We all know that when you spend a lot of time in the sun, you put yourself at risk for everything from an annoyingly painful sunburn to potential life-threatening skin cancers. Since we know a lot of people in the latter category, we take sun protection pretty seriously. You might be surprised to find that, as a general rule, when it comes to protecting your skin, we prefer things you wear to things you slather on your skin. That said, the best coverage comes from a combination of the two.
On the 'things you wear' side, we've been testing a few products and are happy to carry sun shirts (also called rash guards) from SA Company (AKA Salt Armour.) They make high quality rash guards that offer maximum protection and tend not to stretch out of shape, which can be a real problem when you're surfing. We have in stock their regular rash guards plus some with hoodies for that extra level of protection. We also carry a variety of their sun protective hats.
As for sunscreens, we are committed to Stream2Sea, a woman-owned, Florida brand without the types of chemicals used by most drugstore brands that are absorbed into the skin. With a mixture of titanium and zinc, Stream2Sea is what keeps our staff from getting fried during our long hours in the sun during our summer surf camps. We have both a skin tint version and a white formula so you can always tell if you are sufficiently protected. Stream2Sea is the only mineral based sunscreen on the planet that’s been tested and proven safe for freshwater fish, saltwater fish, and coral larvae, and has passed the stringent HEL Labs Protect Land + Sea certification. We also stock some of their other products like Leave-In Hair Conditioner, Sun & Sting Relief Gel and Advanced Care Hand Cream.
We also highly recommend NOT using spray-on sun screens. Over our several years of conducting Summer Surf Camps we have seen numerous campers who used spray-ons get sunburned to the point of missing camp days.
While we're on the subject of skin protection, we're happy to carry the Body Guard No See Um Defense. This awesome blend of essential oils has no dangerous chemicals like Deet, but gives great protection from the attacks of the nefarious No See Ums that make us crazy right around dawn or dusk.
