They’re seriously the only company I ever use. Side Note: If you’re looking for a rental car for your trip, I LOVE Discount Hawaii Car Rentals. This 4.2 oz bottle cost $24 and I came home from a 5 day sun heavy trip with at least half of the bottle still left. You can buy Project Reef online here, but it’s available in pretty much every hotel and resort gift shop I’ve been in on Maui lately plus most resorts also have it available for free on the pool deck. And I will say, this is one of the best I’ve found so far for being smooth enough to rub into your skin really well. Project Reef is a sustainable mineral sunscreen brand that’s actually based on Maui. I’m always trying different ones trying to find the best and while I really like Coola’s mineral lotion, my new favorite is Project Reef. Here’s the deal with mineral based sunscreens: a lot of them rub in and leave that dreaded white cast behind on your skin. Mineral sunscreens come in lotion and spray forms, but just know that even though it’s a spray, it’s still going to spray on white and you’re going to have to rub it in. Nowadays, pretty much every major sunscreen brand has a mineral based line (SunBum, Coola, etc.) and most of them are available at Target, Walmart, CVS, etc. It’s not like it was 5-10 years ago where you had to go track down an obscure brand in a tiny, expensive bottle. Good news friends…there are no shortage of reef safe sunscreens on the market. In this post, I’m going to recommend both reef safe AND reef friendly options (but I’ll be sure to note which are which). It’s kind of a “better” or “best” choice situation. “Reef friendly” is better than the alternatives that contain all the nasty chemicals. Reef friendly sunscreen = sunscreen that doesn’t include oxybenzone or octinoxate Reef safe sunscreen = mineral (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) sunscreen However, the phrase “reef safe” isn’t regulated and like the phrases “organic” or “clean” is pretty open to interpretation.įor the purposes of this post, I’m going to define it this way: The name implies that “reef safe” sunscreens are made of ingredients that are, well, safe for coral reefs. Maui County took notice (maybe with other islands to follow soon) and just decided to go ahead and ban ALL the bad ingredients. Some critics say the limited options for sunscreen now available will result in less sunscreen being used (bad for skin!) while others say that the list of ingredients banned isn’t extensive enough (bad for the ocean!). Obviously, there are supporters and critics of the ban. One study has estimated that as much as 412 pounds of sunscreen is deposited daily at Hanauma Bay on Oahu (one of the most popular snorkeling spots in Hawaii).Yikes! The general Hawaii ban (that covers ALL islands) includes two ingredients/chemicals, oxybenzone and octinoxate, which help filter UV rays, but have also been found to cause bleaching, deformities, DNA damage, and death in coral when deposited in bodies of water. That means the only kind of sunscreen you can buy on Maui (and technically the only kind you’re supposed to use) is the white zinc based kind. In October 2022, Maui County (Maui, Lanai & Molokai) banned the sale, distribution and use of non-mineral sunscreens. Which means most of the cheap, clear spray sunscreens you get at the grocery store at home. In January 2021, the state of Hawaii officially banned the sale of sunscreens containing chemicals harmful to coral reefs which means that you cannot buy sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxate in Hawaii. Are there laws about sunscreen in Hawaii? Why do sunscreen ingredients matter? And what is the best reef safe sunscreen for Hawaii? Read on to find out… Recently I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the sunscreen situation in Hawaii. Reef safe, reef friendly, organic, mineral based, chemical free…there are a lot of buzzwords floating around when it comes to sunscreen.
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