Customer Reviews

Hara Sport SPF 30

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I tried Hara Sport as it got the best rating in the Environmental Working Group ratings and it was much less expensive than most of the others in that category.

The pros:

1. The product uses only natural ingredients and you will recognize every item in the list of ingredients, no strange sounding chemicals.
2. With all of its emollients, it is an excellent moisturizer. It may be a little oily, but if you want a moisturizer, this is a good thing. My two-year-old grandson has dry skin and his doctor says to try to prevent bouts of eczema by liberal use of moisturizers. As he also has fair skin, this is perfect for him.
3. This product is less expensive, often as much as half or more less expensive than other sunscreens in this category.

The cons:

1. As there are no chemicals to keep the product from separating, it does separate in warm weather. It was hot from the mail when I received it and when I tried to squirt some out, I just got what looked like olive oil out. I then read that it may separate in warm weather (over 80). I just kneaded the tube for about 30 seconds and it was fine. It is cooler in our house, and it has not separated again. Because of this, it's probably not the sunscreen that I would choose to put in my backpack for a long hike in the sun and heat, but it would work fine as the one I put on my face every the morning under makeup.
2. It is a little greasy, but whether that is a pro or con depends on whether you need a moisturizer or not.
3. As with all the zinc sunscreens I've tried, you do need to rub it in a little bit to avoid the "white face", but it didn't seem any better or worse than others in this regard.

This sunscreen will be my everyday one, but I'll probably go with one that doesn't separate to use for long days in the heat and sun.

I bought this sunscreen on Amazon after I saw it on EWG's list of safest sunscreens. It seemed quite good at protecting me from the sun on my beach vacation and the only occasion I got mildly red on my back was when snorkeling for one hour at about 12 noon, which I guess would be expected even with the best sunscreens. The major disadvantage is the fact that it is not very easy to spread on your skin and it turns you whitish even with quite a lot of rubbing. It also has a mild olive oil scent (one of the components is olive oil). And it would sometimes separate into two phases, so you really should shake the tube before using. In comparison with other EWG-listed sunscreens, I found it slightly easier to apply than "Badger SPF30", but for me the best I tried was "Alba Botanical SPF30" (good protection and the easiest to apply).

I really hope this is good for me because it is absolutely terrible to apply. It is really clumpy so you have to be in front of a mirror to get the clumps off. It needs to be rubbed in hands for a good 30 seconds to get it warm to apply and even then it leaves a white mask wherever applied. It takes about 10 minutes to not be sticky. Then the skin is shiny pretty much all day wherever applied. I really DREAD putting this on.
BUT it is by far the most inexpensive and gets really good reviews on ewg.org. I think I may try a slightly more expensive product because I so dread using it that I find myself not putting it on, which defeats the purpose.

We tried Hara along with Blue Lizard and Burnout (all good recommendations from EWG 2010 sunscreen toxicity report). Hara has an olive oil scent to it and is much thicker than the other two. We found if you use a tiny bit and dot it over a small area first, it is easier to spread. Definitely best price for low toxicity sunscreen. No reapplication necessary, water beads up on your skin. We never burned when using Hara but did not love the white face look.

I use this sunscreen when I go scuba diving. I'm on a boat and in the water all day long. This product is safe with no dangerous chemicals, effective and does not sting my eyes even after prolonged dives in the water. Yes, you have to knead the tube just a little to mix the ingredients, but so what. It takes 5 seconds and is better than having a bunch of additives. You do have to rub it in some, however, that's because it's designed not to easily wash off. Great, safe product that works and at a cheap price. Love it.

I haven't found any seperation since I bought this several months ago. I don't know why other reviews seemed to claim this. But I've never had to knead this or anthing. It came to me blended perfectly and has never seperated.
Rated a 1 (on 1 to 10 scale) by the EWG (Environmental Working Group) which is the best rating available. Compared to 5 or higher for the more popular sunscreens like bullfrog etc.
This product though small goes a long way. It goes on thick, but just rub it in well and you probably only wind up using 1/4 of the amount of the more popular sunscreens.
I've already gotten about 30 to 40 applications out of this in the 6 months I've had this and there's plenty more left.
It's all natural which I really like since most sunscreens can't claim this.
This is the cheapest I've found in this category by far. With being both all natural and highly rated by the EWG.
It also holds up well to lots of sweating. I run 10 to 13 miles in the heat and it's never let me down and I'm very fair and burn easily.
I'll be buying this for now on... as long as they keep making it.

Too white for me. With a lot of rubbing I can get it to almost an acceptable level. It is less white than Think Baby or Loving Naturals, but it is also greasy, although the greasiness didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I don't plan to buy it again though.

It's hard to find a reasonably priced sunscreen that doesn't have a bunch of chemicals in it. I got this for the lack of chemicals and the 'sport' description. It lives up to its name - I still had some on me after a day of biking. Only issue I had was that it is really white upon application. You really need to rub it in for a while to get the white away or just leave it be like I did and look pasty. Luckily I didn't have the separation issue that some people had, even when I left it in my bike bag the whole day.

Although I was attracted to this product because of its lack of harmful ingredients, I found it to be very thick and nearly impossible to absorb into my skin. I walked around with bright white streaks of sunscreen on me because it would not blend in...also washing it off is a nightmare...hope you have a good lufa.

After waaaaaay too much time looking at the EWG ratings database, and comparing product reviews, I finally decided to give Hara a try and I am so glad I did. It gets a great effectiveness/health safety rating from EWG Sunscreen data base and it tested out great on our beach vacation. Like all mineral sunscreen, you need to rub it in a little to minimize the white face look, but I find it to be smooth and easy to rub in even on my squirmy kids;->

Bonuses are that as others have pointed out, this is the one of the least expensive in it's class and it is a small company nearly local to me, so I am more than happy to support them.

Just ordered a larger supply and will be using it from now on.