Now that his rough-and-tumble wrestling days are behind him, it seems John Cena is all about taking care of his body. Last month, right on the heels of winning a record-breaking 17th World Championship at WrestleMania, Cena revealed that he’d undergone a hair transplant. His bald spot had been a sore spot for him. I’m incredibly vain about my own hair, so do what you gotta do, John. Now, Cena is trying to lather up some SPF excitement among his bros. Research shows that there’s a significant discrepancy between men and women when it comes to using sunscreen and visiting the dermatologist. And that’s not good, because the sun is an equal opportunity offender when zapping us with UV rays. The issue is personal for Cena, as he’s had two cancerous spots removed – one on his chest, the other a year later on his back. So he’s partnered with Neutrogena to front their Ultra Sheer Mineral Face Liquid Sunscreen SPF 70, and wants men to approach sunscreen as a daily health ritual like “brushing your teeth.”
Women are more than twice as likely as men to wear sunscreen, but by age 50, men are at a greater risk of melanoma than women. And at any age, men are more likely to die from melanoma than women, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
Only 12.3% of men — compared to 29.0% of women — aged 18 years or older always used sunscreen when outside on a sunny day for more than 1 hour in 2020, according to the CDC. The lowest percentage of men who always used sunscreen was among those aged 18-29 (8.2%); that rate rose to 13.7% among men aged 30-44.
Data from a 2025 survey conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Neutrogena … found that nearly a third of respondents never visit a dermatologist or health professional for skin-related checkups, and women were more likely to be advised to wear SPF every day as opposed to men (27% vs. 18%).
“SPF is more common in the vernacular of women, and that’s because it is directly correlated with beauty,” Cena says.
…Regular use of SPF 15 sunscreen can reduce your risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by about 40 percent, and lower your melanoma risk by 50 percent, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
[Cena] doesn’t care why someone is prompted to use SPF — whether it be for beauty or health — just so long as they use it.
“If someone uses SPF, because they don’t want to get wrinkles, it’s like someone going to the gym saying, ‘I want to be ripped.’ But being ‘ripped’ is essentially making healthier choices,” he explains. “So you can go to the gym for aesthetic purposes, but the reward of training goes far more than just aesthetic beauty. I think SPF is in the same lane.”
Cena knows that people need to be “proactive enough” to make substantial changes to their routine, but says it’s “super easy” to be more conscious of your skin.
“I’ve done some pretty aspirational things in the strength and health department, as far as nutritional choices and training regimens, and that’s really complicated, difficult stuff,” he says. But wearing SPF is just like “brushing your teeth.”
His vision for the future is for men to start keeping a tube of sunscreen right next to their toothpaste — and remember to use it daily.
“My perspective on life has changed, but it took some real sobering news,” he says. “I don’t want anybody to get there, so I’m just trying to use my platform to get ahead of that one.”
Well in that context, applying sunscreen is a lot simpler than what Cena’s done as a wrestler, I’ll give him that! I always feel like I’m running behind in the mornings (because I usually am), but the net gain from taking the time to apply sunscreen totally outweighs the risk of not protecting yourself. The silly thing with me is that I’m maniacal about sunscreen and skin protection… when I’m on vacation. (No really, I showed a friend pics from my March Caribbean vacay, and he looked at my covered head-to-go get up and was like, ‘WTF kind of beach wear is this?!’ The SAFE kind, that’s what!) Yet somehow in my “regular” life, the act feels like such a chore. But on the last few dog walks I’ve really been feeling the almost-summer sun, so time to buck up, Kismet. I like Cena’s tip about keeping the sunscreen by the toothpaste, and as a backup plan you can also use Hailee Steinfeld’s tip about carrying sunscreen in your bag and/or car. Just do something, so that John Cena doesn’t have to come knock some sense into us!
Note by CB: This is not an ad and is not sponsored however it does have affiliate links. I also really like Elf sunscreen!
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages, Getty
1. The hair transplant is cosmetic, not health affiliated.
2. The fact that he made the connection between going to the gym to be ripped is like applying sunscreen to avoid aging quickly/ going to the gym has health benefits and sun protection lessens your skin cancer risk is excellent!
3. Women are actually being diagnosed with skin cancer more often than men where I live.
4. Applying lower SPF in larger amounts more frequently is better than using a little bit of a higher SPF. So SPF 15 in the 2T amount on your face every two hours is beter than applying some SPF 50 in the morning and that’s it. You also want at least UVA and UVB protection. Some also protect against UVC rays.
No! don’t store it in your car! The heat is not good for it!
About fifteen years ago I started adding a dollop of high factor sunscreen to my morning moisturiser routine. It kills two birds with one stone, and now I don’t even think about it. The sunscreen blends in with any moisturiser I use, and actually helps to make the expensive ones go further. I always put some on the top of my ears. It really works for me, and this pale skinned lady’s skin has never looked better. I get compliments all the time. Don’t know if it is the recommended way to use it, but it works for me.
I appreciate him using his platform to talk about this so much. I’ve been very diligent about using sunscreen but I have had the hardest time convincing family members to do the same. Hopefully some of the men in my family will see this and wake tf up.
Cena is actually retiring in December. I kinda fell back into the WWE when it moved to Netflix. It’s just eye candy/brain rot entertainment lol.
But he is 100% right about SPF. When my dad would apply SPF and he ended up getting ear cancer. It never occurred to him to put it on his ears too! Thankfully they caught it early and had the top part of his ear lopped off.
And always have SPF as the last step in your skin care routine. To lock it all in.
Good for him. I use sunscreen religiously, wear rashguards with spf, sit under umbrellas, etc. However, my spouse would work outside all day without sunscreen. When we got married, that changed. I insisted on sunscreen and hats. I finally got him to agree to visit a dermatologist.
Also, I recently heard ELF also has a setting spray with SPF 45!