I will have to reserve my judgment on the Island Tribe products as I’m yet to test them, but the service so far is top notch! Oh, and they don’t contain oxybenzone which seems to be a step in the right direction.

While I have tried contacting Johnson & Johnson or Piz Buin (Piz Buin is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson) I seemed to have gotten to a dead end yesterday, ending up receiving a number that is no longer in service. My initial e-mail to Johnson & Johnson was met by this reply:

Sean Lloyd
SOUTH AFRICA

Dear Sean:

Thank you for contacting Johnson & Johnson. It is always important to hear from our customers and we appreciate the time you have taken to contact us.

Please contact the J&J affiliate in South Africa at (27+43)709-3211. They will be happy to assist you.

Again, thank you for your interest in Johnson & Johnson.

Oh well that doesn’t look like an automated, robotic person response. My skin feels like someone has thrown battery acid on it, there is a rash all over me and it is now peeling, and they end the e-mail off with “Again, thank you for your interest in Johnson & Johnson” My INTEREST? It’s not so much interest as it is the rage!

Awesome. Clearly Johnson & Johnson aren’t too worried about sales because they are mega huge anyway, but in a world where that personal touch has been lost, it’s good to see a locally manufactured brand like Island Tribe realising the importance of good support. Not that it will ever make a difference to Piz Buin sales, but if someone from anywhere in the world does get a rash from Piz Buin, they will likely Google “Piz Buin rash” or any sort of variable of that. No doubt if you search along those lines, SLXS Cape Town are right up there on Google, which includes an awesome picture of the rash on my…very sexual body!

Not a week after writing that, Island Tribe had some samples delivered straight to my door, on a Friday. They’ve just arrived and I won’t be able to test them this weekend, as my skin still feels like it is on fire because it is now so dry. But I will be testing them. The samples I’ve received are:

• Three Island Tribe SPF 40 clear gel sunscreen sachets
• One large and one small Island Tribe SPF 40 clear gel sunscreen tube
• One Island Tribe SPF 50 ‘For Kids’ sunscreen lotion, because deep down everyone knows I am Peter Pan and my friends are the lost boys! You joke? It’s true! Why do you think we live like…that…?

All the Island Tribe products are water resistant which is great, because non water resistant lotions are virtually useless. Oh and they’re sweat resistant as well, because this is also vital. Who doesn’t sweat on the beach?

So thanks to Island Tribe for sending along the products so swiftly, we’ll test them out as soon as my face stops burning. Aloe gel and E45 moisturiser to the rescue!