[elchief]

I've heard the zinc kind is less likely to leach bad chemicals into your blood stream. is this true?

[OneMorePerson]

I don't know if its been conclusively proven yet, but the more natural zinc sunscreens (not all zinc sunscreens are that natural, some of it is marketing) have mostly zinc (and a bit of some other stuff of course), while some of the chemical ones have an impressively long list of random chemicals. On that basis I personally believe a zinc sunscreen is less likely to have future unknown side effects.

[azinman2]

Avoid nano zinc and yes, it sits on the surface. The chemical ones absorb into your skin.

[loeg]

It's all very safe; certainly safer than sunburns.