I wasn’t supposed to be here.

And I don’t mean that in some fluffy metaphorical way.

I mean literally.

When my mom was a few months pregnant with yours truly, she got the news that no person ever wants to hear.

She had cancer.

More specifically, skin cancer.

And to make things even worse, doctors told her if she somehow managed to survive the cancer, healthy childbirth was not an option.

She felt hopeless.

And by nothing less than an act of God, her cancer was healed, and I was born.

Of course, after I was born, my mom wanted me to be out in the sun as little as possible. (Now looking back as an adult, I can’t blame her.)

But naturally, growing up in SoCal, I couldn’t stay out of the water or the sun.

If I wasn’t surfing, I was spearfishing, diving, or trying (and mostly failing) to pick up on hot beach babes. Etc.

So obviously, you can see the problem.

Tons of time in the sun + skin cancer running in the fam = probably not good.

But one day… everything changed.

Believe it or not, at some point I did actually manage to pull one of those hot babes on the beach.

Luckily for me, that amazing woman (now my wife of 21 years) just so happened to be an esthetician.

And when she wasn’t giving facials or sitting on the beach watching me get clobbered by waves at Trestles or Creek, she was messing around with making her own skincare products.

And once it came time to test their water resistance, I was her go-to guy.

Seriously, at this point, I think I’ve tried just about every sunscreen known to mankind.

That’s also how I learned that most sunscreens are full of sh*t.

Like—ingredients so bad you might as well just take your chances with the sun damage instead.

Also, while these sunscreens worked for women trying to avoid wrinkles, they didn’t even come close to working for me.

I just wanted to feel like I wasn’t wearing sunscreen at all.

But instead, first wave—my eyes would be stinging like hell. Not to mention the white cast making me look like a shiny Dr. Evil.

Def not what I was going for.

And that’s when it all began…

I remember constantly thinking, isn’t there a way I can put all of my lotion knowledge into something I can not only use—but believe in?

So I started mixing my own sunscreens that would be better for the outdoors and water. And you know what?

I actually wasn’t too bad at it.

After a couple months, I even had some formulas that worked better than anything I could buy—using natural ingredients.

Although while the sunblock was going great, the packaging was another story.

I hadn’t yet graduated from the containers my wife was using.

So there I was, a twenty-something-year-old at Lowers, rubbing a pink lipstick-looking tube across my face every morning.

And sure, I’m secure in my manhood. It was fine.

But having the locals laugh every time I put on sunscreen did get a little old after a while.

At least by this time, I had a couple sunscreen formulas that were almost perfect for what I needed.

Then one day, I was putting on my latest formula after a long day of duck hunting and I thought: “Hey, this kinda looks like a shotgun shell.”

If someone made a sunscreen that’s shaped like a bullet, that would be so cool.

I mean, the idea is to arm yourself and fight the sun, right?

And boom.

The first real nugget of what would later become GHOSTAMMO was born.

We give you the ammo you need to fight the sun. Whether that’s through sunblock, UPF clothing, or sunshades—we got you covered.

Our whole team is a bunch of surfers, fishers, divers, hunters, etc.

So everything we make gets tested to the max before we decide if it’s good enough for you.

And we do all of it right here in SoCal.

So next time you’re in San Juan, swing by our headquarters and say hey!