Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa And Lavender

March 10, 2016 by Lisa 37 Comments

Learn how to make an all-natural homemade sunscreen with cocoa and lavender that is perfect for protecting your skin from the summer sun. This DIY sunscreen will not only protect your skin from the sun, but will leave it feeling moisturized and soft.

homemade sunscreen in a glass mason jar with lavender tied around the lid with twine

I just love summer. Being able to spend as much time as we can outside playing in the yard, gardening, going to the pool, and so much more.

There is so much to love about summer.

Summer in the midwest means lots of warm days and lots of mosquitos.

I teamed up with my sister over at Our Oily House to share with you two natural summer essential recipes: bug spray and sunscreen.

This recipe is moisturizing and soothing while protecting the skin for the suns harmful rays.

While the sun does have its benefits, when we know we are going to spend a long amount of time outside with the potential for sunburn we use this awesome recipe.

Problems with conventional sunscreen

Everyone has heard that sunscreen prevents skin cancer.

Some research suggests, though, that the chemicals found in conventional sunscreen actually do more to cause cancer than to prevent it.

Not only do the chemicals absorb into the skin and interfere with our hormones, sunscreen blocks the Vitamin D from the sun, which our bodies rely on to support immune function that keep degenerative diseases, like cancer, at bay.

Vitamin D is one of the most common deficiencies in our country, and most people are coming up short.

Basking in the sun, during the hours which it is not at its peak, is actually a very healthy practice to keep our vitamin D at healthy levels.

Unless we are going to be at the beach all day, during the hottest hours, I skip the sunscreen all together.

However, burns are not a good idea, so if we are going out for several hours during peak exposure, I keep this healthy homemade version handy. It smells oh so lovely.

Tips For Making Homemade Sunscreen

Try to use as few dishes as possible because this stuff is very water resistant and hard to clean.
It’s great when your kids jumps in the pool and it doesn’t wash right off, but not so great when you are making a batch.
I love adding lavender essential oil to this recipe, but you can use a different essential oil like peppermint (for a cooling effect, but only use a few drops). Don’t use any photosensitive oils like orange, lemon, etc.
Apply every few hours to help ensure protection.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Tools you may need:

Glass bowl

Saucepan

Whisk

Silicon Spatula

Ingredients you will need:

Shea butter – 1/4 cup- Ultra moisturizing for your skin.
Beeswax – 1/4 cup – Helps emulsify the ingredients and make this sunscreen more water resistant.
Coconut oil – 1/4 cup – Coconut oil actually has some natural SPF to it, but I love to add it to this recipe for not only that, but also to moisturize the skin.
Olive oil – 1/2 cup
Non-nano zinc oxide – 1/4 cup – This is what gives the sunscreen SPF to protect your skin. You want to get non-nano zinc oxide to ensure that it doesn’t absorb into your skin and leaves a barrier on top.
Cocoa butter – 1/4 cup, optional – I love adding cocoa butter to this recipe, it smells amazing, adds some thickness, and is nourishing.
10 drops lavender essential oil

two jars of coconut oil and olive oil with shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax and zinc oxide to make homemade sunscreen

How To Make Homemade Sunscreen:

Put all ingredients, except zinc oxide and lavender essential oil, in a glass bowl and place over a pot with a little boiling water in the bottom.
Heat until melted.
Allow to cool a bit before adding in zinc oxide and lavender.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients. I just left mine out on the counter for a few hours, going over occasionally to give it a whisk. This gave it a whipped effect without me actually having to use my mixer.
Pour homemade sunscreen mixture into a glass jar and seal with an airtight lid.

I hope you have a lovely Summer!

Do you want to get started with using essential oils?

You can get started by going to My Doterra Store and either buying at the retail price or the wholesale membership by clicking “Join and Save”. This will allow you to get 25% off retail prices for a whole year.

You can get the best discount by starting with a kit, which waives the $35 wholesale fee.

You can check out more info on this page or by checking out my webinar replay here.

Other Natural Handmade Recipes

Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa Butter And Lavender

If you try this recipe and love it, I would appreciate if you could come back, commented on the post, and give it 5 stars! Thanks.