There are some things about life in Australia that are unavoidable: death, taxes and sunburn. For the nearly two million tradies on Aussie soil, the last one is a particular threat, as they spend most of their time on the tools outside in the sun.
On average, one-third of blue-collar workers will spend at least three hours outside in direct sunlight, with 36 per cent copping more than five hours of direct sunlight every day.
No sunscreen, staying on the ball with the help of energy drinks and running on a lack of sleep.
After a hard day’s work, they knock back a beer or three.
Turns out it can have a serious affect on their health.
A PureProfile survey found that 33 per cent of tradies rarely put sunscreen on their faces, and 28 per cent said they never or rarely wore any sunscreen at all.
As a result, most tradies have no idea how much damage that’s doing to their skin.
Two blue-collar brothers, Beau and Zac London, are trying to change.
Hailing from Dubbo in the NSW Central West, the boys earnt a living as a chippie and a plumber, spending a fair chunk of their day outside in the sun.
They discovered the power of skincare during Covid lockdowns.
“I was at home going stir crazy and stumbled across Mum’s pink clay mask – gave it a crack, and the results were actually pretty good,” Zac told NewsWire.
“But it just didn’t feel like a brand for an Aussie bloke, let alone a tradie.”
After checking out the supermarket for something to use himself, Zac came home empty-handed.
“The difference in quality between the women’s aisle and the men’s aisle was ridiculous,” he said.
“We saw a massive gap in the market and took it with both hands.”
The duo, although armed with an idea, had no experience in marketing, product development or business, so they jumped into the deep end.
“We went straight from school to on site, so learning all of that simultaneously while trying to build a brand was like reading Chinese without knowing how to read Chinese,” Beau said.
“But I think that naivety actually worked in our favour – we didn’t know what we weren’t supposed to be able to do, so we just did it anyway.”
Along came Frasé Skin, a skincare brand made especially for blokes who are out in the sun all day.
“No brand has ever made them feel seen,” Zac told NewsWire.
“When every product on the shelf is marketed toward office workers, lifestyle guys and beauty shoppers, a tradie walks into that aisle and nothing speaks to him or his problems, so he just doesn’t engage. It’s not ego, it’s not laziness – he’s just never been spoken to.”
Zac and Beau said they weren’t surprised to hear that most tradies rarely put on sunscreen when they’re on the tools.
“When you’re a tradie, especially when you’re young, you feel bulletproof,” Beau told NewsWire.
“It’s that classic Aussie ‘she’ll be right’ mentality – it won’t happen to me.”
They said roofers would work outside all day and be burnt to a crisp, only to laugh about it at the end of the day.
“(The) redder the better,” they said.
“That attitude is exactly what worries us because those are the blokes who are going to pay for it down the track.”
According to the PureProfile report, 14 per cent of outdoor tradies have been burnt more than five times in the past 12 months, while 68 per cent have been sunburnt at least twice.
It can cause serious health issues along the track, such as skin cancer.
“If you’re a bloke on the tools reading this, please go and get a skin check,” Beau said.
“It costs nothing and it could save your life.
“Wear sunscreen, make it part of your morning the same way you put your boots on.”
But it’s not just about the sun.
“Blokes on site are flogging their bodies with long hours, hard physical work, and longer sun exposure than almost any other workforce,” Zac told NewsWire.
Diet and lack of sleep play their part in impacting tradies’ health.
“A lot of blokes are flat out just trying to make ends meet,” he said.
“When you’re on site from early in the morning, you’re focused on the job – it’s energy drinks on the go, takeaway for lunch, and sunscreen is the last thing on your mind.”
Since the business launched in 2023, the pair have racked up close to 50,000 followers and stepped out on the street to test if tradies were wearing sunscreen.
Most of the time, the answer was “no”.
Now the brothers are hoping their skincare brand, which has gone gangbusters since its launch in 2023, recording 128 per cent year-on-year growth, $3.4m in revenue for FY26, and boasting more than 40,000 Australian customers, will be the most important tool tradies pick up in the morning.
The skincare brand will also soon be launching in the US and Australian supermarkets.
“For a tradie, you’re talking three simple steps. Wash your face, moisturise with an SPF built in and done,” Beau said.
“Two minutes in the morning before you head to site. That’s it. We’ve stripped everything back so there’s no excuse not to do it.”
