Homemade Spray Sunscreen Recipe with Natural Ingredients

I got a number of emails this summer asking me to make them a spray sunscreen or give them a spray sunscreen recipe so they could make it themselves.

Actually, I have been using my natural sunscreen cream for years on myself and my family and it never occurred to me to make a spray version.

It makes sense to use your favorite cream recipe and liquefy it down enough to move through a sprayer. That wasn’t a problem. My concern was if it would give the same coverage or not.

Does it work?

A lot of people ask me if making your own sunscreen works. I am not a doctor, my recipe hasn’t been approved by the FDA, so take my words with that in mind. But there is also a lot of control and fear mongering going around, as well false information. I’m a very light skinned red head who burns after mere moments in the sun. Store bought sunscreens give me and my family intensely itchy rashes. I make my sunscreen lotion with non-nano zinc oxide and use it on myself and my family and it works. It’s that simple. No burning, no rashes.

Now, back to whether the spray would give the same amount of coverage. My son has been known to use a tiny dab of my lotion over his entire face, neck and shoulders and then wonder why he burns. You have to put it in like you mean it (The same goes for store bought, so no difference there).

Long story short, I tested this spray lotion and, when put on properly, it worked exactly the same as the cream lotion. It was super easy to spray.  My sprayer was more of a squirt than a spray, but it was really easy to spread out and I actually liked it better than the cream. I’m thinking I could squirt down my kids and have them rub it in rather then trust them to get that tiny dab that they try to spread over their entire bodies.

Non-Nano Zinc Oxide

There is no airborne zinc oxide after combined with liquid, so there is no worry in using it as a spray. I keep reading new articles to see if anything has changed, but studies are still showing that non-nano zinc oxide cannot penetrate the skin barrier, making it great for sun protection. Use a mask when mixing into the lotion so that any powder blown into the air while mixing is not inhaled.

Homemade Spray Sunscreen Recipe

There are other spray sunscreen recipes out there, but they require you to melt things down and all kinds of other unnecessary steps. This is simple and effective.

Makes: 8 ounces

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shea butter
• 1/3 cup fractionated coconut oil
• 15 drops carrot seed essential oil
• 10 drops myrrh essential oil
• 2 tablespoon non-nano zinc oxide (optional) You can add more myrrh instead (up to 40 drops)

Directions:

1. Place shea butter in a large bowl and whip with a stand mixer or hand mixer until smooth.
2. Scrape shea butter from the sides and add the fractionated coconut oil, essential oils, and zinc oxide. Mix until smooth.
3. Add to amber spray bottles. Keep in a cool, dark place between uses. Lasts up to 6 months.

Use fractionated coconut oil, not regular coconut oil so that the mixture can be sprayed. Add more if you nozzle is smaller and needs a thinner mixture. This recipe doesn’t cover like the cream sunscreen so make sure to reapply very often. This is not FDA approved, so use at your own risk.

Below is the recipe in print format. Enjoy!

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5 from 2 votes

Spray Sunscreen Recipe

A homemade sunscreen with natural ingredients

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Keyword: sunscreen

Servings: 8 ounces

Author: Kelly

Equipment

• 1 stand mixer , or a bowl and hand mixer
• 1 rubber spatula
• 2 4oz spray bottle

Ingredients

• ½ cup shea butter
• ⅓ cup Fractionated Coconut Oil
• 15 drops carrot seed essential oil
• 10 drops Myrrh Essential Oil
• 2 tablespoons non nano zinc oxide , optional – see note below

Instructions

• Place shea butter in a large bowl and whip with a stand mixer or hand mixer until smooth.
  1/2 cup shea butter
• Scrape shea butter from the sides and add the fractionated coconut oil, essential oils, and zinc oxide. Mix until smooth.
  1/3 cup Fractionated Coconut Oil, 15 drops carrot seed essential oil, 10 drops Myrrh Essential Oil, 2 tablespoons non nano zinc oxide
• Add to amber spray bottles. Keep in a cool, dark place between uses. Lasts up to 6 months.

Notes

If you don’t want to add non nano zinc oxide, double the amount of myrrh.