What is Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide? (And Why It’s In Our Bum Balm)

Do you ever read the ingredients of a product and notice your eyes glaze over? You want to do the right thing and make sure you research every detail before you use it on your new baby, but that takes time and lots of reading.

We try to make things a little bit easier by helping to make ingredient-research fun and readily available. Your eyes still might glaze over though ;). 

Today we want to talk about Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide. This is an ingredient used in our Bum Balm and plenty of other products you might recognize. 

Here we go.

What is Zinc Oxide? (and What Are its Uses?)

Zinc Oxide is a powdered mineral that sits on top of the skin (protecting it from excessive moisture as well as UVA and UVB rays). 

That means (you might have guessed it) it’s a common active ingredient in diaper creams and mineral sunscreens. 

What does ‘active’ mean? Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide is the active ingredient in Bum Balm and it does the actual work of creating the water-skin barrier as well as protecting the skin from the damaging rays of the sun when used in sunscreen products.

Since we are on the topics of purposes. A little side note on our Bum Balm, it might sound like it’s only for little bums but this all-purpose cream can be used anywhere the skin is irritated–thanks to Zinc Oxide, Beeswax, and Aloe:

• Skin-soothing and moisturizing love
• Insect bites and stings
• Sunscreen in a pinch. 

We are all about multi-purpose products! Let’s get back to Zinc Oxide.

Explaining the ‘Non-Nanoparticle’ Part of Zinc Oxide

Zinc Oxide and Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide have some massive differences that we want to discuss before going further. 

The “non-nano” part means the particles aren’t small enough to penetrate the skin, which is safer on the body. 

Regular nanoparticles have the potential of penetrating the skin and possibly entering the bloodstream.

This 2010 study looked at sunscreen (with Zinc Oxide) use and how it absorbed through the skin. 

So, when you grab your sunscreen, you might want to check and see if it’s non-nanoparticle. 

Zinc Oxide is amazing and packed with tons of benefits, but Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide is just as amazing AND doesn’t penetrate your skin. 

It does its job of creating the water-skin barrier and protecting it from UVA and UVB rays and stays where it’s put. 

Safe and Effective Uses of Non-Nano Zinc Oxide

We prefer to choose well-researched and top-notch (natural) ingredients. In our opinion, Zinc Oxide is great but Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide is better.

You now know what Zinc Oxide is all about.

You also know that nano-sized particles may be small enough to penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream. The more we can protect our body from unnecessary outside forces, the better.

Of course, there are times when you want your skin to absorb ingredients, and we talk all about that in our Transdermal Absorption blog. 

In the meantime, check out our favorite use of Non-Nanoparticle Zinc Oxide in our all-purpose Bum Balm. Having this baby on hand can help soothe fiery irritated skin, comfort insect or bug bites, and even be used as sunscreen!