My brother, Sam, came to visit this week and he’s going to stay with me for a while. He went to school in New York and learned to love it, staying to find a career there and start a family. So it has been several years since he’s come back to the island. I figured he would adapt quickly and turn back into his formerly tan self within a few days. I think I was wrong!

Today, he comes walking out of his room completely covered in Surfer’s Salve! Okay, for those of you not from the island, Surfer’s Salve is a lotion made by Island Soap & Candle Works, a business that started up here on the island in Kekaha and now sells all over the island chain. They opened a factory store in Kilauea in 1997, and tourists love to visit this shop, watching the candles and soaps being made and purchasing specialty gifts for their friends and family.

Surfer’s Salve is an all natural skin lotion made from aloe, rosemary, comfrey, lavender, and other soothing plants. While it was made originally to sooth a surfer’s dry, wave-beaten skin after a day out on the water, it is also great for sunburns, minor rashes, bug bites, chapped lips, and a number of other topical conditions… all of which my brother seemed to have developed after only a few days back on Kauai.

He had a rash from falling asleep on the sand, a sunburn from that same day, dry skin from trying to surf the day before, and bug bites from who knows where. I have seen random tourists who have never been to our island before come and stay a full week without any of these problems, but he got them all in a few days. I just couldn’t believe I was related to this man, especially since he was so different as a kid. When he walked out in Surfer’s Salve, I couldn’t help it. I laughed, long and hard and for quite some time. To think that my island-loving, surfer brother has gone mainland. Wow.