A bit About Naturally Cooked
Naturally Cooked exists as an answer to the extremely lacklustre sunscreen practices of young Australian Men. We’re not another bureaucrat, influencer starting a skin care line, or a faceless foreign conglomerate. We’re two young blokes who’ve grown up getting cooked in the harsh Queensland sun with our mates, continuously seeing them (and ourselves) red all over and blistering after a day spent in the sun. This got us thinking and after a bit of research we realised the problem extended well beyond our group of mates. Australian men use sunscreen 40% less than women, die twice as often from skin cancer and by 65 are twice as likely to be diagnosed with one. These statistics were and are forever burned into our brains.
After searching for a reason for these lopsided statistics, we decided a major reason was the current industry messaging around sunscreen, placing it in a cosmetic category that men do not see themselves being a part of. A seemingly endless number of brands speaking to young women, mums and families, but no one speaking to the most at risk, Australian Men. We noticed a gap in the market for a sunscreen that spoke to and educated the underinformed and overrepresented, thus Naturally Cooked was born by mates Jake and Lachie.
We know first-hand that a bunch of blokes are naturally just making more dumb decisions in the heat of the moment together. So, we want to remind them to make one smart one before all of those. We want to remind blokes like us when, where and why they need to be wearing sunscreen. We’ve got skin in the game. We just spent a few laps around the sun reading all the research so you don’t have to. We’re all over it mate (your skin).
We’re fortunate that we come from different working backgrounds. Lachie has a keen eye for numbers, the fine details and loves all things business making him ideal to look after the general day-to-day of the company. And, Jake more than anything else loves talking to people. For the past three years he has honed this skill in the recruitment sector and this is down to his love for building relationships with everyone around him, both professionally and on a Saturday afternoon.
So here we are, two mates, thousands of tubes of sunscreen and one goal – to create a new generation of young Australian men that take sun safety seriously and encourage it among their mates. We’re not marketing our product using generic stock footage, candid family beach days, or complicated skin care routines. We use you guys, as well as our mates, making what has always been an overtly feminine and medicinal industry more inclusive of men (the ones dying of skin cancer at twice the rate of women). This is the everyday sunscreen for the everyday bloke. 100% for mates, by mates. We’re optimistic, nervous, driven but overall excited to start a brand together that we believe can educate blokes like us in a meaningful way. We would love you to follow us on our journey and engage with our content. We want to know what you think so feel free to leave a comment on one of our poorly executed Instagram skits, send us a DM telling us where and when you used our sunscreen and send us to your mates.