We want the truth, without a lens on it. We want to know if the products we are using are really chemical free. We want to know if the sunscreen we are wearing is actually blocking uv ray's. Is the make-up with built-in SPF enough to use alone? Should we just take the word of companies & trust that they are transparent about their products & the ingredients used? Is that sunscreen really waterproof? Does it continue working even hours after application like it says it does? How much uv filtration am I absorbing while sitting in the shade? Are there areas of my face & skin more vulnerable to sun damage than others? We are not alone in asking these questions. Many of us are wondering the same things everyday. Is there anything we can do to protect our skin more? Finally the answer is YES! We have finally found something that can answer all these questions & truly help you understand UV ray's. 

I met a woman back in the early 2010's. This was before I even hit my 20's. She was in her mid-late 40's. On first meeting her I swore she couldn't have been older than 30, at most. Her hair was naturally red, long & curly, skin was very fair. But what I noticed was she had not one wrinkle on her face. Her skin all over looked as flawless as porcelain & everyone would ask her what her 'secret' was. I'll never forget what she said. "I have NEVER tanned a day in my life. I've never been in a tanning bed & if I'm going to be outside I wear broad spectrum sunscreen, long sleeve shirts & if I can, a hat. She said when I was younger I wanted to tan so bad because all my friends did. They had this sun-kissed glow, this beautiful bronzed skin & here I was, pale as Casper in the middle of summer. However, my mother, also being a natural red head, having burned many times in the sun, would never let me voluntarily go lay in a tanning bed that emits UV ray's or bake out in the sun. I would fight & argue with her over this exclaiming all my friends tan & compared to them I look translucent! It wasn't until I got older, in my mid-late 20's, that I realized my mother had not only protected me from life long sun damage & possibly even skin cancer but also from premature aging & that specifically was already something I was noticing with my friends who had been tanning since they were 15. I was the only one to still be carded everywhere we went. Back then I hated how young I looked compared to all my friends. I was the only one to still be carded at every bar we went to. People saying 'no way your older than 18' when I was 22-23 & that continued on through my 20's into my 30's. Still being carded at 33 because I don't look old enough to drink I realized, at this rate by the time I'm in my 40's I'll still look like I'm in my 30's. That is why I am so thankful my mother never gave in & let me go tanning." 

After she told me this, I never went to a tanning salon again & I really tried to make sure I didn't forget to put on sunscreen but back then I wasn't as sun cautious as I am today. You see the story the woman told me didn't make me cautious of tanning because of the fear I might get cancer. I stopped tanning because I wanted to look as good as she did by the time I was in my 40's. A couple years go by & then one morning I get a call from my dad. He was very upset & I knew something pretty bad had to be going on. Squamous cell carcinoma- aka skin cancer. This type of skin cancer is a malignant tumor that occurs when the cells in the middle layer of the skin become cancerous. This is caused by DNA damage from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. If found & treated early it is curable however this type of skin cancer can spread to internal organs & it usually spreads quickly. My father's tumor started on his neck. He did years of chemo & radiation, 5 years to be exact. Everything was looking hopeful, the treatments seemed to have worked & his DR was going to be stopping those treatments & declaring him cancer free. He was so happy & so was my mother. We even went out to celebrate this. Fast-forward sometime (maybe a year) & my father was having some extreme pain & discomfort in his throat & mouth...Long story short, after some testing our worst fears were confirmed yet again. The cancer we thought was gone had spread from his neck to inside his throat & up into his mouth, in his tongue. He had the majority of that removed & replaced with fat from his thigh & his voice box was also removed. When he first woke from surgery the first thing he asked the DR was "did you get all the 'C' out?" Afterwards he started treatments again & now for over 5 years, he's been cancer free. He lives his life now to the fullest, enjoying every moment, every day. He never lets loosing his voice box get him down. He lives so thankful for being alive & beating that cancer.