SUN SMART

New mineral sunscreen brand picks small Austin pharmacy for launch

Lazyface developed its SPF 30 sunscreen to simplify skincare for people who prefer a straightforward routine.

Courtesy of Lazyface

Lazyface, a dermatologist-developed sunscreen brand for people, especially men, who tend to skip complicated skincare routines, will make its brick-and-mortar debut at Peoples Rx on Monday, July 27, making the Austin wellness retailer the first place customers can buy the products in person.

The partnership gives the Atlanta-based company its first permanent retail presence as it expands beyond online sales and a series of Austin pop-up events at running and rowing clubs and other community gatherings.

The initial lineup includes two products: Facescreen ($35) and Facestick ($25). According to the company, both SPF 30 mineral sunscreens provide broad-spectrum UVA and UVB protection and up to 80 minutes of water resistance. The formulas are designed to go on clear instead of leaving the white cast often associated with mineral sunscreens.

Lazyface was founded by Atlanta brothers Stuart Kent and Dr. Steven Kent, a dermatologist who specializes in treating skin cancer. After years of treating the effects of sun damage, the brothers say they wanted to create a sunscreen for people who know they should wear it but don't want a complicated skincare routine.

Rather than launching through a national retailer, Lazyface chose Peoples Rx, the Austin retailer that has combined traditional pharmacy services with custom-compounded prescriptions and natural health products since 1980. In the company's early years, founder Bill Swail's home phone number served as the pharmacy's after-hours emergency line, reflecting the personal approach that helped build the business.

CEO Stephen Erickson speaks at the grand opening of People's Wellness in Westlake last March. Instagram/People's Rx

Since Swail's death in 2022, former tech executive Stephen Erickson, an Austinite by birth and a longtime Peoples Rx customer, has taken over as president and CEO. At the end of March, the company relocated its Westlake store to the Mira Vista Shopping Center on Bee Caves Road, around the corner from Trader Joe's, reopening it as Peoples Wellness, an expanded concept that combines traditional pharmacy services with compounding, wellness consultations, and a broader selection of personal care products.

Lazyface selected Austin for its first in-person retail rollout because of the city's outdoor lifestyle and active community. Ahead of its retail debut, the brand hosted pop-up events with RAW Running Club, Austin Rowing Club, and Thicket Park's Baby Rave, with additional activations planned at breweries, golf courses, hotel pool parties, and other local venues.

A representative of the company lists five more pop-ups where Austinites can sample the product before buying:

Sunday, July 26, at Klerje Coffee
Tuesday, July 28, at Mean Eyed Cat
Friday, July 31, at Austin Rowing Club
Saturday, August 1, for Zilker Brewing's Pickle Palooza
Saturday, August 15, at Thicket Food Park's Baby Rave

HISTORY CORRECTED

Texas director helps correct historical marker about indigenous tribe

Photo by Virginia Diaz-Laughlin

Medrano stands in front of the Karankawa marker while filming 'Truly Texas Mexican.'

It's not often that a film has an impact past the box office, but one documentary has helped tell the truth about the Texas Gulf Coast's long-disparaged Karankawa people.

For years, the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas have fought for a corrected Texas Historical Commission marker in Corpus Christi. San Antonio native and University of Texas at Austin grad Adán Medrano’s 2021 film, Truly Texas Mexican, helped finalize a push that will lead to a long-due correction on July 25 per a press release.

The old marker was plainly offensive. Not only did it say the Karankawa people had "gained a reputation for savagery," but it repeated the long-discredited claim that they practiced cannibalism — a contention born out of the colonial need to justify violence against the tribe.

San Antonio native Adán Medrano's 2021 film, Truly Texas Mexican, became part of that fight when Medrano stood in front of the marker and made a direct appeal to correct the sign.

"I call upon the historians who live in Texas to come up and stand up and say, 'Take this down. This is a lie,'" he said.

Two of them heard the call. Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi history professor Dr. Peter Moore and historian Dr. Tim Seiter of the University of Texas at Tyler joined the years-long Indigenous effort following the film's release. Led by the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas, the academics helped research and draft a replacement that honors them as one of Texas' first peoples.

The marker not only replaces racist mythmaking with scholarship and tribal knowledge, it presents the fact that Karankawa descendants aren't a historical footnote but a living community still present in South Texas today.

Medrano's advocacy here continues his work with the T exas Indigenous Food Project, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the Indigenous foodways of Texas and the Americas. But in many ways it is a continuation of a career devoted to amplifying voices rarely heard in popular culture. In 1976, he founded San Antonio's CineFestival, now the nation's longest-running Latine film festival.

At 10 am on July 25, representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas will unveil the corrected marker, joined by Medrano. Visitors can find it at 6001 Ennis Joslin Rd.

adan medrano film indigenous history history

SUN SMART

New mineral sunscreen brand picks small Austin pharmacy for launch

HISTORY CORRECTED

Texas director helps correct historical marker about indigenous tribe

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