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.

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?

Skin is particularly vulnerable and sensitive when it’s dry or chapped. The lack of hydration opens cracks and fissures in the skin, breaking down the skin’s physical barrier to external agents. Plus, its antimicrobial function is impaired without water.

All of this means synthetics, irritants, and carcinogens have an “in” to your skin when it’s dry, chapped and compromised. And we’re not just talking about external contaminants. The very skin care products that are meant to protect your skin in harsh elements are filled with unsafe synthetics that have a direct pathway to the bloodstream. Awfully circular, no? All the more reason to keep skin protection clean and natural, wouldn’t you say?

One of my dear friends received his sunscreen recently and called me: “What’s with this dented aluminum tube? Plastic tubes would be so much sleeker!”

“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “It hasn’t been tampered with; these packaging irregularities are totally normal for the material we chose to use.”

Yes, plastic does look pretty and doesn’t dent, but when debating between plastic tubes and aluminum ones it became clear that the benefits of sturdy, dent-free plastic did not outweigh the material’s tremendous costs to the environment.

I explained the pitfalls of plastic to my friend. “Aluminum is easily recycled into new, recyclable products!”

He still had questions.

“What about getting plastic from China? and every country in the world uses plastic, so who cares if you use a few plastic tubes?”

I told him that the energy costs of shipping plastics overseas from China are huge.

As for “every country in the world” using plastic, well, let’s take another look at that: China has already banned plastic bags, and- oh yeah- cities in our own country have, too!

We believe we’re doing the earth a favor with our decision. So when your aluminum tubes of sunscreen arrive, consider the natural variations in texture as just another beautiful element of one of earth’s most recyclable materials.