'Slip, slop, slap' has been the Australian summer anthem for as long as I can remember. At primary school, sun safety was big, and as a kid, sunscreen was a daily-slathered staple over summer. I learnt the hard way that sunscreen was a non-negotiable in the Queensland summer sun, and while my generation lathered up to protect ourselves, we weren't protecting our oceans.
An estimated 14,000 tonnes of sunscreen ends up in our oceans worldwide every year, and scientists now know that the chemicals found in sunscreen are harmful to our precious marine life. The ingredient oxybenzone, in particular, leaches coral of its nutrients and bleaches it white, and it also damages the development of fish and marine wildlife. Oxybenzone has been found in sea turtle eggs and the fish we eat. It's no longer just an issue for our oceans; it's an issue for our food chain too.
Sacha Guggenheimer and Tom Hiney have set out to solve the ocean's issues with sunscreen, and their reef-safe suncare range, SunButter, is saving our sealife one swim at a time.
Sacha and Tom started small, and they handmade their original sunblock for the whale shark guides, photographers, divers and fishmen of the Ningaloo Reef. SunButter has since expanded, and it's now an Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved, SPF50, 4-hour water-resistant and reef-safe sun care range.
Sacha and Tom share my passion for protecting our oceans, and they're determined to grow a socially and environmentally ethical skincare company driven by their mantra, 'Protecting people and oceans'. SunButter offsets its carbon emissions through native tree planting in Australia and New Zealand with Green Fleet Australia, and they donate 10% of profits or 1% of sales, whichever is greatest, to creating a better planet and future for all.
From a beauty perspective, it ticks all my toxin-free boxes too. SunButter is made with certified sustainable ingredients, it's vegan and reef-safe, it contains no nanoparticles, no sunspheres (Nano Plastic Particles), and it's made in Australia in a solar-powered facility. SunButter tins are also reusable, BPA free and recyclable. Tick, tick, tick.
Every now and again, a beauty brand comes along that surprises me with its social and environmental impact from every angle - packaging, ingredients and effectiveness, and SunButter is one of those.
Switch out your old toxic sunscreen and slather on something sustainable, ethical and new, and shop the full SunButter range here.
The Fashion Advocate x
