The Learning Lab

What are the banned FDA Sunscreen terms?

By Kari Kenner August 02, 2020 |

Several terms are still used to describe sunscreens that were outlawed by the FDA in 1999. These terms were banned because they provided consumers a false sense of security and wrongly explain what sunscreen does. We often see journalists use these terms when writing about sunscreen and this only adds...

Zinc Oxide: UV Defense

By Kari Kenner April 23, 2020 |

Zinc oxide is simply THE best active sunscreen ingredient, and by a wide margin. Covering the entire UVA/UVB spectrum by itself, it has the most consistently effective absorption capabilities, which never degrade. In contrast, petrochemical sunscreens need multiple active ingredients for complete coverage, which degrades quickly on the shelf, and...

Safe Sunscreen Guide

By Kari Kenner April 19, 2020 |

Are you putting safe sunscreen on your skin? Sunscreen is supposed to protect us from the sun, but as more and more people use it, the incidence of skin cancer rises 4% every year. More sunscreen use, more skin cancer. Something’s not right. Petrochemicals in common sunscreens are damaging our...

What are Free Radicals?

By Kari Kenner March 26, 2020 |

What are Free Radicals? They’re atoms with unpaired (free) electrons. Produced by oxygen metabolizing in the body, they steal electrons from other atoms that make up cell membranes, cellular proteins, lipids and DNA. Each theft creates the need for another, i.e. a chain reaction. This free radical process is a...

What do Antioxidants do?

By Kari Kenner March 26, 2020 |

What do Antioxidants do? Antioxidants do two things: they decrease free radical production, and they neutralize those already created. An antioxidant works by seeking out free electrons and pairing one of its own with the free radical electron, stabilizing it so it can’t do damage. You might ask, “Why don’t...

CoQ10 Benefits for Skin

By Kari Kenner February 25, 2020 |

What is CoQ10? CoQ10, also known as CoEnzyme Q10 or Ubiquinone, is officially recognized as Ubidecarenone by the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP). CoQ10 is a compound that provides energy to the body and is stored in cell mitochondria (the “engine” of cells). Found throughout the body, especially in the heart...