This Summer - or Better Yet, Right Now - Channel Your Inner Surfer Babe

Cute bikinis, babes of both sexes, movies (Blue Crush, Point Break with Patrick Swayze, Lords of Dogtown), series (John From Cincinnati; Gidget), documentaries (The Endless Summer, Dogtown and Z-Boys), camps (Surf Diva), surfer music (Dick Dale, The Beach Boys) - surfing seems less a sport and more of an entire lifestyle filled with the zen of the beach at sunrise, catching the perfect wave, and, of course, that incomparable way that seawater creates the world's sexiest tousled waves.

Even Playboy has now gotten in on the act with Playboy Surf by Wallin, a collection of 30 styles of long and short boards for both men and women."People around the world are increasingly embracing surf culture," notes Sarah Haney, VP of licensing for Playboy. "We started with one-of-a-kind boards developed for Holly, Bridget and Kendra for an episode of the E!'s hit TV show Girls Next Door," says acknowledges Wallin's president, John Levandoski, "and we didn’t want to stop there."

As with anything worth doing, it's all about the right accessories. Here are some fun props and wardrobe for setting the scene to Hang 10 as a surf diva:

DO RESEARCH:

Catch the Mood Tag along with Big Kahuna Brown as he follows two surfers to Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, and Cali to surf beaches that had never before been surfed in search of the perfect wave. Shot with a hand-held Technicolor camera and no sound save Brown's narration, The Endless Summer - while dated and politically incorrect in parts (it was shot in the mid 1960s, after all) - is pretty much responsible for putting surf on the pop culture map. "Footage of distant deserted coastlines and waves lining up to be ridden captured the imagination of surfers everywhere, and still does," writes the now defunct MagicSurfBus.com. "It is the film that launched a thousand surfaris" Available at Amazon.com. Brown's son Dana shot Step Into Liquid (2003), showing surfers riding curls in some of the world's most unlikely places - Sheboygan, Wisconsin...anyone?

Brush up on Your Surfer Babe Undoubtedly, Gidget is the protype Hollywood surfer babe. Starring perk-bot Sandra Dee, this 1959 classic tells the tale of a teen girl who starts hanging with a posse of Malibu surfers & is nicknamed Gidget (from Girl Midget). Cliff Robertson sulks and broods as over-the-hill surf bum Kahuna. Available at Amazon.com where you can also pick up other mid 20th century classics including the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello Beach Blanket Bingo Beach Party series, and Where the Boys Are. For a more modern take, Kate Bosworth shows how to stuff a wild bikini in Blue Crush, a "Flashdance with waves" fairytale about a Hawaiian surfing diva.

Head for the Dark Side Set in a Cali surfing community near the Mexican border, the short-lived HBO series, John from Cincinnati is about three generations of surfing royalty, most of which behave most un-royally. Co-written by surf noir author Kem Nunn, it features an amazing cast - Rebecca de Mornay, Bruce Greenwood, Ed O'Neill, Luke Perry, Luis Guzman, and Willie Garson (Sex and the City's Stanford!) - and deals with hard drugs, nasty personalities, uncomfortable family dynamics, the paranormal, and, yes, surfing. Stacy Peralta's Dogtown and Z-Boys documents how the sport of skateboarding was accidentally given life by a group of discarded kids from a bad neighborhood.

For more surfer movies, check out this list of the Most Memorable Modern Surf Movies, or get the historical perspective from the Legendary Surfers Blog which looks at the sport from an historical and cultural viewpoint...starting in 2500 B.C. no less.

GET GORGEOUS:

Get a Tan, M'aam Beach babedom is synonymous with acres of luscious bronzed skin. Get glowing quickly with Model Co.'s Tan Airbrush in a Can. It sprays on as a fine mist leaving you with a smooth, natural looking glow - without the giveaway stained hands or uneven coverage. Tan Tip: They recommend you self-tan within 30 minutes of showering so your skin is at its best to react to the active ingredients. Also, moisturize your ankles, tops of the feet, knees and elbows - problem areas that tend to absorb more than their weight in self tanner. The universal secret to a successful self tan is to exfoliate first. The oil-free Hot Salt Scrub from Bliss shower gel contains 70% Dead Sea Salts and self-heats to improve effectiveness.

Beachy Keen Hair That carefree, tousled beach 'do...simply irresistable. Even if you're nowhere near the sea, reach for Beach Hair from Kusco-Murphy, a cult classic contains crushed bamboo for texture and, of course, coconut oil. An everyday fave beloved by both beach-bunnies and landlubbers is John Frieda Ocean Waves texturizing spray which contains a mix of "sea water" and light conditioning oils. For a helpful how-to, hair guru Ken Paves shows how to get Beach Hair the look anytime...and it's as easy as a day at the beach.

Smell Divine Nothing conjurs up visions of sun-drenched beaches faster than the yummy aroma of coconut. Escential Lotions & Oils's Coconut Perfume Oil, which is also available in a handy roller bottle, can be added to one of their moisturizers, bubble baths, body washes or shampoos. Or add a bit to all of them - the secret to fragrance that lasts is layers of scent. Bobbi Brown Beach captures the atmosphere and attitude of summer with a refreshing blend of sand jasmine, sea spray, and mandarin. However few things bring back fond memories of the good old days before suntanning became an official vice like the smell of classic Hawaiian Tropic Tanning Oil.

Protect, Protect, Protect Summer's no time for goopy glosses, and many of the ones aimed at women are too, well, goopy. There's something about summer that makes me crave the scent of men's grooming products (& the male they're attached to). Try the manly Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 made with Shea Butter, avocado oil, Green Tea extract, and UVA & UVB protection. To protect the rest of you, slather on Patricia Wexlef M.D. Skin Brightening Daily Moisturizer SPF 30; if you're going to be outside for hours, beef up your protection with the universally beloved (but slightly greasy) La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF 60 or the amazing, non-greasy melasma-erasing VMV Hypoallergenics Armada Skin Lightening Face & Body Shield SPF 60 (I generally dispise how greasy sunscreens feel and am super-picky, but I actually found this one to be fabulous). And when the sun finally sets, try Three Slashes of Skin Care Beauty by Evolution Surf - a high tech, handmade line of organic skincare designed "to teach you how to live in your sun kissed skin from the South Pacific Islands to the Rocky Mountains." Super pricey, but they promise immediate results.

LOOK FABULOUS:

Catch a Wave Designed especially for chicks, SurfDiva.com's surfboards are custom made to order in a endless variety of shapes, sizes and colors to accommodate your every mood and more importantly, to match all of your cute bikinis, boardshorts, and suits. We also did a podcast interview with Ms. Surf Diva herself, Izzy Tihanyi, a pro surfer who has been instrumental in bringing more women into the sport with her hugely successful surf school for women, her surf camps & education, and her own fabulous example. For bikinis and board shorts that are as cute as they are great for actually being active in, check out Roxy Quiksilver, Island Surf, Swell, Essential Surf, and O'Neill.

Apres Surf Enjoy the sunset by lounging luxuriously in a chic floral coverup like the romantic Solange Heads South floral cotton caftan from J. Peterman, pour yourself a Red Surf - 1 shot of Stoli Red Vodka, 1/2 shot of Noilly Prat Sweet, the fresh juice of an Orange, 1 dash of Lime Juice & 1 teaspoon of Grenadine - shaken, strained & garnished with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry - and enjoy some mood music from The Beach Boys or Surfmusic.com Internet radio (and be sure to learn more about the the incomparable surf-music legend Dick Dale - responsible for Miserlou, the amazing title song to Pulp Fiction - at ReverbCentral.com.