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Coconut oil is fine for cooking but not for tanning

DESPITE the popularity of do-ityourself videos that show you how to make everything from organic dog food to complicated tarts and children’s toys, you should not take them all seriously.

One particularly popular theme of videos is homemade cosmetics.

While sugar might be a natural exfoliant, a recent viral video showing how to make sunscreen from coconut oil, shea butter, non-nano zinc oxide (luckily not easy to find) has been dismissed by experts — because it simply does not work.

Natural oils, including olive, coconut, raspberry and others, are no substitute for a properly formulated suncare, especially in harsh environments like South Africa’s, because they do not have a measurable SPF or sun protection factor.

In fact, they might have a tanning effect, and certainly do not block UV rays.

Studies of coconut, aloe vera, canola and olive oil showed that their SPF was about 1, which means you could spend only one minute longer in the sun, safely. The mixture of zinc oxide might help with SPF, but how much would you use to be sure it was effective?

An SPF of at least 30 is recommended for the African sun, so get it from the specialists.