Raising fair, blue-eyed children, my mom started sunscreen almost from day one. When I was in kindergarten, she bought a new sunscreen and, like every day, lathered me head to toe. I broke out all over in a red, itchy rash and from then on, we always put "allergic to Parsol in sunscreen" on the school and camp medical forms. When I was older, we stopped seeing Parsol on labels and learned to look for its other name, avobenzone, instead.
Amazed at my discovery of avobenzone-free spray sunscreen, I was eager to try it out but soon broke out in a rash on my arms and then legs. I thought maybe it was from sitting outside at McCalister's in the pollen-laced wind the other day. But since the sunscreen was the only new factor, I decided to Google the ingredients I wasn't familiar with, starting with the longest, scariest sounding name: butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane. I couldn't believe what came up on my screen:
Are you kidding me, Alba Botanica?! While virtually every other sunscreen manufacturer in America uses the word avobenzone on their labels, you thought you should use butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane? Does it make your "happy planet" brand easier to sell?
So don't mind me as I go about my life with this red, itchy rash on my arms and legs for the next few days (and hopefully not weeks). At least now I know I am allergic to avobenzone aka Parsol aka butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane. Hopefully it doesn't get renamed again anytime soon.
