Gisele Calls Sunscreen Poison (!)
Next time you’re ogling pictures of Gisele in a bikini, look for her cojones—cause she’s got ‘em! We’ve been waiting with baited breath for the supermodel to admit that she’s a clean girl, but she did even better. Here’s what the Huffington Post is reporting:
Last week, the world’s highest-paid supermodel angered dermatologists around the world by declaring sunscreen a “poison.”
“I cannot put this poison on my skin,” Gisele said, according to The Daily Mail. “I do not use anything synthetic.”
We’d heard from a few sources that Gisele was all about clean beauty, and then last year she came out with a three-product natural line called Sejaa. Of course, she’s doing some damage control on the poison comment but she’s not fully taking it back either. Here’s what she wrote on her blog:
Hi all
I would like to clarify the misunderstanding about the use of sunblock. I do use sunblock but also I try my best not to be exposed to the sun when it is too strong. My line of skincare products are all natural and do not contain SPF. I feel we all need to pay more attention to what we are putting on our skin. I definitely know the importance of using sunscreen and I try to look for more natural options. This is a place where they have a list of some more natural option sunscreens, check it out here.
We love that even though she’s backpedaling, she’s still pushing clean (and nice shout out for the Daily Green!). She’d make a lovely spokesmodel for natural beauty, don’t you agree? Anybody, Gisele for Clean Queen?
Send her your book! (And alert the paparazzi while you’re at it!)
I never knew she was a pro-natural person. That’s fantastic.
I read somewhere that Vitamin D deficiency cancers outrank those of skin cancer. I looked for numbers but didn’t get anything solid, probably because Vitamin D deficiency can be the cause of many different cancers.
What would be interesting is seeing numbers of skin cancer before and after the push for sunscreens.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/vitamin-D
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/october/vitamin-d.html
It would also be interesting to see the portfolios of Dermatologists; I’m sure many of them are heavily invested in the products they prescribe and endorse.
I agree with Gisele in principal ( I myself use only zinc based all natural sunblocks) but I worry that her remarks will discourage those who can’t afford an expensive bottle of organic sunblock from using any sunblock at all – and that, in my opinion is much, much more dangerous.
I also agree that avoiding the sun is the best option of all; sunblocks and sunscreens can give us a false sense of security and keep us out in the sun far, far longer than we should be.
Sun exposure is cumulative over your lifetime, which is why skin cancer can show up 15 to 20 years after the original sun damage occured, and why once you’ve had it, you’re more likely to get it again – the damage has already been done.
Your body only needs about 5-10 minutes of sun exposure a day twice a week to produce enough Vitiamin D (if you are fair skinned – darker skinned people may need more). After that you stop producing Vitamin D anyway, (otherwise we’d all die of Vitamin D overdoses.) To my mind, the risk of skin cancer far outweighs any potential benefits of getting your vitmain D from the sun – not when there are dietary and supplemental alternatives.
She made that statement when she launched her Sejaa brand in Brazil. It was very controversial, many people called her crazy and stuff. But she’s got a point.
She also got great exposure for her new brand by being controversial! Heck I’m guilty, I checked out the website and read up on the small line of products she’s offering.
I love that she called out the industry. I would’ve loved it even more if she had said something about the recent research on Vitamin A’s inclusion in sunscreen potentially increasing the amount of damage done to skin. But kudos to her.
As for sunscreen.. I work outside in Florida and I spend a small fortune every year in the cleanest sunscreen possible. The more you use it the more important it becomes to only apply clean products. Can you imagine the toxicity load I’d have if I relied on oxybenzone based products to protect my skin every single day of the year??? Yikes!
I dissolve vitamin C in water and spray it on my family’s skin half an hour prior to sun exposure. Works like a charm.
Then we always follow up AFTER sun with vitamin e oil.
I never used sun screen on a regular basis, but I stopped using at all for any reason about 6 years ago.
Shirts when the boys swim…
Stay out of the sun when it’s really intense….
Slather on either vitamin C or coconut oil for natural sun screens and ALWAYS follow up with E after.
Straight E oil is AMAZING on sunburn too if you have one. Immediate coverage in E oil will keep a sunburn from ever actually HURTING and aids in the healing in a huge way~
<3
I´m currently travelling in the north of Brazil, and it´s nice to know someone in Brazil cares about what they put on their skin. Granted, the variety of products available in the north is likely much more limited than other places, but I can´t even find soap without fragrance, much less a clean shampoo (and baking soda is super expensive…). I can´t go outside for very long at all without sunscreen, but I have been using a super natural zinc oxide one that makes me looks slightly bluish (and I´m really really white normally). Forgetting hurts…