I am happy to introduce, Bailey Clark, founder and writer of the Makeover Momma blog, nutritional consultant and trainer for mothers and families – and mother of two. Bailey was willing and able to share her family experience with Melanoma. Below you will learn what she learned from her family members struggle and how she intends to brighten her daughters’ futures by instilling skin cancer awareness in the most essential way.
Bailey Clark and her daughters
As the writer and founder of Makeover Momma, I am constantly studying, learning and loving everything there is to know about skincare. Growing up in South Florida, I always thought that I was naturally a very dark, olive-skinned child (because of our perpetual tans). Even after moving far away from the beach (and deep into the mountains) at an older age, I continued to lie outside in the sun, slathered in baby oil, in pursuit of what I deemed a beautiful tan.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I watched my older brother battle melanoma, and my mother, sister and various other family members go through dozens of skin cancer removals, that I began to see sun bathing in a different light (pun intended). In the same way that physicians and doctors wish they could take the movie-star glamour out of smoking, and show cigarette fans the true results of their habit (lung cancer, yellow teeth, etc.), I wish that we could take the appeal out of “glowing” skin. In reality, the “glow” we think tans give us, is actually our skin becoming deadened from sun exposure. After seeing the opened wounds, bright red scars and gnarly stitches (upon the faces of my beloved family members) from having skin cancer removed… the sun began to seem a lot less tantalizing.
I used to use every excuse in the book for wanting a tan. “It makes me look thinner” I would say (but who cares how thin you look, when your face is covered in wrinkles?) “It makes me look healthy,” I would explain (but what is healthy about having a leathery complexion before you’re 40?) Or the best reason of all, “life is short, so I would rather look good and die young.” Let’s just say that after becoming a mother and having two beautiful (pail) girls, my thought process has changed quickly.
Yet, even though I have rehabbed my skin for the past four years (and all of my sun exposure was received as a young child), I continue to schedule bi-annual full-body skin cancer screenings at my dermatologist, and recently had two large biopsies taken out of my back (the scars, of which, will remain with me forever).
In the end, I want to raise my daughters to appreciate a different kind of beauty. A beauty that lets us embrace our natural skin color (no matter the shade), and protect ourselves from the sun (and consequently, our own vanity). Every day I apply a high level of sunscreen to any area of skin that might be exposed (whether rain or shine), and hope to teach my girls to do the same. And no matter how many excuses my friends and family give in defense of their tanning habit (and trust me, I’ve heard them all), I will always have the ultimate response.
“Check back on me in a few decades, and we’ll compare our skin. “
