natural sunscreen

[wildWoman]

Does anyone know of a plant or natural material to make your own sunprotection? I guess anything that leaves pigments on your skin, like charcoal, would work, but is not exactly practical. I think you can use the powdery stuff that trembling aspen trunks are coated with, but can you mix it with homemade lotion and does it work as sunscreen then?

[LeaveThisLifeGuy]

i always thought to use mud in a survival situation. or maybe that was to keep the mosquitos off of ya?

[Rick]

mud just keeps the Alien from seeing you if you are Arnold.

You can use Buchberry berries and Fireweed root to soothe burns but I've never heard of a sun screen. I'll have to do some checking on that.

[Rick]

It looks like both St. Johns Wort and Wild Parsnip can CAUSE sunburn but I don't see anything that will act as a sunscreen. Zinc Oxide anyone?

[Tony uk]

It looks like both St. Johns Wort and Wild Parsnip can CAUSE sunburn but I don't see anything that will act as a sunscreen. Zinc Oxide anyone?

Honey will help soothe burns and also act as an antiseptic, Ive never heard of a plant that would act as a sun screen however.

Edit:-


Zinc or titanium dioxide cream will reflect UVA and UVB but leaves a white film on the skin

http://expeditionmedicine.co.uk/resource.php?id=34

It looks like zinc oxide would work :)

[Ken]

Even most pocket survival kits contain a teabag. A cold wet teabag can soothe a sunburn.

[Rick]

Consumer Reports (July 2007) lists two products, Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch SPF 45 and No-Ad Sunblock Lotion Maximum SPF 45 as best buys and work to block both UVA and UVB rays. I know they are not wilderness plants but it's the next best thing I guess.

[crashdive123]

Pitcher Sage Sunshine Protection
(or an all-natural, non-rated sunscreen)
Sick of the suffocating smell of Coppertone? Tired of spending ten bucks on crème de titanium oxide? Have no fear of exposing your skin!—An herbal alternative is on the way!
Pitcher Sage is full of various antioxidants, thus making it a good herb to use as a primitive sunscreen. Michael Moore provides the following recipe, based on the folk use of a Brazilian relative.
Steep a cup of crushed Pitcher Sage leaves and ½ cup of Chaparral (larrea tridentata) leaves in enough organic olive oil to cover completely, set for a month, strain out, and rub into the skin. It's protectant rating is not known, but according to Moore, the oil seems to save the skin from sunburn. Plus, the olive oil makes a nice moisturizer.
Adapted from Michael Moore's Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West.

Source - http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/pitcher_sage_sunscreen.html

Sunscreen Lotion
Purchase PABA in 500 mg tablet form. Dissolve 1 tablet in grain alcohol or vodka. Grind the tablet first by putting it in a plastic bag and rolling over it with a glass jar. It will not completely dissolve even if you use a tablespoon of the alcohol. Pour the whole mixture into a 4 ounce bottle of homemade skin softener. Be careful not to get the lotion into your eyes when applying it. A better solution is to wear a hat or stay out of the sun. Remember to take PABA as a supplement, too (500 mg, one a day)
Source - http://www.modernwife.com/huldabody.html There are a lot of good ideas on this site.

Sunscreen Lotion Recipe
Natural-Protection Cream
3 tbsp. unrefined sesame oil
1 tbsp. unrefined avocado oil
1 tbsp. unrefined jojoba oil
1 tbsp. walnut or almond oil
1 tbsp. shea butter
2 tbsp. cocoa butter
1 tsp. beeswax
1 tsp. soya-lecithin
2 tbsp. aloe-vera gel
2 tbsp. rose or lavender water
1/2 tsp. borax powder
20 drops carrot-seed essential oil
3-5 drops coconut fragrance oil (optional)
1. Melt the first 4 oils, butters and beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat until just melted. Add the soya-lecithin, and stir to blend. Remove from heat.
2. In a small saucepan, gently warm the aloe-vera gel and rose or lavender water, and stir in borax powder until dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. When the oil and water mixtures are still warm to the touch and about the same temperature, set the small saucepan into a bowl of ice. Drizzle in the oil mixture while mixing rapidly with a small whisk; a cream will quickly form.
4. Add carrot-seed essential oil and coconut fragrance oil if desired; blend thoroughly.
5. Store in a clean, airtight jar or bottle, and refrigerate.
Source - http://www.a1-natural-beauty.com/Sunscreen_Lotion.html

[Ken]

My luck, I'll get stopped driving down the road. Cop will look at me and say, "Hey, Counsellor, is that vodka I'm smelling on you?":(

[Rick]

Just say, "Of course not. It's grain alcohol.";)

[Ken]

Just say, "Of course not. It's grain alcohol.";)

Bail me out?

[Rick]

You bet. You'll need to sign this promissory note. It's just a technicality and don't worry about the 18% interest. I won't charge a friend that even though it's clearly spelled out in the form.:rolleyes:

[Ken]

Thanks. I'll buy two toothbrushes. I'll need one for where I'll be going, and I'll send the other one to you. Read the BBQ thread.:D

[crashdive123]

New shirts for your web site Rick?

http://www.founditemclothing.com/t-shirts/gfx/chicos-bail-bonds-shirt.jpg

[Ken]

Et Tu, Brute?:( DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM!

[crashdive123]

Nah. Just looking for business opportunities. If we sell enough of them. We can start the QC Department Foundation of Good Taste.

[Rick]

Si! Me and the man. Get it? Old TV show?

[Ken]

Si! Me and the man. Get it? Old TV show?

Black and White T.V.?

[Rick]

Chico and the Man was in color. Freddie Prinze and Jack Albertson.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/chcoman.jpg

[crashdive123]

Grew up with black & white tv. First show I saw in color was Star Trek.

[Ken]

Need a Q-Tip. Still have coffee stuck between the f-g-h keys...........

[Ken]

Grew up with black & white tv. First show I saw in color was Star Trek.

See my post today on phasers and photon torpedos?

[crashdive123]

Saw it. Already on the waiting list.

[Rick]

I can't remember not having a TV. Black and white here, too. Used to sit in front of the test pattern waiting for the show to come on and if I was really lucky, I got to stay up until the Star Spangled Banner played. Used to listen to those 1000 watt stations up in Chicago or in St. Louis.

[crashdive123]

Seems like just yesterday. Can see about half the members of the forum reading this thread saying "What the heck are these geezers talking about"?

[Ken]

Remember watching JFK's funeral, reports about John Glenn, and the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. All in Black and White. Walter Cronkite. After all those black and white newscasts decades age, I met him for the first time about 5 years back. Things were a lot better back then. Damn the technology.

[Rick]

Soupy Sales, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan. You are There. The Honeymooners. Lassie (wipes tear) Go girl. Go get help. Arf! (sniff).

[crashdive123]

*Arf! Arf! - What's that girl? Timmy fell in the well?*

[Rick]

What a show! All the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black. As soon as they walked into the saloon you knew the bad guys were gonna catch heck. Branded. The Rifleman. Desert Rats. Combat. Roy Rogers. Sky King. Paladin. Man, those were some great shows.

[crashdive123]

Quite a few can still be seen on a regular basis. Bonanza (Lorne Green - another Canadian), Andy Griffith Show, Rat Patrol, Million Dollar Movie every Sunday.

[Arkansas_Ranger]

i always thought to use mud in a survival situation. or maybe that was to keep the mosquitos off of ya?

that's what i as gonna say

[Leon]

I have heard of mud a possibility, and a natural / "emergency" sunscreen is something that i am keen to hear of since i have tattoos and would like to preserve my art in all possibile situations.

Of course the best sun block in a survival situation is simply to cover up, westerners tend to remove their clothes in the sun but look to nomadic desert dwellers and they are covered from head to toe!

[Gray Wolf]

If you're near any Ocean, Mushroom Coral, which is a living organism, secretes a natural sun blocker (45 rating). It looks like a GIANT brown top mushroom. They live close to the edge of the ocean so when the tide is low, they secrete this sun blocker to protect themselves. You just pick it up (they can be almost a foot long) hold it up side ways and water will drain out first, then the fluid gets thicker, that's what you use. Then you can put it back and use it again later if you need. I think Man and the Wild had shown that on an episode too.

[wildWoman]

Thanks for the info and recipes, people...guess I'll just have to burn or paddle with a face mask (mud mask?!)...every summer the same idiotic problem, didn't buy sunscreen the year before and then I fry when I paddle out. Shall put it on the shopping list right now.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

the inside of coconut works well. Just take the inside stuff and rub it into your skin (this will remove some salt, if not all salt, from your skin as well). You can also use the coconut for food and the shell for storing a coal so that you don't need to start a new fire the next night (or whenever it strikes your fancy).

[Leon]

Do you meant rub the edible part on to the skin? or the inside of the shell?

[Beo]

Natural sun screen, stay in the house.
I do not use sun screen, never have. Even when we went to Jamica, Mexico, even Florida for that matter I just don't use it.

[Rick]

The first time they scrape that basal cell carcinoma off your ear you'll start using it. It's not just a matter of getting burned. It's a practical matter of keeping your skin healthy.

[wildWoman]

I unearthed an almost, but not quite, empty tube of diaper rask ointment in our 1st aid supplies, which has 37%of zinc oxide in it, and am using that for now. A wee tiny bit seems to go a very long way. Leaves white pigments on the skin and seems to work; just hope nobody stops by unexpectedly because it does make you look fairly weird.

[Ridge Wolf]

Doesn't coconut oil block the sun? I thought it did, that is why they use it in suntan lotian isn't it?

I don't have that problem of sunburn. I tan naturally. I have a lot of melatonin or whatever that stuff is.

[crashdive123]

Ridge - you still have got to be careful. I remember coming off an extended patrol and pulling into Guam. Our bodies had not seen sunlight in several months. Being that pasty white, some guys were starting to blister after about 25 minutes with no sunscreen. A good friend of mine, a black guy, called us all a bunch of whimps (not really the word he used) He ened up with one of the worst cases of sunburn ever, even with a very high melanin level. I know 47* lat is a bit different than 13*, but you've still got to be careful.