One woman's quest to make sunscreen for darker skin

Brut America

"People like to say, 'Black don't crack.' Well, it does crack. It may take a little longer, but it cracks."  She created a sunscreen for darker skin, educating on the importance of sun protection, no matter the skin tone.

Transcript

00:00just a quick application look at that so we pat that in get around the eyes no bother

00:06see how well it's blending in oh just beautiful

00:20so in my late 30s i'd always only had one mole and i looked in the mirror one day and i had like

00:27five or six new moles and i thought this is weird like i know i'm gonna get them right because

00:31everyone has them but why are they coming so early so i made an appointment i went to the

00:36dermatologist and i said just that i said i know i'm gonna get these they're genetic but is there

00:41a way we can slow them down like they're coming so soon and she chuckled and she said honey these

00:47aren't genetic this is sun damage i was like well wait a second like i'm black black people don't

00:52get sun damage right and sure enough that's what it is

01:06this idea that black don't crack and you know that melanin is protective it is true however

01:12it doesn't make us invincible to the rays of the sun or uv radiation there is a misconception that

01:20we only need sunscreen when it's warm out or sunny out what people don't realize is that when

01:26the temperature drops or even if it's overcast there is a constant level of uv radiation so i

01:33would say you should wear it all year round we do have different skin in terms of the pigment

01:48and so a lot of the products that are available to our caucasian counterparts don't necessarily

01:54work with our skin type aesthetically right they don't blend as well they look um make you look

02:01ashy or gray it took me a while to discover a mineral sunscreen and when i did i didn't have

02:08those issues with irritation but of course the whiteness would get in my hairline and my eyebrows

02:13was just so thick and horrible most large black families have multiple skin tones and this product

02:32that we came up with worked on all of us like a lot of black people like me didn't know that they

02:37needed to wear sunscreen and if they did and were interested in using clean sunscreen shouldn't have

02:43to have the hassle that i did and that's kind of how and sun was born i didn't feel included it's

02:59so obvious that i wasn't even a consideration when they were developing these tents and it's

03:06we spend millions and billions of dollars and it's just frustrating to think that no one is

03:13considering us and is the thought oh we'll just let them use the chemical ones that's good enough

03:20well we want good quality stuff too and so initially it was all selfishly motivated i

03:27honestly wanted something for my medicine cabinet and it wasn't until just interacting with my

03:34sisters and my cousins i was like okay this could do really well and help to teach us something that

03:42many people like myself just didn't know

03:56and we don't get it at the same rate as our white counterparts but guess what our mortality rate is

04:00higher and it's higher because if we get we're so accustomed to getting moles as we age if we get a

04:07strange mole the furthest thing from our mind is skin cancer we're thinking oh that's an ugly mole

04:12it's just you know in addition to the other ones we're piling up on so our mortality rate is

04:18frighteningly higher i take every opportunity that i can if it's tips on our social media or just

04:26interviews like this one talking about the importance of sunscreen and if you're not afraid

04:32of cancer there are so many other benefits it's one of the best anti-aging regimens that you could

04:38use and you know people like to say well you know black don't crack well it does crack it may take a

04:43little longer but it cracks and with this current environmental situation that we're living in

04:48it tends to crack a little sooner so if you know if your health doesn't get you maybe your vanity will

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