Growing up in California between Laguna and San Ynez meant coastal culture defined my youth. My childhood memories are imprinted with the smell of Coppertone and the feeling of Tom Petty's Free Fallin' blasting down PCH. It was the era of Baywatch and Pamela Anderson and red one-piece swimsuits. I lived for the sun and golden tans. I sunbaked, burned, fried, tanned, and toasted my skin. When I was 13, I became a junior lifeguard, and in high school, my friends and I would go to the tanning salon—I know, I know, a collective gasp! With our devil-may-care attitude and no sunscreen, we'd bake in those beds once a week and then get Subway sandwiches afterward (6-inch veggie with Italian dressing and extra pepperoncini. Trust). On weekends, we could be found at the beach from sunup to sundown, and later, I attempted to master the art of surfing but never did. However, for a time, I loved it; surfers, too. I guess I still do.
These days, while I sport a mermaid mane and freckles and still harbor a nostalgia for surf wax, pink zinc, and boards atop vintage pickups, you'd be hard-pressed to find me in the sun from sunup to sundown. Instead, I prefer golden hour to high noon. I tiptoe into the water. I curl myself tightly into a ball under a beach umbrella so that not an inch of my skin glimpses the sun. I opt for sunscreen and a pale complexion. I wear 50 SPF to get coffee on a cloudy day. I'm never without sunglasses—except a few weeks ago when I attempted to surf in Costa Rica without them. Between the sun and the salt, I could barely open my eyes. Disaster. Or this past weekend in the Bahamas, when we went for an easy breezy hour's walk on the beach, and I spent 20 minutes sunscreening my entire body, from top to bottom, beforehand. Not to mention the larger-than-life sunglasses and hat I donned.
In short, my days of sun worship have sailed, only to be replaced by facials, fake tans, skincare, and cold plunges in hopes of overwriting my skin's past.
I touched on this last week, but based on all the texts and DMS I received, I wanted to share more about my new facial obsession from JECT and 7 other practices that I swear by for clear, glowing skin, including one food (surprise, surprise).
Plus, and perhaps more excitingly, I wanted to share that JECT gave me a code for my friends for 20% OFF ANY JECT TREATMENT (which I'll add below)! Yes, you read that right, 20% OFF ANY SERVICE! I only do the facial, but everything that JECT offers is amazing, and 20% off is kinda major! Girl math would say that’s basically free.
Before I forget, here’s the JECT code…