Circular Bodies “Sun Cream” Review (Plastic-Free & Organic)

This review of Circular Bodies’ sun cream is Part 1 in our series of short, easy-to-read reviews of sustainable and plastic-free sunscreen brands. More will be added to the series soon – be sure to get on my email list to keep up with the latest! (I’ll also send you my cheat sheet of favorite plastic-free toiletries for home and travel!)

This woman-owned skincare brand makes the most homemade-feeling sunscreen I’ve tried – which is why I was NOT expecting to like it. Well, I was wrong; I LOVE it. 

To be clear, I normally avoid homemade skincare products, DIY, or any products with a general hippie vibe because – let’s be honest – those products aren’t winning over any new sustainability converts. 

Circular Bodies, though, might just prove me wrong on that point. They’re a very small, lean company that makes truly sustainable products, but doesn’t waste time or money bragging about them.

If you want to try any of their products (not just sunscreen), you can use my discount code below:

Sustainability: 

Most of the ingredients in Circular Bodies’ products are organic. All of their formulations are biodegradable and their packaging is entirely plastic-free! (More about that below.)

And “homemade” is an accurate term: Their sunscreen and other skincare products are made in small batches in the founder’s studio in Columbus, Ohio. 

Circular Bodies also prioritizes sourcing ingredients from small, local farms that use regenerative agriculture, which is absolutely something worth supporting. 

Sustainability Certifications – do you need them? 

They also use some fluffier terms like “earth-based ingredients,” and when shopping for more sustainable products, it’s important to remember that those terms do NOT technically mean anything. “Earth-based” is not a regulated term. (Nor is “sustainable,” “natural,” “clean,” or “non-toxic.” Don’t get me started on a rant on this.) 

But Circular Bodies is one brand that DOES actually have real sustainability credentials to go along with the vague terms they sometimes use, even though they don’t have certifications. 

As the founder, Dominique, explained when I asked:

We choose not to have any sustainability certification. We did do the assessment for B-corp and got a super high score. We decided not to move forward with buying the certification because we don’t want our customers paying extra for a label, when we can have real human-to-human conversations and show we do better, rather than outsourcing that. 

Dominique Flaksberg, founder of Circular Bodies

That’s a pretty common situation with very small companies. Certifications take a lot of time and paperwork to attain – as they should; after all, we don’t want them handed out to just anyone.

But that often means that small companies who really are doing the best work don’t have the hours or dollars to dedicate to proving it. Circular Bodies is a perfect example of that.

I feel confident saying that because I’ve been researching, testing and reviewing sustainable products for more than five years now. I have a master’s degree in sustainability, and have given talks at conferences on how to recognize greenwashing. That’s all to say, I know what I’m looking for, and I know a legitimately sustainable brand when I see one!

“Sun Cream” Formula & Test: 

This sunscreen doesn’t even list a specific SPF rating. The label calls it “a mineral based moisturizing cream with SPF properties.” The main one of those is 10% “non-nano zinc oxide.” 

When I compare it with all the other zinc oxide sunscreens I tried, I’d estimate that makes it somewhere around an SPF 15. That also makes sense after using it dozens of times – it’s definitely not as powerful of protection as most of the others I’ve tested. (The most comparable in terms of their best use is probably my Earth Harbor Mineral Facial Sunscreen, which is SPF 30.) 

The suncream also contains moisturizing ingredients like organic shea butter and organic olive oil, and it’s the most spreadable and easy to use of all the sunscreens I tried. 

My mom and husband tried this separately and both said the same thing, “Oh, you can actually spread this one… that’s nice.”

The difference is notable. 

I also asked Dominique for details on the lack of SPF rating. What she said didn’t surprise me at all:

It costs over $5,000 to get a “certified” SPF rating in the US. That is a very high cost for a small business like ours. To keep our ingredients highest quality and still have an affordable price, we would rather tell you the percentage of zinc in our formula, which indirectly gives you an SPF rating without us having to certify for it.

Dominique Flaksberg, founder of Circular Bodies

Makes sense to me.

And that shea butter isn’t only a moisturizer, either – it’s one of several ingredients Dominque chose because it also gives some natural sun protection. (About an SPF 4, so don’t think you can slather yourself in shea butter and go surfing. But when combined with other SPF ingredients, every little bit helps.)

Face cream replacement? 

The moisturizing effect is serious with this one. I’ve been using it to replace my normal daytime moisturizer, and it can really handle the job. It does leave my skin a bit greasy looking at first, and takes at least half an hour to absorb. 

I’d say this is a great option for a plastic-free, daily facial sunscreen if you have dry skin that needs a heavier moisturizer. If you have oily skin, it might be too much. 

For the rest of my body, I really appreciate the extra moisture and don’t notice it being too greasy. 

(Related: Details on my go-to face cream are in my Rebrand Skincare review – one of the best refillable skincare brands I’ve found!)

Is separation natural?

Do you see the little beads in my suncream jar? I did, and I wanted to know why they’d suddenly shown up in a new jar of sunscreen, so I asked. Here’s the short part of Dominique’s answer:

We don’t use any synthetic fillers and stabilizers to control the consistency of the sun cream, which means that temperature differences can change its consistency. The little beads are harder ingredients (beeswax, shea butter) that melted a bit and re-solidified in a different form. They don’t affect the product quality at all, and if anything, they invite us to welcome in products that are “alive”, (aka that change just like nature does).

Dominique Flaksberg, founder of Circular Bodies

If you just want to know why there are beads in your natural skincare products, that answers it.

But I also admired Dominique’s philosophy behind allowing that imperfect texture in her products:

A lot of the “perfect”, “un-changable” products we buy have synthetic ingredients used to stabilize appearance. Just like mono-crops of grass in lawns, we are used to everything looking extremely consistent. The cost of that is sustainability itself, since we add synthetics (to grass and skincare) to create a feeling of consistency that is too homogenous to be natural. We like to challenge the notion of “perfection”, by allowing our products to exist within nature, and sometimes, provide some natural diversity, which is what we believe nature intends for us to live with.

Dominique Flaksberg, founder of Circular Bodies

If that makes you want to rip out your lawn and install a mix of native plants and grasses instead, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Scent

The smell of the unscented option is fairly strong and herbal – almost medicinal – but smells natural. (And it is. After all, organic sesame oil, shea butter, olive oil and matcha are the only ingredients that could be giving it its smell.) 

They also make a Geranium & Sweet Orange version, scented with essential oils. 

Sustainable Packaging?

This sunscreen comes in a glass jar with a metal lid, not a plastic one – great!

(And it’s the kind of metal lid that uses a disk of paper inside to help it seal properly, not a plastic ring. That’s a great feature, but Dominique said they buy lids from an overstock supplier when possible – which keeps unused packaging out of the landfill! That’s wonderful, but it means not every jar will have those exact lids.) 

While I’d prefer to see them use a fully recyclable metal tin, like many plastic-free sunscreen brands I’ve reviewed, most of those brands weren’t good enough to convince my pickiest testers. But Circular Bodies was one that everyone liked. 

And Circular Bodies does offer a free take-back program for their glass packaging. So if you’re willing to participate (by saving up 4 jars and remembering to send them in) that’s a great circular economy option.

Shipping Options & Where to Buy Locally: 

There are currently only about a dozen zero-waste stores that carry Circular Bodies around the US.

If you can’t find them locally, Circular Bodies offers free shipping on all continental US orders over $85. (Not Alaska or Hawaii, unfortunately.) Orders ship from Ohio.

They do also ship internationally. 

Their shipping is always certified carbon neutral and ships with plastic-free and up-cycled packing materials – right down to the paper tape and recycled paper padding. Excellent. 

Discounts: 

You can order Circular Bodies directly from their website. 

Or you can place your order through Earth Hero (one of the best online shops for sustainable and plastic-free products) and still save 10% with this other discount code:

Before you go: More Sustainable Product Reviews

• Avasol Sunscreen Review (It’s TINTED! Four shades!)
• Dip Shampoo Bar Review (the fanciest bars I’ve tried)
• Viori Shampoo Bar Review (made with organic rice grown by a tribe we visited in China)
• Rebrand Skincare Review – the easiest REFILLABLE skincare routine?
• Bamboo vs Recycled Toilet Paper – which is most sustainable? (And which is worth the switch?)

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