Reef safe hand lotion

[saltyhog]

This time of year indoor humidity in my house runs 20-35% most of the time. Between all the hand washing I have to do at work and for working on my tank my hands look like a snake about to shed it's skin.

I'll always wash my hands well before doing anything tank related but is there a moisturizing lotion that is safer for reefers? Are there any ingredients that should absolutely be avoided?

 

[EmdeReef]

This time of year indoor humidity in my house runs 20-35% most of the time. Between all the hand washing I have to do at work and for working on my tank my hands look like a snake about to shed it's skin.

I'll always wash my hands well before doing anything tank related but is there a moisturizing lotion that is safer for reefers? Are there any ingredients that should absolutely be avoided?

There’s a long list of things to avoid, but the good news is that the concentration of whatever you introduce is likely to be too small to make an impact. For your own health, the fewer ingredients the better it is probably..

I’d avoid any lotions with sunscreen though as some recent research indicates that reefs may be getting damaged. Some of the cited concentrations needed to cause severe damage sound very scary...

Fragrance free petroleum jelly (Vaseline) is water insoluble, assuming it’s free of oil impurities should be safe, but that’d be something to confirm with Randy and obviously it’s not very user friendly.

 

[saltyhog]

Yep, some UV filters in sunscreens are the culprit. Many Caribbean countries and Hawaii have banned/or planning to ban the ones using oxybenzone and octinoxate.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Hypo-allergenic is on the safer end of the list of any cosmetic products. Botanical ingredients are usually better. My family owns a health food store so we stock a lot of earth-friendly products. We have a botanical alternative to petroleum jelly that's called un-petroleum. Can't remember that company name, think it's Alba. Aloe Vera might also work well as well as coconut oil.