You love sun. Sun don't love you.

Summer rocks. Sunny skies, warm water, boardies. What more could you want? Skin cancer? Probably not! That sun fries peeps. It might be kiff to get that nice buff tanned look, but just make sure it doesn't come at a price you don't wanna pay. There's nothing naff about loading on the sunscreen to protect that pretty face of yours. Sure, Kelly might reckon you don't need sunscreen you just gotto eat right. But being the best surfer in the world doesn't make you a leading authority on skin care. Anyway, if anyone can put up their hand and say they eat as healthy as Kelly, sure, go ahead and ditch the sunscreen. But that means you eat 90% raw food like seeds, nuts, fruit, drink mainly water, hardly any alcohol etc....willing to bet none of you do that. So then listen up...

So for all you ou’s going yada, yada, yada about putting stuff on your face, do it. Cos you only got that 1 layer of skin, and if you burn it bad, it’s burnt for good. Not cool.  Not only do you want to avoid skin cancer, but you also don’t want to look like a crusty sea-dog when you hit 40.

Sunblock is a very, very important addition to your surf equipment collection.  We definitely have a good chance of getting skin cancer cos of the time we spend out in the water. Both sand and water reflect UV rays, so we get dealt a double whammy. And don’t think if the sun’s not out you’re safe, those UV rays pass straight through the clouds, just looking for a face to fry.

It’s totally worth the bucks investing in a decent face sunscreen. Cheap is nasty as far as sunscreen goes. It’s a bit of a juggle cos obviously you want something that’s going to protect your skin, stay on for at least a coupla hours in the water, not turn your face into zit-city, and not run into your eyes and sting like crazy.

I fried my face stukkend a few years ago, and really stuffed up my skin. Nothing like living in the UK for 2 years to make you white like a sheet, and then forgetting to put sunscreen on on your first day back home (early December) and then heading out to surf for 6 hours. Was always gonna end in a bugger-up…or in this case, a bad burn! And a permanent set of freckles. So now I’m paranoid about putting on sunscreen, and lank fussy about what products I use. Did some serious research into what was decent and what wasn't.

Make sure your sunblock protects against both UVA and UVB rays. SPF is a multiplier that indicates how long the sunscreen will increase your bodies natural defenses against UVB radiation.  Essentially, if your skin could naturally handle 10 minutes in the sun, then putting SPF 30 on would mean you could handle 300 minutes.  The hiccup is that the organic chemicals are being broken down from the second you put the sunscreen on, and so the effectiveness of a sunscreen is constantly decreasing.  

Sunscreens marked "Water-Resistant" are rated after 40 minutes of submersion.  So an SPF 30 that boasts “Water Resistance,” might have started off much stronger, but is still rated 30 at the end of the test.  The best rating for surfers is “Very Water-Resistant,” in which a sunscreen is rated after 80-minutes of submersion 

It helps heaps to have a sunscreen that has physical as well as chemical blockers. So you want some zinc or titanium dioxide in there. These literally sit on the outside of your skin reflecting the UV rays. 

Pop a hat on. You might think it looks uncool, but then how uncool is skin cancer??

Put your sunscreen on at least 20 minutes before you paddle out. So soon as you pull into the carpark put that on first, before you start messing about with wetties and boards and wax etc.It actually takes your skin this long to react to the sunblock and get the full effect, allowing your skin to absorb most of the lotion.  A bonus is you won’t get as much runoff in your eyes.

Here's some good face sunscreens I've tested out you can get at your local Dischem, chemist or Surf Centre.

• Bronzinc 30+ - my current fave. Skin-coloured zinc that gives you pretty much total blockout without making you look like an Amazon warrior (or is that Warri?) Rated water resistant for 4 hours. Doesn't run into your eye's, or anywhere for that matter. Stays put. Bit of a mission to wash off - need to wipe off with a towel first cos it really doesn't budge. Buy at Surf Centre or the Boardroom.
• Vichy Capital Soleil 50+ - make sure you get the water resistant one. Flipping awesome stuff. Just make sure you get it on about 15min before you get in so it can absorb into your skin, else it can run into your eye's. Gets you about 2 hours I reckon. Can't see it on at all. Chemist or Dischem.
• Solrx 40+ - also zinc based. Leaves a fine white sheen on your skin. Meant to be water resistant for 8 hours. Been pretty happy with it. Got it from RVCA store in SF.
• Shiseido 30+ - well known overseas, pretty pricey, but top class product. Look for it at places like Edgars or larger chemists 
• Island Tribe 40+ clear gel - awesome stuff for your bod (for those tropical trips when you in boardies for 8 hours a day), but not sure about trusting it for my face. There's a bit of debate about whether the products coming from the factory that make it in Durbs do actually meet international standards, despite having been recognised by the SA cancer association. It tends to block your facial pores too. I use on my legs/arms, and it works like a bomb. Available at Surf Centre or Dischem.

Win a tube of Bronzinc