SUN CARE: GREEN PEOPLE SUN & TRAVEL COLLECTION

Note: Green People sent me their sun care products to try in return for this review.

I love finding something far better than what I had already. In fact it is one of the perks of a blog. Being able to try something I would not otherwise have found and sharing it with others is always rewarding.

Being safe in the sun. Is. Essential. But too easily forgotten. Too often I end up picking something up in the airport for us on the way somewhere, or worse still hide under a wide brimmed hat. So I was delighted when Green People offered to send me one of their sun and travel sets just in time for a sailing break this summer.

I’ve never read the detail on the back of a pot of suncream, or thought much about a company’s ethics… But perhaps I should do that more. For Green People, it’s their USP and I like what I see. I’ve become quite switched onto this already when it comes to the baby, but rarely for myself.

Green People sent me their Sun & Travel Collection that retails at £37.95. It comes in a very smart canvas zip bag. They kindly sent me their children’s SPF30 suncream (£19) too. The travel collection has an SPF15 tan accelerating sun lotion, an SPF30 sun lotion and some divine (my word) after sun.

The tan accelerator was a particular hit for Cowes Week this year as there really wasn’t as much sun as one would like. Any help on the tan front to prove I had been on holiday was necessary!

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The creams are organic and rich, they’re thick but not too heavy to apply. And they’re scent free but fresh smelling, if that’s a thing. I love that there is edelweiss in them because it reminds me of The Sound of Music. And putting aloe vera in the sun lotion strikes me as good forward planning, rather than just having it in the after sun! The after sun is particularly refreshing as it is skin cooling – even on wind burnt skin after a long day on the water I could feel the benefit!

The pots are the perfect size to last a good while, but small enough to slide in the side of my sailing bag, a holiday bag, or for days out with baby into the change bag. They are bigger than the usual ‘travel’ size, but ok for hand luggage, so they’d last a short holiday I’m sure! The bottles are smart and simple, no nasty bright colours and the presentation bag they come in I love. I’m a big collector of wash bags from planes and this one is a big hit. Plenty of space to hold everything.

As I said already, the reason I really liked the brand was because of their ethics. The lotions are ocean-friendly and that is particularly important to me, with my sailing. I’ve seen far too much rubbish in the water, and that only scratches the surface. Anything we can do to help is good and these little Green People bottles are reef safe and non-toxic to marine life. And the packaging is 100% recyclable sugar cane which is farmed sustainably. And a 30p donation goes to the Marine Conservation Society. What’s not to like, the mind boggles why all retailers and manufacturers can’t doing similar?

When the sun finally did come back out again in August, Baby P spent his weekends in the garden and paddling pool. Or pointing a hose pipe at us! For this he was in a rash vest and had a hat on, and coated in his own Green People, another really nice feeling moisturiser. For us, the deal breaker for using this cream over and above another we already was because the little one was recovering from chicken pox when the sunshine returned. The suncream is designed with sensitive skin in mind and is even eczema friendly, so we were happy to use it on his skin. It was quite thick to rub on his head but everywhere else easy to apply. He was very patient with us, so I think it was as soothing as camomile as well keeping him safe in the sun.

When we were using the creams at the sailing club, a parent asked about the star rating that is seen on most pots. I was intrigued about this and so enquired. The ‘star rating’ system is owned by Boots the Chemist, who licence other companies to use it. The stars are not the only way to tell if a product offers protection against UVA rays. The European Cosmetics Association COLIPA have designed a symbol to indicate whether products offer UVA protection in line with the Recommendations of the European Commission. Green People Sun Lotions exceed those recommendations. The symbol consists of the letters UVA inside a circle and is used by Green People to confirm that the products offer UVA protection in line with these recommendations.

I also learnt a bit more about sun protection that I didn’t know before. All the Green People sun lotions offer Broad Spectrum Protection, which means both UVA & UVB.  UVA rays can prematurely age your skin, causing wrinkling and age spots. UVB rays can burn your skin. So clearly you want both in your lotion.

With thanks to Green People for sending us these lotions. They are excellent, both in texture and performance and they fit neatly in either my sailing bag or baby’s change bag. I’m a fan and will be stocking up again before our next holiday. The ethics of the company is a real sell for me. I was digging around their website as I wrote this and I am happy to report that it isn’t just suncreams, there’s all manner of ethically sourced, organic beauty products in recyclable packaging to choose from… It’s little changes that add up and coming across a brand that is doing the right thing is really rather refreshing.