Lovelyish

Good post! My mom had melanoma when she was in her 20s and made a full recovery (thankfully they caught it early and she had surgery really fast!), so my family has always been super sun-aware.

Tip: Check cosmeticsdatabase.com before buying a sunscreen loaded with carcinogens. Go for baby sunscreen. It’s usually high in sun protection and has less irritants/carcinogens. 

I’m still searching for the perfect floppy hat.

I rarely get a sunburn, and I rarely wear sun tan lotion either.

@Lynn Males@facebook - While the correlation can be pretty evident, I doubt it’s the products themselves causing the harm, but simply the fact that people think “well I’m wearing like a pea-size amount of sunscreen, I’ll be good for the rest of the day!” and thus 1) don’t reapply, 2) don’t apply enough to begin with, 3) don’t take breaks from sun exposure because they think that the initial application is fine all day (or forget to reapply). I remember once hearing that in Australia there is/was an initiative to get people to simply cover up with clothing and seek shade and that by doing so they (gov maybe?) were seeing positive results outside of just slathering on sunscreen. I don’t wear sunscreen because I am water-only, but when I used to wear it as a kid I’d often fall prey to the three issues I listed. When I grew older I stopped wearing it because I stopped spending a lot of free time out in the sun during the peak hours and especially in the summer. I’ve only burned a few times since I was 12-13 due to being out too long, and I’m fairly sure I’ve burned far more in my pre-12 years. I would rather play it safe through clothing and shade than trying to find a sunscreen that is stable (more problematic if you are using multiple products with SPF In them, you have to check that the blockers work together otherwise the application is entirely moot) and that won’t feel gross. Plus you need to use a lot of sunscreen for it to be effective. If you are using it for, say, 60% of your body on a warm day and will be out for a good 6-7 hours, that’s 3-4 times of it being applied and you’d need about 1/5th of your bottle each time (rough estimate – I know that you need about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp for your face alone, I’ve heard shotglass-amount for individual limbs). If I wind up doing things this summer that involve being outside more often I’ll simply buy a large hat and/or parasol for protection while making sure to not stay in direct sunlight for more than 20-25 minutes at a time, taking sufficiently long shade breaks. 

I need somebody to save my life, and it sure ain’t SPF

@Lynn Males@facebook - I don’t think there are enough studies to actually say that these products/ingredients are directly causing skin cancer. One really needs to be careful with looking at cancer rates and the reason for any rises, especially because pretty well no phenomena can be pinpointed to one cause. Someone who wears sunscreen and rarely burns or tans may still get skin cancer because perhaps there are other variables at play that are hard to pinpoint or notice. I tried looking up scholarly articles (through my university’s library which gives me access to a number of journals) but I wasn’t really able to find any articles stating that the ingredients themselves were leading to cancer or that they were carcinogenic. The only articles I could find that spoke of sunscreen use and elevated skin cancer rates seemed to talk about the issues I already addressed, namely not using enough to begin with and then staying out for way longer than one should, thus only delaying the major effects of sun burn. I found a few that did speak of carcinogenicity and photogenotoxicity but those seemed to mostly address the idea that blockers aren’t effective enough at blocking UVA radiation, not that the ingredients themselves are the cause. Although if you can think of any search terms to use that would be great to share!

And not to be negative, but I’ve read from many online that EWG is definitely more of a scare-tactics type of website as opposed to really providing solid scientific data. The labelling of sunscreens as having like 40000 SPF protection is definitely ridiculous, since the protection rate would only very very slightly increase once you get above SPF 50, to the point where the extra coverage would not even offer any benefits because it would be so minute. About the nanoparticles, I did come across articles on that in my searches and from what I was able to find most of the articles seemed to be on the side that they are not dangerous (This article seems pretty easy to read through, although I can’t find any free access links: Photoprotection in the era of nanotechnology. Wang SQ,Tooley IR). I’d assume that more testing needs to be done about all ingredients and delivery of ingredients before making any 100% conclusive statements on it. And with the AOL link, where is this study coming from? Like what scholarly, peer-reviewed journal and what authors? Or is it actually from EWG?

Anyways, it really doesn’t matter what someone chooses to believe about sunscreen as long as they are actually protecting themselves properly. It does seem like a lot of people rely on sunscreen alone for protection but then don’t actually use it properly, which I’ll say again is what I believe to be a far more important criticism for sunscreen use than their ingredients. But I mean how many people want to go through a bottle every few weeks (or even every few days if used on most of the body) when they are generally quite expensive? I do feel like if I were to wear sunscreen I’d not bother reapplying. I do remember as a kid that I wouldn’t reapply until I returned back to wherever my parents or grandparents were, often well beyond the 2-hour time frame. And now I’d still probably forget or just not want to reapply due to how it feels and smells. My parents wear sunscreen when doing things in the backyard in the summer but they (at least my dad for sure) still burn because they are out there quite a while, sweating, and probably don’t even use enough. To me it just seems like protective clothing, shade, and inside breaks are a lot easier to deal with than sunscreen! 

Hm, with your job, I do just want to point out that a tan is also a sign of skin damage, not just burns. So you really should be looking into better means of protecting your skin without sunscreen usage, such as always wearing a large hat and protective clothing, and taking shade/inside breaks whenever possible! 

@Lynn Males@facebook - I think that’s an interesting concept “If it’s not safe to eat, it’s not safe to put on your skin”. I’ve also thought about people who live in certain places where they are exposed to the sun. They’ve had no problems with cancer, because naturally the darkness of their skin protects against uv rays. Of course skin color is mostly due to genetics, but the more exposed we are to the sun, the darker we become. A little contradicting eh?! 

Ironic how this post is about protecting your skin from sun damage, and yet there is a picture of a beautifully tanned girl lying on the beach. Okie doke.

I wear sunscreen because if I don’t I get super burned.. and I should wear sunglasses more because I have pretty fair skin and light eyes…

a higher # =/= length of time it last

its the strengthFAIL!