Campaign urges South West's men to protect themselves from the sun
One in 20 men in the region say it's too much hassle to take precautions
A new campaign has launched to try and get more men to take care when in the sun across the South West this summer, to prevent skin cancer.
It comes as new research has shown less than a quarter of men protect themselves when it's warm and more than one in ten are more concerned about getting a tan than protecting themselves abroad.
Karis Betts, Cancer Research UK, said:
"The sun is strong enough to cause sunburn from mid March to mid October in the UK so that's actually quite a long period of time but in the middle of the Summer in the UK the sun can be as strong as it is in warmer and more tropical climates.
"It could come down to behaviour, it could come down to men protecting themselves less and it could be down to the fact that men are exposing more skin so perhaps in the beach or the park, higher exposure to the sun is increasing their risk of skin cancer".
The charity are urging men to take more care as we reach what could be the hottest summer on record.
The report from NIVEA SUN shows more than half of men (56%) admit they should take more care to protect their skin from the sun, despite over 80% in the South West knowing that sunburn can increase the risk of skin cancer.
In the UK, one quarter of those men said they didn’t feel the sun was strong enough with just under a quarter saying they ‘didn’t really think about it’. Almost one in ten nationally believed that it was ‘too much hassle.’
Karis told us this advice:
"Spend time in the shade, in the middle of the day, particularly 11 to three that's when the sun is strongest.
"Cover up, get a t-shirt, get a hat, some sunglasses and wear sunscreen. You need to be applying it regularly and lots of it because it can rub off and sweat off. Look for one that has SPF of at least 15 and four or more stars".