in the days before sun protection consciousness, when i was fourteen, i got one of the worst sunburns of my young life. the kind that blisters and peels. it was a nightmare. it itched, it hurt, it looked contagious. shortly after i became the sunscreen queen.
though it was a slightly before the days of global sunblock awareness, there still was sunblock and sunscreen. yes, even then. my dad is a pharmacist and he would get tons of sun protection samples. i was the only fourteen year old around slapping on the stuff. at school and at summer camp everyone would mock me. they'd say"dont you want to tan" and of course id say" no, i just dont want to burn." and i would also say, " trust me, i will still tan, i just wont burn. "
and so it would go. i went women's day at the separate beach in tel aviv and put on tons of sunblock. my friends donned baby oil. they couldnt believe i wanted to block the sun. i said my mantra" trust me, i will still tan, i just wont burn." and burn they did. i had a slight tan. they were scratching their sunburns. i was not.
what really strengthened my resolve to wear sunblock was something that happened to my friend leora. leora fell asleep on the beach. when she got home her body was burnt and swollen. it was scary looking. it looked quite painful and worthwhile to avoid such an experience.
my mom, who is not as fair skinned as i am shuns the sun as well. she doesnt want wrinkles.
though skin cancer may be more prevalent amongst fair skinned snow whites, darker complected individuals need to be careful of the sun. when they have skin cancer sometimes it is only caught in the later stages because it was harder to see on their skin.
in short, we all need to be careful to wear sun block, and wear protective clothing. this is where ultra tznius clothing come in handy...
my favorite sunblocks are clinique spf 50 and neutragena heathy defense daily moisturizer with heliplex spf 45. neutragena has several higher spfs but i find them a little too chalky.
its also important to wear sunglasses in the sun because doing so can prevent cataracts.
go ahead, become a sun shunner like me. you will still have fun in the sun, just fewer sunburns , wrinkles and age spots.
3 comments:
On the other hand, you can get Vitamin D from the sun. Do you think your body can tolerate 15 minutes of unprotected sun?
This happens to be a topic I read about, the sunscreen vs. expose oneself to the sun debate. I even found a site that suggested broccoli juice might be more useful in preventing sunburn. Another suggested more Vitamin B1 can help prevent severe sunburn.
Don't take any of this as fact; just that I am skeptical of the over-dependence on sunscreen. That's why I've never posted on it... too much theory and not enough facts.
Does this interest you?
i have heard of the 15 min of sun and vitamin d business, but i havent totally bought the theory.i think that one can get vitamin d in their diet without going outside without sunblock.
the truth is, no matter how diligent one is about sunscreen, even myself, its really not perfect. its easy to forget to reapply and to get every spot covered. i think people usually get that 15 minutes of sun exposure due to this anyway, and that its not really necessary to go out of the way to go out in the sun without sunsreen.
ive never heard about broccoli juice or vitamin b1 as being sources of preventing sunburn, but i will certainly look in to it.im all for natural cures.
sunblock isnt foolproof, but it does help. i sunburn alot less because i use it.
Daily Sunlight Can Keep Cancer Away if you have the patience, here's a video on Vitamin D and the sun. Dr. Mercola and Dr. Grant imply that the natural way to get Vitamin D is from the sun.
Nothing in the video about preventing sunburn or skin cancer, however.
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