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Friday, April 3, 2009

Review: UV Skinz


My husband and kids know me as a sunblock czar. Getting a sunburn is a big no-no in our family. In spite of growing up in Arizona, I don’t tan, I burn (same with the kids). And several family members have already gotten skin cancer (fortunately nothing deadly) – I know I’m next.

So when planning our recent trip to Mexico, Mark finally mentioned that he needed to find a swim shirt – you know those shiny tight shirts that protect you from the sun? My kids have them. I have them. In the past, Mark’s refused even to put on sunblock (don’t get me started). BUT he wanted a shirt, so I was excited. And Dori’s was getting a little threadbare from too much use.

So they each got UV Skinz shirts. The brand was started by a mom of three kids, Rhonda Sparks whose husband died of…skin cancer. Actually melanoma. The Mercury News recently reported that the incidence of melanoma rose 5% annually among white folks during the study which ran from 1992-2004 (90% of melanoma sufferers are caucasian). And 65-90% of melanomas are caused by UV exposure via sunlight.

UV Skinz is a Bay Area company, and in fact Rhonda grew up in the town where I now live (but she doesn’t know Jeff my gym instructor, who grew up here too…I guess it’s not that small a world).
Marcia Cross, one of my favorite Desperate Housewives (who is even paler than me) bought the UV Skinz shirts for her twins, so hey – they’re good enough for me.

We went to Mexico (it was fabulous, thanks for asking. We went to Loreto on the Baja peninsula). And no, we didn't buy a timeshare.

I'm happy to say we did not get sunburned (or even get freckles) under our SPF 50 UV Skinz shirts. Woo hoo! We did, however, get several sunburns elsewhere (apparently you have to reapply that 50 SPF sunblock during the day, especially in the strong Mexico sun). Plus I didn’t wear my hat enough, so I now have major peeling which looks like dandruff. Gross!
We were told the shirts run true to size, but we got one size larger than Mark usually gets, and it fits him perfectly. Maybe it’s all those fish tacos and margaritas he consumed…

UV Skinz has lots of fun designs, and also has matching shorts and hats. Shirts start at $29 and go up depending on size and pattern.




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