Happy Friday everyone! With the sunny weekend approaching, all of us at COOLA are grabbing our favorite sunscreen and heading to the beach! What a perfect time to mention the newest addition to the COOLA family. We are so proud to announce the recent launch of our PLANT UV Collection! Featuring our Trademarked Plant Protection Technology, this is the FUTURE of Sunscreen!

This preservative free collection uses Plant Stem Cells of the Buddleja Davidii stems and Lilac Leaf, which are found to protect against Broad Spectrum UV rays. Yes, you read that right, UVA and UVB Protection from Plants! In addition to our Phyto Protectors, the PLANT UV collection contains Zinc Oxide, widely considered the most inert and safest sunscreen active.

Why the Zinc? Im so glad you asked…

In our lab, we can create an SPF 30 that is 100% Natural and Plant Based. However, the FDA requires a product to contain one of sixteen active ingredients to be called a Sunscreen. Unfortunately, this list has not been updated since 1978! This is why we added Zinc, because, otherwise, we could not sell it as a sunscreen. We hope that the FDA will soon recognize the protection these natural plants can provide, and when they do you can guarantee we will be producing products with 100% plant based protection!

The PLANT UV Collection doesn’t just stop there. Both face and body formulations are packed with 70% organic inactive ingredients like Olive Oil and Linseed Oil, rich in antioxidants and Omega-3’s. Beet Root and Cordyceps Mushroom Extracts helps protect the skin and defend against premature aging, while organic Cucumber Extract helps soothe skin in or after the sun. Also infused with organic emollients like Shea Butter and Coconut Oil to moisturize and soften skin.

So, grab your favorite COOLA sunscreen this weekend and meet us at the beach!! See you there!

Happy Sun-Blocking!

-The COOLA Team

May was Skin Cancer Awareness Month and COOLA teamed up with the Melanoma Research Alliance to help spread the word about the seriousness of Skin Cancer and the importance of sun protection.

One of COOLA’s very own, our Sales Director Michelle Iannaccone shares her story below of how the knowledge she gained about early detection of Skin Cancer helped save her life… Play safe outside this summer!

Visit the site below to see when free local skin cancer screening will be in your area.

 http://www.skincancer.org/events/tour

 Happy Sun-Blocking!

COOLA prides itself in making the most organic and versatile suncare products available.  We start from the concept that the best sunscreen is one that is actually worn so we consciously try to make a sunscreen for everyone!  Believe it or not, we have 18 sunscreens (yes,18!), targeting different skin types and specific levels of activity.  Our suncare products come in three categories, Classic, Mineral, and Plant UV.  The distinct difference between the three categories lies in the active ingredients used.

Many of our suncare products are manufactured in Southern California in our Solar Powered facility and all of our sunscreens are formulated and manufactured in the USA.  We use the power of the sun to protect from the sun (and we think that’s very COOLA!).  We also procure our ingredients from as many local and organic farmers as possible, and recently received the unique trademark Farm to Face.  Similar to the Farm to Table food movement, we are big advocates of sourcing locally, to promote local communities and jobs, and also to cut down on the costs (both financial and environmental) of long distance shipping.  We’re huge advocates of choosing organic every chance we can.  We not only want to encourage and support organic products, but an organic community.

COOLA products contain 70-97% organic ingredients.  We are one of the ONLY sunscreen companies in the world to be able to make this claim.  The FDA recognizes organic content in OTC (over the counter) drug products, which include sunscreen, as follows:  The percent organic refers to all the ingredients except the active ingredients.  The reason why active ingredients aren’t recognized is because no sunscreen active ingredients (mineral or non-mineral) can EVER be certified organic.  This is simply because they can not be farmed because they don’t ‘grow’.  As a company, COOLA strives to be as transparent as possible.  Even though FDA labeling doesn’t require us to, we include the words “organic inactives” after labeling the percent organic on all of our products.  After all, we can’t expect everyone to know how the FDA regulates organic content in OTC products and we want to keep our customers as informed as possible.

Why does COOLA offer so many sunscreen options, including some non-mineral sunscreens?  The answer is because there is equal demand for all types of sunscreens and we believe in offering the best and healthiest options for EVERYONE.  As a company, we can use our platform to  encourage and sustain organic farming as well as introduce people to different sunscreen options.  Some people are mineral sensitive and physical sunscreens are not an option, and some people are chemical sensitive and their only options are mineral sunscreens.  In addition, some products can only come in a non-mineral application, such as our SPF Sprays.  Minerals are small pieces of rock-like substances, extracted from the ground.  Even though we use ONLY Non-Nano sized particles, they do not break down, and can be dangerous when inhaled or ingested. 

In an effort to keep our active levels as low as possible in our sunscreens, all COOLA products incorporate natural plant phyto-protectors.  Phyto-protectors have innate sun protection qualities and are natures way of protecting itself from the sun.   They include ingredients such as plankton, red algae, and red raspberry seed oil among others.  Our reformulated Classic line of sunscreens also incorporates a just-patented plant-derived ingredient that is both certified organic and eco-certified and enables us to cut our active levels by 80%!  That’s just another way that COOLA is leading the charge to create the healthiest sunscreens on the market. 


We feel that it’s extremely important, despite the costs (it’s twice as much to make our products 70%+ organic) to keep COOLA as organic as possible.  Not only does this guarantee the freshest and most potent antioxidants (that have not been sprayed by pesticides) it also encourages USDA certified organic farming at a time when big companies such as Monsanto are increasingly homogenizing the industry.

Our newest generation of sunscreens, our trademarked Plant UV, uses both the mineral active ingredient Zinc, as well as the naturally protective plant cells of the Buddleja Davidii stems and Lilac Leaf, to promote broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection.  We believe that Plant Protection is the future of the sunscreen industry.  Currently the FDA only recognizes 16 active ingredients.  Hopefully someday soon they will catch up with today’s science and recognize these incredible plant derived ingredients as ‘actives’.  COOLA will continue to pave the way, making the most organic, versatile and forward-thinking luxury sunscreens available.



Happy Sun-Blocking!

COOLA