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Yesterday, model and content creator Nara Smith realized she was out of sunscreen. But instead of heading to the local Dallas drugstore or Sephora to pick up a new tube, as any other mother of three young children would do, Smith asked her husband—fellow model Lucky Blue Smith—to step into the kitchen and make the family some. Of course, she shared it all on TikTok.
“We burn pretty easily, so we went with something that has a little more SPF,” she narrates over the video where her husband (who she also describes as “a baker”) mixes together coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter, and jojoba oil and places it on a double boiler.
Next up, Lucky adds in zinc-oxide powder. (Zinc oxide is one of two ingredients generally recognized as safe and effective for use in physical or mineral sunscreen by the FDA in the United States.) After the ingredients were whisked together, the white cream was then poured into a small mason jar and popped into the fridge to thicken. At the end of the video, the duo went outside to show the application, with Nara adding, “It went on so smooth and didn’t leave a white cast.”
Nara has gained fame for her ability to whip up almost anything in the kitchen; homemade bubble gum and cookie-crisp cereal are just some of the videos with millions of views. But did yesterday’s recipe for DIY sunscreen take it too far? “DIY sunscreen isn’t something any board-certified dermatologist would endorse,” says Mona A. Gohara, MD, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine. “It’s great that zinc oxide, a reliable and safe sunscreen filter, was included in this recipe, but one would want to quantify the concentration of the zinc [in the cream] to ensure efficacy similar to that of an FDA-approved sunscreen.”
Many of Smith’s followers agreed, with comments including, “Homemade sunscreen is insane” and “Homemade sunscreen is also homemade melanoma.” Videos like this are especially frightening at a time when Gen Z seems to be questioning whether they need SPF, which is scientifically proven to prevent skin cancer, at all.
A 2024 survey from the American Academy of Dermatology found that while adults ages 18 to 26 are overly conscious about skin care, the same thoughtfulness doesn’t apply to using sunscreen. Close to 30% of those surveyed reported they cared more about getting a tan than preventing skin cancer. Even more startling: Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, with one in five Americans being diagnosed in their lifetime and an anticipated 7% increase in the incredibly deadly melanoma variety this year.
“Ninety percent of skin cancers come from daily unprotected exposure to UV light,” Dr. Gohara says. “Broad spectrum SPF 30 or higher is the best protection we have against skin cancer—so why mess around?”
