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I was sitting outside yesterday afternoon and talking to our maintenance man, I said I'm getting some Vitamin D and he said "turn around so you can get more sun"...it was late in afternoon anyway and sun was not strong. Then he went on to say, sun is not the culprit for skin cancers, it's possibly more like the chemicals in sunscreens. I got to thinking about this.
I've been a sun worshipper up until my mid 50's and then came in from the sun and that's about the time frame I found how Vit D deficient I was. I NEVER USED SUNSCREENS and often used baby oil to bring on more "sun burn".... and then tanning hopefully.
What I know today about the chemicals in so much and if I were going to get back out the sun for tanning etc I would surely use sunscreens from health food stores and online health stores.
I think it's the sun that causes skin cancer. My dermatologist said that most skin damage people have was done over twenty years ago with a sunburn. I don't know what the cheaper sunscreens do but I can't use them anyway because I have chemical sensitivities. For some reason if I use the cheap junk from the drug store I can actually taste it in my mouth. Can't stand the taste and it creeps me out that I can actually taste it.
Therefore, I buy brands carried in health food stores or (to get it cheaper) online. I agree that there must be some chemicals in many sunscreens that aren't too good for you.
"They" say that you get a lot of your sun exposure in the most ordinary ways, like running out to the car or going out to the mailbox. So I put sunscreen on even for those mini exposures. This year I haven't even sat on the beach yet. A friend died of melanoma in January.
I've always wondered about the safety of sunscreens myself. I've only recently started using regularly several kinds of sunscreen because my face developed dry patches all of sudden, didn't really think it was the sunscreen at first, and more the toothpaste I was using (a new brand) but now I wonder. I've never really used sunscreen regularly in my life, but sporadically applying it. I hate applying sunscreen and they recommend doing it every day even on cloudy days, which I don't understand. If you apply it everyday if it has something bad in it, then it will affect you, I would think.
I know I may have some sun damage now because of some freckles on my cheekbone area, but the rest of my complexion is okay, well till recently, now I have dry patches and one day one side of my face was even hot and swollen, but it went down, now just dry.
I think it's the sun that causes skin cancer. My dermatologist said that most skin damage people have was done over twenty years ago with a sunburn. I don't know what the cheaper sunscreens do but I can't use them anyway because I have chemical sensitivities. For some reason if I use the cheap junk from the drug store I can actually taste it in my mouth. Can't stand the taste and it creeps me out that I can actually taste it.
Therefore, I buy brands carried in health food stores or (to get it cheaper) online. I agree that there must be some chemicals in many sunscreens that aren't too good for you.
"They" say that you get a lot of your sun exposure in the most ordinary ways, like running out to the car or going out to the mailbox. So I put sunscreen on even for those mini exposures. This year I haven't even sat on the beach yet. A friend died of melanoma in January.
You are right, a lot of the damage was done years ago, even when we were children. I remember my shoulders peeling when I was back from an outing when I was six. We didn't use stuff to protect from the sun, they called it suntan lotion in those days (1960s), I think more to promote tanning, there was no SPF.
I'm not fair skinned, but I don't always go out slathered in sunscreen. TBH, I loath the stuff. If there's any kind of humidity, it turns to slime if I get warm at all, which is usually.
And even "for the face" types give me a reaction - my face turns bright red, not from the sun, but some ingredients that irritate my skin.
So I just make sure to cover my ears, neck, and arms and wear a collared shirt, and use common sense. If I'm going to be in the sun for hours at a time, I'll wear a full brimmed hat like a booney hat. For a couple of sun hours, just baseball cap.
I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that sunscreen causes cancer, but like a lot of things, I don't think it's as effective as advertised. And a lot of people (including me) don't reapply it every two hours as you're supposed to, it's just so slimy and gross. If there were a truly "dry" sunscreen that would be a breakthrough.
You're probably safer if you have darker skin. My skin is medium and I tan except I did have a terrible sunburn when I spent a few hours at the beach with NO sunscreen and no gradual build up to sun exposure that year. It really was about twenty years later that I got a small, benign skin cancer on my leg.
My friend who died of melanoma had light skin and reddish hair. She never said anything about sun exposure but that must have been what did it.
Yes, wear sunscreen on cloudy days too. I keep mine right next to the door so I don't forget!
I'm a fair-skin freckled redhead type who's lived in FL ( the Sunshine State) for 40+ years and I can attest to the ability of sunscreen protection to help prevent nasty sunburns when I spend much time in the sun. I have always tended to try and limit my direct sun exposure, considering that without any protection I can get a nasty burn-complete with blisters- within an hour of sun exposure. But there are those times I haven't wanted to miss out on boating, beach or other outside parties, picnics, volunteer activities, etc, and at those times where I know I will spending a few hours in the sun I slather on the high SPF sunscreen before the event, take along extra sunscreen for repeat applications, and of course wear a hat and take along protective clothing in case I need it. But the difference in the amount of time I can spend in the sun without burning with as opposed to without sunscreen protection is amazing. I'll never be a sunworshipper, but sunscreen use has made it possible for me to enjoy activities in the sun without turning into a crispy critter.
I didn't start using sun screen until about ten years ago: I had never had a problem with burning because either I had an office job and was indoors a lot or I picked up a base tan and didn't get burned.
That's a good point about all the chemicals in sun screen. Maybe I'll go back to just putting a stripe of zinc oxide on my nose.
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