It might be obvious that putting your trash in the ocean is a no-no, but there’s one thing you might be putting in the water that’s unintentionally causing harm—your body lathered in sunscreen. 

It’s estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off people and into our oceans worldwide every year. The chemicals xybenzone, octinoxate, and avobenzone typically found in sunscreens have been identified as causing harm to coral reefs, mussels, fish, sea urchins and dolphins.

More than 1 million people jump in the ocean to explore coral reefs in national parks every year, and the sunscreen they apply washes off into the water and over the coral, according to the National Park Service. Not only can sunscreen bleach or deform corals, but it can also impair the growth of green algae, an essential part of the food web. 

According to the Oceanic Society, some experts think that the wash-off of these chemicals while swimming may play a larger role than climate change in damaging coral reefs.  

You can help by wearing a UV blocking shirt (aka rashguard) and use sunscreens with only the active ingredients titanium dioxide or zinc oxide on exposed skin.  

Check out these reef safe sunscreen brands: 

Acure 

Alba 

Attitude 

Biossance 

Bask 

Black Girl Sunscreen 

Blume 

Blue Lizard  

Bubble 

Clearstem 

Elf 

Good Molecules 

Hero Cosmetics 

Kayura 

Kopari 

Le Prunier 

Live Tinted 

Mad Hippie 

Maelove 

M61 

Pacifica 

Peach & Lily 

Pipette 

Ranavat 

Solara 

Supergoop 

Summer Fridays 

Tower 28 

True Botanicals 

Vacation 

Well People