Cancer Scare to Sun Care: My Journey to Becoming Safe and Sun-Smart

So, my friends, you may have noticed, you may not, but I have a kind of a crater here on my forehead. A couple of years ago, I had this strange skin spot in my forehead that didn’t look quite right. So as much as men never like going to the doctor, I went to the doctor and I said, “Could you check these brown spots all over me?” And he went, “They’re just aging spots.” I went, “Yeah, I thought so too, but are they all okay?” So he had a close -up and he said, “You know what, they’re all fine, except maybe for that one.”

“That one looks a little odd.” So he sent me to a dermatologist, had a biopsy, transpired that it was actually cancerous, and not the good kind of cancerous, if there is a good kind of cancerous? I needed up needing some surgery, and in the last year or so, I have been much more sun aware.

It’s spring in British Columbia, so I want to give you a little bit of a tip. First and foremost, literally never go anywhere now outside without a hat.

Baseball hats are really good, but they only partially shade your face.

Second part is, stay hydrated. I know it sounds easy to sort of say drink a lot of water, but this bottle is a half-litre, and you need to consume at least four of those a day, in fact, if not more. And coffee does not count as water!

The last piece is to invest in a bloody good sun cream. This is from a client of ours called Essence of L. No, I’m not paid to endorse it. It’s called Sun Kissed. It’s a factor 45. It is just an incredible sun cream.

I have, like, three bottles of this, one in my car, one in my backpack, and one by my sink at home. And I put it on every single day, sunny or not, cloudy or not, on a plane or not, in a car or not, because would you believe me that I had more sun damage on the side of my face where I drive than I do on the side of the face that’s the inside of the car?

I’m a little odd because I was brought up in England, so it was that side and then living Canada, so it’s that side, but this side was worse than this side because this is my dominant side now that I live in North America. So my friends, the greatest investment that you can make is in yourself, and that starts with good nutrition, great sleep, good balance of all things, water, water, water, wear a hat, no matter what, and wear sunshield.

It’s not manly to get cancer. Okay. It’s not anything to get cancer. It’s not fun. The surgery I had and the recovery was bloody painful, and I hope I never have to go through that again.

And I’m doing my utmost to look after this body because I am my number one client and you have to remember that in the world that you have to protect yourself. You have to give yourself rest, you have to give yourself nutrition, otherwise you can’t serve your clients properly.

And burning yourself out on behalf of other people is a bad investment. So practice safe sun, wear the hat, drink the water, sun shield in the shade. That’s what you need, alright?