UV Skinz Review & Giveaway

If you've been reading my blog for a while now then you know how important sun protection is to me. If you're a new reader then I will quickly fill you in. When I was just 36 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. I didn't know exactly how bad it was at that time because I had to have surgery first but after all was said and done I ended up with stage 3a. Now, it could be worse of course, but there are only 4 stages to cancer. I was never a tanner, but I was also never an avid sunscreen user. I thought a tan was a "healthy" glow though, so I never prevented it from happening. It doesn't take much to get skin cancer so the best thing that you can do is protect yourself and your family.

Now that I have been through all that I have I make sure that I am extra careful with Elijah. We try to stay inside during the peak hours, I constantly use safe, all natural sunscreen (you need to be cautious about what kind of sunscreens you are using. Check out the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for safe sunscreens and information).

The one good thing (and I mean ONE, only!) about melanoma is that I have met a lot of wonderful people through online melanoma groups and social networking sites, one of those people happened to be the woman who started UV Skinz, Rhonda Sparks. 

Rhonda lost her 32 year old husband, Darren, to melanoma, just days after 9/11 in 2001. You can read Darren's story here on the UV Skinz website. Darren is survived by Rhonda and their 3 children. Rhonda made it her mission to raise awareness about the disease and get kids (and everyone!) covered everywhere. 

Rhonda was nice enough to send me a baby swim shirt, swim trunks, and a sun hat for myself to try out. I was really excited to get this stuff because I didn't have any swimwear with sun protection for Eli, and I have never had anything with sun protection for myself.  All UV Skinz clothing has UPF 50+ sun protection, that means they block 98% of the suns harmful UV rays. It's all day protection that doesn't wear off, and it's 100% safe unlike some of the mainstream sunscreens that are out there. UV Skinz + an all natural safe sunscreen from the EWG's top 10 list = bulletproof sun protection.

The first thing that I noticed when I received these items was how soft the swim shirt was. Elijah is sensitive to what he wears and you will frequently see him pulling on stuff that he doesn't find comfortable (such as shirts with heavy transfers that make the inside of the shirt stiff). Elijah was totally fine wearing the swim shirt and didn't try to pull it off at all! I especially love that there are no seams inside the shirt to dig into Eli, they are all flat locked on the outside.

The swim shorts have a built in swim diaper with elastic legs, so no need to put anything on underneath.

Since this is our first swim shirt and shorts with sun protection, I have nothing to compare it to, but for us it's now a tried and true brand. They also sell skinz for men and women, sun hats for children and adults, and some outdoor sun shade protection tents with a UPF!

Buy it: Visit UV Skinz to buy all sorts of great sun protection gear for your whole family

Win it: UV Skinz is generously giving one of our readers and UV Skinz item of their choice! Perhaps you'd like to try a swim shirt for your little one, or maybe a sun hat for yourself! Go look around and check out all the great stuff you can choose from!

Rules: You must complete the mandatory entry for your additional entries to be valid. Please leave one separate comment for each entry (ie: if you get 2 entries then leave 2 separate comments, it's easier on me when counting). Please make sure you leave your email address so I have a way to contact you if you win!

Mandatory Entry

 (must be completed for your additional entries to be valid)

Visit UV Skinz and tell me what you would choose if you won!

Additional Entries

❤ Follow this blog publicly via google friend connect (1 entry)

❤ Become a fan of UV Skinz on Facebook! (1 entry)

❤ Become a fan of The Hip (Single) Mama's Facebook page (formerly Le Petit Owlet) (1 entry)
❤ Follow on @uvskinz Twitter (1 entry) 

❤ Follow @lepetitowlet on Twitter (1 entry)

❤ Sign up for the UV Skinz monthly newsletter (1 entry) 

❤ Put my new button on your blog! (2 entries, leave a link)

❤ Follow The Cloth Diaper Revolution's blog and become a fan on Facebook (2 separate entries, leave 2 separate comments!)
❤ Tweet about the giveaway "Keep your kids covered with @uvskinz. Win a swim shirt, shorts, or hat @lepetitowlet! http://bit.ly/dakvif " (2 tweets per day)

Contest will end on June 17th, 2010 at 11:59pm CST. Winner will be chosen via random.org and

announced on or around June 18th, 2010

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I did not receive payment in any form for this review.

I did receive a sample of the product or service for testing and review purposes. This will in no way sway my opinion of the product or service.The review is in my own words and is my own opinion. Your results and opinion may differ.

How to be sun safe

The warm weather is fast approaching which means shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, and bathing suits. The less clothing you wear means the more skin that is exposed to harmful UV rays, and take it from me, they can do some damage.

I've been having some major anxiety lately about the warmer weather. I don't want to be scared of the sun or going outside but I can't help it. Unfortunately for me Texas gets really hot, triple digit hot, so when I do have to go outside it's almost impossible to completely cover up with pants and long sleeves. A little bit of sun is good for you, you just have to make sure you get that sun safely.

First and foremost I want to urge my readers to not sit out in the sun for the purpose of tanning. Please, don't go to a tanning salon either. UV rays are dangerous. Most people don't think twice about it, I know I didn't really ever think that I might get cancer and how much my life would be turned upside down, but I did get cancer, and my life was turned upside down. I was never really a tanner either. Sure, I would sit out in the sun without sunscreen on hoping for that "healthy glow", but it turns out that glow is far from healthy.

Every day I wake up and worry about whether or not I am going to live to see my son grow up. It scares the shit out of me that I might miss his life all because of this disease that I can't control. I have to sit here and wait to see if it's going to come back or if it's going to stay away, and the scary thing is that if it does come back it can come back anywhere in my body. Anywhere. Brain, liver, kidneys, heart, stomach, breasts, uterus. ANYWHERE. Melanoma is a beast. It's a terribly dangerous cancer that people can do things to prevent! Some people are much more likely to develop a melanoma despite their best efforts, but some people develop melanomas that could have been prevented if they had just taken the proper precautions.

I found out I had melanoma when I was 36 weeks pregnant. It turned my entire world upside down. This joyous time in my life suddenly turned into this anxiety filled nightmare. I had trouble sleeping, thoughts racing, I cried a lot, and developed "cancer brain" (which I still have) which made me think that any bump, bruise, spot, pain, or itch was cancer. The worst part was that there was nothing I could do until I gave birth. That was the longest 4 weeks of my life. 4 weeks of not knowing exactly how bad it was or if it was anywhere else or what I was going to do.

FInally Elijah was born. I was able to forget cancer for a few days, but 12 days after I gave birth I went in for surgery. It sucked, but it could have been worse. I was feeling confident at that time that the cancer wasn't going to have spread, but it turns out I was wrong. A couple weeks later I got the dreaded news that they found a small amount of cancer in one of my lymph nodes. Small amount or not, because they found it in my lymph node I was automatically stage 3. There are only 4 stages to cancer.

I had surgery #2 in September and luckily that news was good news, they didn't find it anywhere else, but because I am stage 3 that puts me at a higher risk of the cancer coming back. Over 50%. I don't like those odds at all! Next month is my one year anniversary of being diagnosed, which means I have 4 more years until my chance of recurrence goes down to 1%. So, be as sun safe as you possibly can. I don't want anyone to have to go through what I went through, and continue to go through, if they can prevent it even a little bit. 

How to be sun safe

Always, always, always wear sunscreen. Even if you plan on being in the shade you will still be exposed to UV rays. Make sure you put sunscreen on your baby too, children are even more susceptible to skin cancers these days, especially if a parent or immediate family member has had any kind of skin cancer.

Make sure that you are wearing a safe sunscreen. I stay away from Octocrylene, Octinoxate, Oxybenzone, Octisalate, Homosalate, Avobenzone, and of course all PABA sunscreens. These sunscreens are harmful and some of the ingredients have been know to cause cancer. I'm trying to stay away from cancer, why would I use something that could cause it!? The best resource you can use to find safe sunscreens is the Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. I use that website to check out all of my beauty and skin care products for my family. You want to look for sunscreens with a rating of 0, that's the safest. 1 and 2 are acceptable, but I wouldn't use anything that has a higher rating than that. I have compiled a list of the 10 safest sunscreens for you and your family:

1. Badger Sunscreen for Face & Body, SPF 30, Unscented

2. Loving Naturals Sunscreen, SPF 30+

3. Heiko Kids 40 SPF

4. thinkbaby Sunscreen, SPF 30+

5. Trukid Sunny Days Face & Body Stick, SPF 30+

6. Beyond Coastal Lip and Face Screen, SPF 30

7. Purple Prairie Botanicals Sun Stick, SPF 30

8. Lavera Sunscreen Neutral, SPF 40 

9. Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+

10. All Terrain TerraSport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30

 Wear sun hats! A sun hat with a 6" wide brim will offer the best protection. Make sure you are putting sun hats on your children too!

If possible, avoid the sun during it's peak hours between 10am and 4pm. I know this is really difficult, especially with children. If you can't avoid the sun during these times make sure you wear sunscreen and sun hats and spend as much time in the shade as you can.

Coolibar is a fabulous website that has all sorts of sun safe gear and clothing. I am looking into hopefully getting a sun tent and umbrella from there. There gear all has a sun protection factor of 50. I love the tents because you can bring them to the beach or just to sit outdoors with and you can actually enjoy the fresh air and be protected at the same time!

Agoo has children's clothing with sun protection, and UV Skinz has some great kids swim shirts, along with clothing for kids, adults, and some gear too!

And finally, keep an eye on your skin. Get in the habit of doing skin checks on yourself, especially if you have moles. Check for new growth and if you have a mole that is changing be sure to get it checked out immediately. The earlier these things are caught the better!