. What was in the shampoo I was using? What was in the conditioner she was using? What sunscreen were you using?
I knew when I got home that I needed to develop a line of sunscreens and body care products that were safe for us and safe for our reefs. What I didn’t know was how challenging it would be to do it!
What inspired the Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen SPF 45?
While we all know that mineral-based sunscreens are THE best option for us & our waters, not everyone likes the way they look and feel.
For six years, I’ve been searching for a form of zinc oxide that would be effective, look good, AND pass Stream2Sea’s rigorous aquatic safety standards. Our Every Day Mineral Sunscreen SPF45 with EcoSafe Zinc™ and our unique patent-pending WetBoost Technology™.
Who doesn’t want a little sparkle in their life? But, glitter has long been known for it’s damaging effects on our environment. Over the years, many “better” glitter options presented themselves, some even being 98% plastic free, but 98% still contains plastic! So, when a completely plastic free option became available, we were excited to be able to offer our customers the option to shine!
What are the key ingredients in your Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen SPF 45?
- Zinc Oxide 19% (non-nano, EcoSafe Zinc™)
- Powerful antioxidants to help restore your skin after a day in the sun, including Turmeric, holy basil, green tea and mineral-rich seaweed!
- Squalane – stimulates collagen AND helps reduce the whitening of our formulas, plant-based of course, because we love sharks too!
What can people expect after using the Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen SPF 45?
Our Every Day Mineral Sunscreen Shimmer delivers a golden shimmer with eco-friendly mineral sparkle, while still offering significant mineral-based sun protection. Featuring our proprietary antioxidant blend, it protects, nourishes, and restores even the most sensitive skin.
This is not a gaudy glitter! Think of it as your environmentally conscious shimmer when you want to add subtle yet stunning sparkle to your sunny day!
How is your Every Day Tint Mineral Sunscreen SPF 45 different from the Shimmer Sunscreen?
Both the Every Day Tint Mineral Sunscreen and Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen use our patent-pending WetBoost Technology – which means it is even more effective after you go play in the water.
The Every Day Tinted Sunscreen is a more beauteous look, and works well with most complexions.
The Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen is perfect for when you want to add a little more sparkle to your day, while staying ecoconscious.
Can you use both at the same time?
Absolutely!
Every Day Tinted Sunscreen is more optimal for use on the face, while Every Day Shimmer Sunscreen is perfect for any area on the body where you’d like to add a little sparkle.
When is the best time to use the Shimmer and the Mineral Sunscreen?
The release of our new Every Day Mineral Sunscreen mark two major advances for Stream2Sea. It’s our first-ever mineral sunscreen made with only Eco-Safe™ Zinc Oxide rather than titanium dioxide because we finally found a non-nano zinc oxide that really is reef-safe.
Even more importantly for our most active customers, it’s a brand-new formulation with our patent-pending WetBoost™ Technology that makes it even more effective after you’re wet. That means after you swim or sweat, your SPF protection only gets better instead of washing away like most sunscreens.
Are these sunscreens water-resistant?
The FDA no longer allows the use of the term “waterproof” when labeling sunscreens. In 2011, the FDA changed the regulations regarding how sunscreens could be labeled. Water-proof, Sweat-proof and sunblock were all removed from (compliant) labels, as the FDA determined these were misleading claims. Some sunscreens are certainly more sweat and water resistant than others, but NONE are water proof!
Under the new regulations, sunscreens must now pass third party testing showing how long the consumer can expect the SPF protection to hold up while swimming or sweating.
How is this done?
Human volunteers apply sunscreen to their bodies, then after its dry, they are immersed in comfortable agitated water for 20 minutes. Then, they come out of the water for 20 minutes, and repeat for a total of 40 minutes of water immersion. The SPF is then measured AFTER the water immersion. This is the SPF that can then be printed on the bottle of the sunscreen that claims 40 minutes of water resistance. Very resistant tests would repeat until a total of 80 minutes immersion is reached.
How long does Stream2Sea Sunscreens last?
All of our biodegradable sunscreens, including our lip balm, exceed the FDA’s rating for 80-minute water resistance. When you are ready to remove our reef safe sunscreens, you will literally need to wash them off with soap and water. Another advantage to our enhanced water resistance sunscreen is that if you sweat or swim, it won’t run into your eyes or rinse off in the water. Even so, you should reapply every 80 minutes if you are sweating or swimming, or every two hours.
Can your sunscreens can be worn with makeup?
Yes! All of our sunscreens make a great addition to your makeup routine; however, many people find they don’t need to use a base makeup when using our tinted sunscreens or BB Cream.
What other products from you brand can you suggest to our subscribers?
Stream2Sea Daily Hydration BB (Beauty Balm) Cream offers 3-in-1 benefits for adventurers on the go. Daily hydration, SPF protection, and neutral-tinted correction that blends nicely with most skin tones. Apply daily, safe for sensitive skin. Tested and proven safe for you & our waters!
Stream2Sea Prebiotic Essentials Tropical Intensive Repair Hand Cream is an EcoConscious moisturizer specially formulated with powerful prebiotics to hydrate, protect, and nourish your skin. Prebiotics helps keep your skin in healthy balance by helping to promote the growth of good bacteria after frequent washing and sanitizer use. It contains the safest ingredients for you, your family, and our planet.
Restore your hair’s natural shine following exposure to the sun or salt water with our natural biodegradable Leave-in Hair Conditioner made with our potent antioxidant blend of Green Tea, Tulsi, Wakame and Olive Leaf.
Talk to us about your fight for Sunscreen Bans.
With the immense amount of testing behind our products, Autumn has served as an expert witness and advocate for sunscreen bans. We testified in the Virgin Islands and have advocated for all of the global bans on toxic sunscreen ingredients. Autumn was even invited to present to the National Science Academy’s Sunscreen review.
Just as our planet’s rainforests are essential for biodiversity, our coral reefs provide the rich biodiversity essential for the health of our planet’s oceans. Although they cover a mere 0.1% of the ocean, 25% of all marine species live within coral reefs. Through tourism, fisheries and coastal protection, our reefs are also extremely valuable to our global economy – up to $172 billion dollars a year, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Even though coral may look like rocks or plants, they are really living animals, animals that are very sensitive to environmental factors such as climate change, as well as human activities like pollution and unsustainable fishing. It’s even been proven that the sunscreen we use to protect our bodies can contribute to coral viruses and bleaching.
Chemical based sunscreens usually contain a combination of two or more active ingredients like oxybenzone, avobenzone, octylmethoxycinnamate and homosalate. Many of these ingredients bioaccumulate in the body and have suspected and documented health concerns, and they have also been shown to be hazardous to the environment. Four ingredients commonly found in sunscreens were recently shown to bleach or kill coral in very small concentrations – so low that they already are commonly found in popular reef destinations!
- Oxybenzone – found in more than 3,500 sunscreens, this ingredient is shown to disrupt coral reproduction, cause bleaching and damages coral DNA.
- Butylparaben – a very common preservative shown to cause coral bleaching
- Octinoxate/ ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate – shown to cause coral bleaching
- 4-methylbenzylidenene camphor – shown to cause coral bleaching.
Some mineral sunscreen ingredients have even been shown to be harmful to the aquatic environment. Nano particles have become a major cause of concern regarding their ability to bioaccumulate in aquatic species. ClearZinc®, although naturally compliant, is listed as highly toxic to fish and/or aquatic organisms on the front page of its MSDS sheet.
What’s next for Stream2Sea?
We are always looking to add to our performance-based line of products that are safe for you and safe for our blue planet! As we learn more, we strive to do better in everything that we do. We enjoy taking something that is commonly used and working to make it perform better while eliminating any negative impacts to the environment. Expanding our performance-based skin care is a top goal!
Subscribers who get the January Box will get samples of your Tint Shimmer and the Mineral Sunscreen SPF. What is the one thing you want them to know?
USE OUR EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT CODE COCO20 FOR 20% OFF SITEWIDE AT STREAM2SEA.COM – EXPIRES AUGUST 31, 2023
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