Seea - Seeababes

Protect that Pretty Skin with Pale Girl's Easy Advice

2014-05-14T10:36:00-07:00

Author, three-time melanoma survivor and longtime Seea fan, Hillary Fogelson in the original Doheny rashguard.

Fact-filled information about how to protect yourself from skin cancer can be a hard pill to swallow when it’s coming from a doctor’s clinical language. Not the case when talking to author of the memoir, Pale Girl Speaks, Hillary Fogelson who's a pro at dispensing small bits of advice that can make a big difference, and are are easy as pie to remember.

In honor of May being National Skin Cancer Awareness Month, we called upon Hillary again for a brush up on skin cancer prevention schooling. Hillary isn't a doctor, but her memoir, Pale Girl Speaks recounts her first-hand experience going through melanoma treatment that’s touching and personal, while also being an educational journey alongside her.

Now a three-time melanoma survivor, mother of two daughters and skin cancer prevention activist, Hillary gives us her tips for sun protection for yourself and how to get your kids in healthy routine practices early on.

Left, the cover of the Pale Girl Speaks book and some useful advice from Hillary on her website.

Pale Girl Sun Protection Tips

"A single application of sunscreen doesn't last all day, sorry ladies! Whether you're spending a long afternoon at the park with your kids, or surfing the waves, reapplication is a must! Also, it's important to apply sunscreen to dry skin — unless the product specifically says it can be applied to wet — and wait 10-15 minutes for the sunscreen to fully absorb into your skin and start working before you head outside or in the water."

"Don't use a vacation as an opportunity to try a new sunscreen. Buy products a week or two before you go away so you have a chance to see if the sunscreen works for your skin."

"If you have short hair, remember to apply plenty of sunscreen to the back of your neck and your ears. Ears get tons of sun exposure and many people forget to slather them up!"

Don't forget to reapply throughout the day. Photo by Luki O'Keefe.

"Never leave sunscreen in a hot car or out on the sand. Ironically, when the active ingredients in sunscreen get hot, they become less effective. If you're at the beach, wrap your SPF in a towel or keep it under an umbrella with plenty of shade."

"Wondering the best way to teach your kids about the importance of sun protection? Teach by example! If your kids see you incorporating sunscreen into your daily routine, they'll be more likely to do the same. And it's so much easier to get your kids to wear long sleeve rash guards if you're wearing one yourself. Trust me!"

"Not all sunglasses are created equal! And just because they're dark doesn't mean they give adequate UV protection. Always look for a tag or sticker that tells the amount of UV protection you're getting."

"If you're spending long hours in the water, save time by wearing a long sleeve rashguard to protect your arms, neck, shoulders and back. It will cut down on your time spent applying SPF...and you'll look like a real surfer!"

"Damage done by a sunburn lasts forever. So no sunburns, please!"

Pale Girl's daughters cover up in special Seea rashguards.

Glowing and comfortable in her healthy pale skin, Hillary Fogelson photographed by Sue Bryce for Olay.

Don't miss out on Hillary's entire emotionally personal story, read our last interview with her here.

Get more sun safety advice on our last post with Respect the Rays' Timna Understein.

Be Stylish and Covered with Respect The Rays' Sun Safe Packing List

2014-05-12T12:21:00-07:00

Timna Understein of Respect The Rays skin cancer awareness blog always carries her "brelli" with her that's 99% UV protective.

As a kid growing up in hot New Mexico and California, Timna Understein spent a lot of time soaking up the sunshine, but never worried that it was a big deal when she got sunburned or tanned from staying out on the beach or by the pool too long.

At age 38, Timna discovered a black dot on the bottom of her foot and had an instinct it wasn't just a freckle. After getting checked out by a doctor, she found out that she had melanoma. “I was in shock. I had an appointment with an oncologist, and scheduled for chest X-rays and surgery. I had no idea what melanoma actually meant — that it was way more than just a disease of the skin,” Timna says.

Timna, who holds a masters degree in Education, started Respect The Rays blog and Facebook page in 2012 to share personal stories about living with melanoma and raising awareness for prevention. Being a mother of three children, she initially targeted educating teens and speaking at high schools, but her audience quickly grew wider.

“I am always hoping that people who have never had melanoma can learn from my experience and not have to experience it themselves. I had to learn the hard way. I also hope people feel they can live life fully, travel, be active, be outdoors, but doing it with sun safety as top priority. Once I had a cancer diagnosis, after the initial fear subsided, I wanted to live more, travel more, get out there and make the most of life and this big world," Timna says.

Wherever she goes, Timna makes sure that she has all of her essential sun protective gear with her. She shared with us what’s going in her suitcase to her next destination: Israel to keep her skin covered when exploring the deserts, Dead Sea, beaches and open-air markets.

Respect the Rays's Sun Safety Travel Essentials

Destination: Israel

Photo of the port of Jaffe adjacent to Tel Aviv, Israel by Ron Shoshani on Flickr. Map of Irael bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

Timna's Seea favorites. The Palomar Rashguard in Tea Leaf and Jalama bikini in Tea Leaf.

For the pool or beach: “The Seea Palomar Crop Top Rashguard and Jalama Bikini will be my water adventure go-to! The retro-inspired Tea Leaf print had me hooked at first glance. I love rashguards as they simplify my water/sunscreen routine, allowing for less reapplication of sunscreen to the protected body parts covered by the rashguard. When I find when that I adore style-wise, I’m all over it. Style + Sun Protection= Perfect."

Timna imitates art in the Parque de Maria Luisa in Seville, Spain, with her Brelli.

All day Portable Shade: The Brelli. “If my Brelli had a passport, it would be filled with stamps! This beautiful, miracle comes with me EVERYWHERE! The Brelli will accompany me through the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem, the bustling city of Tel Aviv, the open-air markets, my hike up Masada National Park, and more! And although it has a “clear” appearance, it’s 99% UV protective. The Brelli draws attention of passersby and is a conversation starter."

Timna's favorite wide brimmed hat, sunscreen by Blue Lizard, Acure Organics and EltaMD for face.

Pictured clockwise from top left:

Must-Have Hat: “I knew right away when I saw the Cabana Life Straw Sunset Hat, it was going to be a favorite! It’s beautifully woven, goes with everything, wide-brimmed, UPF 50+ material, floppy, and packable.”

For the body: “Right now, my two favorite sunscreens are Blue Lizard Sensitive 30+, and Acure Organics. Both of them are mineral-based, chemical-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free, and for my skin, have a good texture and don’t make me rashy."

For the Face: “EltaMD UV Clear has been a staple of mine for years. I use it everyday, and typically try to have one in my bathroom, and one in my purse…because one is never enough.”

Timna doubles up in a hat and her Brelli.

Follow Timna's personal journey and sun-safety advice on Respect the Rays' Facebook page, blog and Twitter.

Get educated on more ways to protect your pretty skin in our previous blog post on Pale Girl Speaks' Hillary Fogelson.

Pale Girl Speaks Skin Cancer Realness.

2013-06-19T09:32:00-07:00

Hillary Fogelson in Cosmopolitan magazine

Being surfers that spend nearly every day basking in the sunshine (and its UV rays), Hillary Fogelson’s story hit home for us that no one is immune. At 25-years-old, Hillary’s dermatologist told her one of the worst things that no one ever wants to hear: She had skin cancer.

She turned lemons into lemonade with her memoir, Pale Girl Speaks that talks about her experience overcoming melanoma in a way that’s both funny and real. Through her blog, social media and public appearances, she is a dedicated activist in educating people how to protect themselves from skin cancer.

Hillary’s ultra-fair skin is so sensitive that she has to cover up her arms and legs to make a physical barrier to the sun’s UV rays. But she didn’t let that stop her from enjoying the activities she loved, like being in the ocean, swimming in a pool, paddle-boarding and learning how to surf. When searching for more attractive rashguards online, Hillary found Seea.

“I saw what Seea was doing and I got so excited and bought a bunch of stuff. I’m so grateful that there is a cute option, instead of wearing some hideous thing,” Hillary says of the all-black, sleeved and full-legged unitard-like suit she used to wear for water activities. “I mean it allowed me to be out and doing what I wanted to do, but it wasn’t cute.”

We have all seen SPF ratings on sunscreens, which is used to rate products that you put directly on your skin. Clothing (like rashguards) is not SPF-rated, instead it is UPF-rated, which means that it is rated by the fabric’s ability to block UV rays. UPF ratings vary with each fabric, and are determined by the fabric color, weave, composition, and weight of the material.

Seea suits are made from high quality, four way stretch nylon/spandex blends. Since our rashguards usually involve at least two to three different fabrics, sometimes from different manufacturers, it is very difficult for us to issue a specific rating for each suit. For next Summer, we plan on using the same base fabric across the board, improving and unifying our ratings to 50+ UPF. To find out more about sun protective clothing, both in and out of the water, check out this article in Wikipedia.

As a mother of two daughters, age 9 and 7, Hillary has ramped up her cause to educate moms about how they can teach their children early to adopt healthy skin care practices. We sat down with her to hear her personal story and get some skin education.

The book.

What did it feel like when you first found out you had cancer?

When you’re 25 years old, everything seems like it’s ahead of you. You’re not thinking about being sick. The word cancer when you hear it at that age, its shocking. We just all make the assumption that, ‘I felt healthy and will live a long time’ and we realize that there’s no guarantees really.

Most people go to the doctor when there’s something wrong. It’s really worth once a year, spending the money to get checked. People are busy, but you have to make your health your priority. If you feel good, you’re healthy, you don’t think about it.

How did writing your memoir come about?

After I had surgery the first time, I was journaling. I was an actress and I was writing thinking maybe at some point I would turn it into a one-woman show. I really wanted to write it as I was going through it. I basically wrote the entire book within a year and a half of having surgery except for the very last chapter. I put it away and as I was coming upon my 10-year anniversary of having melanoma the first time, I felt like there still was a lot of misunderstanding.

People didn’t know how to protect themselves. They didn’t know how to protect their kids. Friends of mine were constantly asking me what products to use, where could I find a cute rash guard. I thought, maybe the book would be a way to start a dialogue and get a larger group of people interested and educated about this. That’s when I decided to finish it.

What information was out there, and what did you think you could tell differently?

Just with the clothing, where a lot of it wasn’t very cute, a lot of the information out there was very medical, very trite. If you’re young and you’re trying to [learn more], it just felt very daunting.

A cancer memoir is the worst category a book can be in. I think when there is a lot of humor in something, they take in the information better. I don’t think scaring people works as a way to get a change in behavior. My hope was just that it would get people thinking about their skin in a different way, taking care of it.

I’m very open and really honest in the book about everything as I was going through it, how I felt about it, the good and the bad, the whole thing. Emails I’ve gotten from people that have read the book, say ‘I care about this now because I feel like I know you.’ That’s what you want. That only comes out in just that you have to be completely open about your experience.

You said there were a lot of misunderstandings about skin cancer. What are some of those misunderstandings?

People don’t think melanoma is serious. Melanoma is very different than the other forms of skin cancer. People don’t understand that it’s something that you could die from. Most cases are caused from overexposure from the sun. It’s a cancer that for the most part, is preventable. There are very few cancers you could say that about.

Because the numbers of people getting melanoma and people dying from melanoma has continued to rise year after year I thought if there is a real change in education and people started really working to prevent it then we could have a real impact on the number of people that get it and the number of people that die from it.

What questions did you get after writing the book and talking to people about your experience?

People want to know how to be safe in the sun but they want real practical information. You have to make it simple. People come to me and say, “what sunscreen do I buy?” There’s a lot of products out there, it’s daunting. I feel like I’ve tried so much on myself, on my girls, there’s a lot of great brands and there’s a lot of brands that feel like wearing toothpaste on your skin. Just like there is a lot of sun protective clothing, but its hideous. People aren’t going to wear it.

If you target moms then they start really young. It’s a habitual thing just like brushing their teeth. They protect themselves [and put on sunscreen] before they go to school. They don’t go to the beach, park, whatever, without being protected.

What are some of the most high-risk activities?

Tanning beds are such a huge contributor. They are the worst thing. The UV rays that you get from the tanning bed are literally the rays that give you melanoma. It’s targeted, intense cancer-causing rays that you get when you go to a tanning bed. Particularly in the Midwest where they don’t get sun for a lot of the year, these girls are going to tanning beds every single day.

They’ve proven that it’s addicting. The chemicals produced in your brain when you are tanning are like same chemicals that are released when gamblers are gambling. If it’s a bad habit, you don’t want your kids to start.

What is it about tanning beds that is so alluring even if people know it might be bad for them?

I think people want to be tanned. They feel that they look thinner and better when they are tanned. I understand that. But my thing is we all need to just embrace and accept the skin that we have. You can do the spray tan, which is a safe alternative but if you are not tan, to maintain a fake tan is very difficult. If I wanted to be tanned even for a week it would be so much work to try to do that. I think you kind of have to go, 'This is what I’ve got.'

Pale Girl's daughters keep their arms covered when playing outside.

How do you teach your own children?

I started right away with them. I wish they weren’t so sensitive to the sun because it’s hard. My older daughter’s skin is like mine and even with all that we do, she will still get pink on her face and she’s getting freckles. They look at the scars that I have and they don’t want that for themselves. The reality is its not totally foolproof because there is a genetic factor. But we’re going to be on top of it. I always say when they become teenagers and rebel they are not going to do drugs, they’re going to go and get sunburned to make me crazy! That would kill me. I’d be like ‘No! You go smoke some pot and you will not go to a tanning booth!”

Sometimes it’s a pain in the ass, but sometimes I say look, you are my daughters and we are all in this together and you have to represent the cause and you have to set a good example for your friends. Your friends aren’t going to do it if you aren’t doing it. A lot of their friends have really changed how they view sunscreen and their parents have been talking to them about it.

Hillary shared a special Top 5 Must-Haves for Seea.

Seea x Thalia Rashguard

2012-12-05T20:57:00-08:00

Quite possibly our best collab ever, the Seea x Thalia Doheny Rashguard has been selling like it was still Summer! With less than 60 available world wide, there just aren't that many left, so if you are considering picking one up, now would be the appropriate time!! Available strictly through Seea and Thalia Surf!

Features:

-High quality, super soft, four way stretch spandex

-Contrast sleeve with shimmery olive cuff

-Thalia "Whipped Cream" logo print

-Snug fitting, extra-long body cut

-Made in the USA

The Hermosa in Action

2012-09-26T09:56:00-07:00

The Hermosa suit has been a crowd favorite this Summer. With a sweetheart cut for cuteness and long sleeves to protect from the Sun, it's no wonder why! Longboard or short, the Seeababes have been putting our hybrid swim / surf suit to the test this Summer, and they all say the same thing: "Best suit ever!" The Hermosa is comfortable and cute, protects you from sunburn & rashes, and keeps everything snugly in place! What more could a lady want?

A beautiful and versatile surfer, Lulu Erkeneff styles through her sunset footwork. Photos: Shawn Parkin

Long or short, the Seeababes have you covered! Mele Saili cuts back while Lulu switches boards for a session at Salt Creek. Photos: Mitsuhide Funkaki, Shawn Parkin

Quite possibly the nicest Seeababe ever, Amy Lowry is a quiet ripper who loves a quick right. Photo: Tim Reda

If you surfed Doheny this Summer, chances are Nicole Azevedo was out there, too! Stoked and stylish, we love the way she rolls! Photos: Nick Tomasso

Big thanks to Nicole Azevedo, Amy Lowry, Mele Saili, and Lulu Erkeneff and their photographers for submitting these lovely photos. It's been an amazing Summer here in California - the perfect time and place to discover the pure "no worries" stoke of a warm water session in your favorite Seea suit!

New Seeaside Rash Tank - Available Now!

2012-08-03T23:54:00-07:00

Amanda's been at it again, digging for cool fabrics in the stores of downtown LA - combining colors & prints in fabulous ways! Here are some snapshots of her newest creation, the Seeaside Rash Tank in vintage stripe!

funtemplatesside is a form fitting, reversible scoop neck tank, that looks great both in and out of the water. This first edition of the Seeaside is already sold out, and with less than 50 pieces made, the "vintage stripe" is guaranteed to go fast!! Pick one up today from Thalia Surf Shop, or check them out on our online store.

New Blue Shell Swami's

2012-06-04T18:54:00-07:00

Seea Summer production keeps rolling in, including the new, ultra-limited Swami's in Blue Shell. With navy shorts, black waistband, and a contrast neon zipper, the new Swami's is a sweet mix color and a unique print - Seea at it's best!

Unique and quite striking herself, our new friend and Seea Babe Donnicka stopped by this weekend to model!

A devil in the details - love the neon zip!!

Due to overwhelming request, we've added XS to the list of available sizes for all new Summer suits! Not sure about your size? Check out our handy size chart, or head straight to Thalia Surf Shop in Laguna and try one on today!!

New Seea Rashguards have arrived!

2012-06-02T17:17:00-07:00

June is here and our new Summer line is just beginning to arrive! The popular Doheny Rashguard is now available in two new colors, both proudly manufactured right here in California. Seea Babe Esther Bent swung by in her awesome 62 Mercury - she left the roller skates at home today, but brought the captain's hat and her classic style!

The Doheny in Blue Shell. Captian's hat & vintage Ray-Ban's not included!

These latest Seea styles can be found at Surfy Surfy in Leucadia & Icons of Surf in Hamburg. Can't wait another minute? Shop now at www.funtemplates.com!

Free Your Mind

2012-04-25T09:30:00-07:00

Swami's playsuit is now available at Free People!