Skin care is tough.
The first priority has to be protecting against UV radiation. But more so than in other areas of skin care, that function comes with a cost. The overwhelming majority of sunscreens on the market have synthetics that raise concern (and that goes double for mothers and babies), and use a new, unlabeled and understudied technology.
What are the synthetics and what do they do? A bunch of them, like Benzophenone, Homosalate, and Octyl-methocycinnamate (aka Occinate) are endocrine disrupters. Broadly, that means they affect the normal flow of hormones from glands; in this case, those synthetics have been shown to have estrogenic effect and to bio-accumulate. Bio-accumulation, which means a given material sticks in the body, accumulating over time, is particularly worrisome for babies and children.

Sunscreens also frequently use nanotechnology, an approach that allows particles to permeate the skin barrier and enter the bloodstream. It’s an area we know little about.

Finally, like most skin care products, most sunscreen are full of any number of synthetic preservatives, like parabens, and other “inactive” chemicals, like phthalates. And of course, many are packaged in materials that leach BPA.

Sana, in case you haven’t noticed, has none of those chemicals, doesn’t employ nanotechnology, and provides the best protection on the market. It doesn’t have to be a give and take…

Sana products are for everyone who needs to soften, moisturize and protect their skin…and needs to do it gently, safely and naturally. Isn’t that everyone? Not quite. Sana is specially made for people who have dry skin, a thin barrier, or who are suddenly dealing with particularly dry air. Also active, outdoorsy people who don’t let the elements slow them down. And athletes who don’t have time to reapply. Don’t forget those mothers dealing with hormonal changes, stretching, and the occasional baby nip. And kids, who’d rather run free naturally.

That still sounds like everyone. Not quite. If you have naturally oily skin or are in extremely humid conditions, barrier support might not be your top concern. And if you don’t like the products, or have an allergy to any of the ingredients (please, please look to check), you should stay away…we won’t be offended.

No, we’re not talking about short days, shoveling the walk, or the morning commute. We’re talking about the atmospheric humidity which, together with sauna-like indoor heating, can bring humidity levels as low as 5-10%. And what happens to skin not accustomed to such conditions? It struggles to keep up by building its barrier, but that adaptation can take a while, and often gums up the whole system.

There is a cascading impact that ripples through the skin’s infrastructure when there’s not enough moisture. The lipid layers stall, the normally plump skin cells flatten and create fissures. The shedding process, which is dependent on water, stops functioning, so that dead cells stay stuck in the skin’s surface, and then break off in scaly chunks. Cracks in the skin make it more vulnerable to germs and permeation of all kinds of things. The skin can usually adapt over time, but in the meantime, it’s not a pretty (or healthy) picture.

Sana works by helping the skin do its thing. Give skin support in adverse conditions, and it’s amazing how beautiful and healthy it’ll stay. Dry, damaged skin often develops because the natural barrier is compromised, or because the barrier simply can’t adapt quickly enough to external stressors, like dry air, sun, or stretching.

So what is Sana’s answer? We chose the organic botanicals and extracts best suited to support skin when it needs help. Why? Because those botanicals mimic natural lipids, waxes and anti-oxidants in your skin. Evolutionarily, plants have been at it for millions of years – a lot longer than people have – which starts to explain their remarkable array of defenses to moisture loss, oxidation, and external contaminants.
We don’t rely on synthetics for a host of health and environmental reasons. But even from a functional perspective, we’d rather start from scratch. Synthetics are often just cheap derivatives of the real thing. In some cases, synthetic skin care ingredients act by altering the chemistry of the skin. Every day we learn new things about the mystery of skin and its –and the body’s – reactions to synthetics. We’d rather help skin do its thing, naturally.
Skin hydration is the single most important thing for overall skin health. Naturally supporting the skin’s barrier, while nourishing and anti-oxidizing, is what Sana is all about…

Warning: tanning is not fully understood, so take the following with a grain of salt. Wearing sunglasses makes sunburns more likely. Why? Light hitting the optic nerve signals the pituitary gland to produce melanin – the body’s main defense against burning. It’s also what makes you look tan. Sunglasses, in effect, trick our bodies. The optic nerve registers less light and thus the pituitary gland produces less melanin…meaning less of a defense, less of a tan, and more vulnerability to burning.Of course, it’s also theorized that melanin production is triggered by UV rays hitting deeper layers of the skin….and it may be a combination of the causes.
In any case, it’s important to protect your eyes from UV radiation. Don’t discard the glasses, just think about taking them off for a minute or two every once in while. You might get the best of both worlds: a better tan and better protection.

Water may be the sine qua non of healthy skin, but hanging out in water causes all kinds of problems. Why? Sitting in water strips your skin of essential oils necessary for your barrier to function properly…meaning putting water on actually sucks water out. Add chlorine or saltwater to the equation, and it gets more serious still. Not only does it dry your skin, it makes it more permeable. Why? For one, with the protective lipids effectively stripped, moisture is now traveling back and forth through your skin. Add to that the fact that water is a primary breeding ground for microbes. There’s a reason you get athletes foot in the locker room: moisture makes your skin more permeable, and standing water is chock full of microbes.

OK, so hanging in water is dehydrating and makes skin more vulnerable to infection and absorption. Anything else? Uh huh. Spending time in water makes your skin more prone to injury. Skin cells swell with water, essentially begging to be burst. Not done yet. Showering after swimming usually exacerbates the lipid stripping problem, especially if you’ve been in chlorine. And if you’re using an alkaline soap, it may further impede the anti-microbial function in your acid mantle. By now, the protective coating has been significantly compromised. Rough towel drying, a form of exfoliation, is not good for compromised skin. All of which suggests might want a good, barrier supporting moisturizer, sunscreen and lip balm, products without permeating synthetics and that are water resistant. Where to find such a set of products?

Skin replenishes itself all the time. Water travels through the skin layers from the bottom up, and skin cells do the same. Over the course of a few weeks skin cells rise from the bottom layers, eventually forming the bricks at the surface, before eventually shedding invisibly off the skin. It is essential for healthy, vibrant skin to replace the old with the new. When we exfoliate, we are giving the shedding process (also called desquamation) an extra push. Just be careful not to push too hard…gentle exfoliation is a good thing, aggressive exfoliation can cause skin trauma.

The shedding process is not just about making skin look good. The dead cells can be filled with toxins. Desquamation is a form of detoxifying your skin. And it’s one more reason to drink water…it doesn’t just flush your fluids, it flushes your skin by making sure the cells shed properly!

It’s all about water. When the skin loses too much water – either because the barrier is compromised or simply can’t keep up with its environment – the skin is in trouble in more ways than one. Ever wonder about ashy, scaly skin? That happens because the skin stops shedding properly without water. Pliability? The lipid layers need moisture to function. Physical barrier? Cracks and fissures form when there’s not enough moisture at the surface, allowing even more moisture to evaporate and more contaminants to get in. Germ-Killing? Even the anti-microbial function of the skin is compromised when there isn’t enough water.

It’s not that tough to stop. Just drink water and feed your barrier.

Swimming strips skin of sunscreen and essential oils. Sweat exacerbates burning, and sunglasses may impede the skin’s natural defenses. UVB rays deplete NMF from skin cells, drying skin out. And dry skin creates risks of infection, and improper shedding. Skin doesn’t look or feel good and your body is at risk.

And frankly, that’s just the beginning. Cross training can implicate a whole range of issues. The keys are keeping the barrier strong, keeping skin hydrated, and protecting it from UV rays. And that’s where Sana comes in…

What are we talking about? Vitamin D plays a crucial role in our overall health. There are two ways of getting it: diet and the sun. OK, but we all know how dangerous the sun is, so why not get your Vitamin D by eating salmon for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Well we certainly won’t argue with getting Vitamin D into your diet, but we’re not done yet. UVB light doesn’t just create Vitamin D out of thin air. It makes it by converting – get this – cholesterol. Just like spinning straw into gold! It’s not a coincidence that cholesterol levels are generally higher in the winter…the sun is weaker and less cholesterol gets converted.

Please don’t put away the sunscreen…but then again, don’t sit in a dark room, either. We knew outside exercise benefited your muscles, your heart, and your waistline…and now we know it gives Vitamin D and takes away cholesterol, too!

It makes intuitive sense to any kid, but don’t be too quick to chuckle…it’s actually true. Many people assume sun power on the slopes is a result of sun reflecting off of the snow (up to 90% of rays are reflected). That’s a big part of it, but altitude is a factor as well.

radiation increases by 17-22% with every 1,000 meters of elevation. UVA increases by 11%. Why? It’s less a question of pure distance to the sun, than of distance within the Earth’s atmosphere. Different types of light have differing capacities to penetrate air (and our skin). UVB is powerful, but not terribly good at penetrating air or skin.…which is why its strength increases the closer you get to the source. UVA is less strong, but more penetrating, so must of it gets through to sea level…getting closer to the sun less dramatically increases UVA impact. See, you can learn from your kids…and don’t forget the sunscreen!

BPA is all over the American marketplace. It makes plastic clear, strong and shatter-proof. You’ll find it in the liners of most metal soda and food cans, as well as polycarbonate bottles (including baby and water bottles).

BPA is an endocrine disrupter. It mimics estrogen and may result in adverse, long term reactions and reproductive damage. Studies have shown negative impact on thyroid glands, the brain, the pancreas and prostate glands in animals, even in low doses.

Unfortunately, babies are particularly at risk, due to a variety of factors including their developmental vulnerability, BPA’s presence in baby bottles and infant formula containers, and the fact that BPA bio-accumulates. It leaches out of containers and can collect in fetal and placental tissue.

Responsible companies like Whole Foods and Patagonia have removed BPA from their packaging. New companies should avoid it in the first place. Sana does.

It is time for corporations to behave like responsible, proactive citizens rather than uncaring profit maximizers. They have an enormous impact on everyday life. Positively or negatively, they impact the environment, they affect our health, they create (or take away) jobs and control the quality and terms of employment, they provide products or services, and they take our money. Consumers have the right, and more importantly, the power, to demand that they do the right things.

We believe there are people out there who would prefer that their consuming dollars do more than just facilitate consumption. We think it is time to use the safest ingredients, to be fair to workers, good to the environment, and to give back. We founded Sana because we believe everyone is defined by what they do. And what they don’t do. Sana does not adjust its prices to absorb the cost of responsible practices and of giving. We’re all part of the solution…and there is a way to get great products and to positively impact society.

Babies are what you eat…and what you put on your skin. Whether in utero or nursing, infants develop with the fuel you provide. Where would they be without all those antibodies to protect them, and all those proteins and nutrients to help build muscles, strong bones, and healthy systems. Mothers pass 75 gallons of blood through the placenta by the 4th month of pregnancy. By the 8th month, it’s more like 300 gallons a day.

Unfortunately, it’s not just antibodies and proteins. It was once thought that the placenta shielded the baby from industrial chemicals and pollutants. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that belief was wrong. A recent study by the Environmental Working Group found 287 industrial synthetics in umbilical cord blood, and an average of over 200 such chemicals in babies. Of the 287 chemicals, 180 are carcinogenic, 217 are toxic to the brain, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development.

While people pay a lot of attention to what they eat and drink, there is a lot less attention paid to what goes on their skin. Many synthetics in skin care products have been shown to permeate the skin and enter the blood stream. Certain technologies like nanotechnology amplify the possibility of systemic exposure. Certain realities, like bio-accumulation, make it very hard to remove risk altogether.

Babies are particularly vulnerable to systemic reaction and long term impact for a range of reasons. They’re also resilient little buggers, but it makes sense to do what you can to stay away from synthetics and pesticides in what you eat and put on your body. Going all-natural and all-organic is one place to start…

Skin is a highly adaptable organ. At varying rates, it adjusts to all sorts of external conditions. It can cool you down (sweating), it can darken to block the sun (tanning), it can rebuild itself when injured (scabbing). When it comes to sudden exposure to dry conditions, the skin will reinforce its barrier to prevent moisture in the skin from evaporating. Thing is, it takes 3-4 weeks for cells to work from the bottom (hypodermis) up to the surface, for final shedding (desquamation). Which is why people going from temperate to dry conditions struggle more than those habituated to dry weather (we’re talking to you, people who go on ski trips or, for that matter, have cold winters). What to do? How about a little help supporting the barrier and keeping your skin hydrated?

Your skin is a wall, but it’s not made of concrete. It’s designed to retain most of the skin’s moisture and to keep most external contaminants out. Most, but not all. The skin releases some moisture to keep the outer layers hydrated, to cool skin down when the body is overheating (AKA, sweating), and it sheds moisture-carrying skin cells all the time. It also absorbs moisture from the outside world.
This semi-permeable system is effective, but there are risks. There’s lots of bad stuff out there – some of which is in the very products people rub on their skin to make it look or feel better. Some synthetics permeate the skin’s barrier and go right into the body, where they can stay put. Take sunscreen chemicals – a recent study showed levels of estrogen-like sunscreen chemicals in the blood stream and umbilical cord of people. Other studies have shown the average American has hundreds of synthetics in their bloodstream, many of which got there through topical application.
The point? It’s very important to pay attention to what you put on your skin. That goes double for mothers and babies, who are at particular risk for permeation and systemic damage. It means people should pay particular care in certain areas of their bodies, where skin is thinner or there are mucous membranes (like lips). They should keep their eyes out for nanoparticles (found in many skin care products and in particular in sunscreen), which are designed to permeate the barrier. Fortunately, Sana makes it easier.

Sun Protection Factor is simply an equation for measuring what percentage of UVB (not UVA) rays will be blocked. The equation is (SPF-1)/SPF = “Percent UVB Blocked”.

So…SPF 53 blocks 98% of the sun’s rays (52/53 = 98.1%).

Where does that leave us? Well to figure out how long you can stay in the sun, you need to figure out how strong the sun is (look at the UV Index) and how sensitive your skin is. Here’s how it works: take the time it takes your skin to get pink without protection, and multiply that number by the SPF. If it takes 10 minutes, then an SPF of 53 will keep you from getting pink for 530 minutes, or a nearly 9 hours – if it stays on your skin completely the entire time.

Not sure how helpful that is. Who wants to go out and see how long it takes to burn (since that involves letting yourself burn)? And there are a bunch of problems with the equation. First, the strength of the sun changes all day long. Second, in order to get full SPF protection, the sunscreen has to be applied in sufficient amount and works only if it doesn’t wash or rub off (a huge “if” for many sunscreens). Third, SPF only relates to UVB rays and burning…UVA may be causing real harm without your sunscreen lifting a finger to help and without you even knowing it.

For all of these reasons, and others, the CDC recommends erring on the side of caution. SPF isn’t meaningless, of course. The FDA and EPA recommend using an SPF of at least 15. We agree. We,and others, think you should also use a sunscreen that blocks UVA light and stays put when you don’t. And given recent research on common synthetic sunscreen agents, keeping it natural is a good thing, too! Did we mention Sana’s sunscreens have the highest natural SPF on the market, full UVA protection, the highest level of water resistance, and no synthetic ingredients at all? That’s what we call erring on the side of caution!

Ominous synthetics roaming the skin care landscape…mysterious chemicals with disputed toxicity or even carcinogenicity remaining unregulated on store shelves. How this could be? Maybe the risks are overblown. Maybe in such small amounts they’re not really harmful. Surely if it were that bad, the FDA or someone would step in.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. The US system puts most of the burden on consumers to inform themselves about risks. Of course, accessing relevant information is next to impossible, let alone practical. The system of regulation is lax, under-enforced, painfully slow, and ultimately insufficient. Is the Government forcing manufacturers to adhere to strict labeling guidelines so consumers can make informed decisions? Is it monitoring the packaging coming from China or analyzing products before they hit the shelves? Is it banning ingredients that have some evidence of toxicity or carcinogenicity, even where banned the world over? No, no, and in many cases, no.

There are independent sources out there that are helping. Visit the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database of cosmetics or go to the NRDC’s site for environmental and health issues. Sana has condensed relevant information about the most commonly found risk items: Phthalates, Parabens, Bisphenol A (BPA), Endocrine Disrupting Sunscreen agents, as well as related issues like bio-accumulation, infant susceptibility, and nanotechnology. Hope it helps.