I am a red/brown, much freckled used to burn my whole life kind of person. dd#1's father was Carribbbean so she doesn't really burn, dd#2, and ds's father is Eastern European...blond blue eyes, deep tan-rarely burns.
All this said, I am really anti-sunscreen, (although I generally keep this to myself) the other day I was at the park with my kids early morning, 9-11 and there was so much sunscreen that you could smell it in the air, every mother (or nanny) who came to the park lathered their child in suncreen.
this is really a disjointed post, but bear with me:
I don't use sunscreen because: 1) I dont' really beleive it prevents skin cancer....2) It is full of unpronounceable chemicals... 3) There is something untrustworthy about the amount of money the sunscreen companies are making.......that stuff costs a fortune!....4) I beleive our bodies have their own little 'get out of the sun clocks' which sunscreen turns off, and you spend more time in the sun than is good for you.
-I will just add to this that I live in Toronto-where yes we do get a summer-
Okay bring it on am I selfish, crazy, -right-, paranoid??
interested in all opinions
thanks for letting me ramble -whew-
anni
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mom of Raynbow, Robyn, River and Brook,
What an interesting post! Really. I rarely use sunscreen, but can't say it's as well thought out as you. I'm just completely and utterly forgetful. But it really got me thinking.
All your points seemed to make sense, though I would like to see if any research has been done. I have never burned. I am fairly dark skinned, my mom comes from an indigenous people from Nicaragua. They have NEVER used sunscreen and spent their entire lives in the sun.
My grandma is 77, is a sun goddess, can kick major but and has beautiful skin, and has never worn sunblock. My mom and sister have in latter years fallen into the advertising pit and slathered everyone they know in sunscreen. LIke I said I'm just lazy.
And that idea about having and internal enough sun indicator, wow. Makes total sense. I totally move out of the sun when I start feeling it. Things like, ouw, it stings, or too hot, or just, man this is too much for me kind of thing. I never "sun bathe" and can't figure out how people take that kind of heat.
I've been more careful with my angel because he turned out lightskinned like his daddy. I'm just not sure how to handle that, never having worried about myself
I would love to hear what others have to say.
Ooops, sorry about the long post. Keyboard got away from me
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Deb
proud mami to Nicolas (6)
and Maya (2)
I can't ask for more
we're, um, pigment challanged, so we do have sunburn issues... that said, i am not a fan of suncreen, either. i spent my childhood slathered in the stuff, and it feels and smells gross, and made my face burn (sensation wise).
its really, really hot here now, so we don't go out in the middle of the day much, but i made an outfit for my dd out of solarveil fabric that she wears when we are out during the day (like at the splash parks or something). she always wears a hat. we have a pool, but we don't swim until 5pm or so, when the sun is starting to set and is much less intense. she only gets sunscreen on her face in addition to the hat when we're going to be out alot (again, at the splash park or something). we use the most natural, simple stuff we can find when we do use it.
I remember reading a thread long ago about taking vitamin A and it helping fight off sun damage. i don't have the original posts, nor have I ever found much info on it, but its an interesting thought...
__________________ My Feedback
Mama to A, 11/02 and Little O, 12/06
My dh had malignant melanoma a couple of years ago and you can die from that pretty easily so we are hard core sunscreen users. lol! Particularly since I've read a few things saying there may be a genetic tendency toward skin cancers. We just try to use the most natural ones we can find. Alba Botanica is what we have now. Mostly we just do things like wear t-shirts in the pool and all that.
Dh isn't all that fair skinned but he has a TON of freckles and dd is starting to develop freckles too. Kind of makes me nervous since freckles are supposed to be a sign that you already have sun damage.
I think the sun is a healthy thing but as with anything too much can be harmful. With all the pollution out there I think we aren't as protected from the sun as we used to be so that's why we are extra careful out in the sun. JMHO and all.
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~*~Tiffany~*~
"Receive the children with reverence.
Educate them in love.
Send them forth in freedom."
~Rudolf Steiner
We don't do sunscreen here either. When we go to the beach, we do use sunscreen. teh florida sun can be very dangerous. I apply liberally before we go out. We come in after 2-3 hours, wash it off, eat, stay in until late afternoon, then go out again without sunscreen. Then a bath to wash it off.
It is mostly a fairly recent thing in history that the sun is horribly damaging- think about it, before a few hundred years ago, there was not much moving of people from hugely different areas. For example, if your heritage is indiginous to a place that is closer to the equator, your skin will be far more pigmented than my red hair alabaster skined daughter, who is mainly Irish/English. Anyway, once you start moving people around, they are not adequately prepared to deal with the sun of a different area, yk?
Also, the sun and earth are constantly changing, especially in light of heavy industry. The thinner the ozone gets, the stronger the effects of the sun.
So, yes, if you have deeper skin coloring, by all means, you are more able to endure much longer periods in the sun without burning. I am of partial southern Italian descent, and I am able to stay out in the sun for quite some time without burning, and do get quite a bit of color. However, I went to Jamaica a few years back, and even with strong sunscreen had a pretty bad burn. I couldn't even imagine bringing my little ones there- they would probably insta-fry, lol.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that yes, some people who are indiginous to places with strong sun naturally have more pigment in their skin, thus making them darker, and are more able to process more sun.
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Mary,
momma to Tyler 5-14-03 And Maya 1-19-2001
And Ciara 1-14-06
I am fairly dark and tan easily, but when I was 20 I had a precancerous growth removed from my arm. I never wore sunscreen as a child and spent my teen years as a lifeguard. So now I am more careful about my sun exposure. I don't usually take my boys out to the pool during the peak time of day (10-2), if they are out during that time then we do use sunscreen. We have been going after 4 pm and usually only stay for 1/2 hour so I don't worry about it as much.
I am going to look at some of the natural ones and see what I like as I really don't like the smell of the others.
I was just thinking about this the other day though because I was looking at J and even at 7 months he already has a tan on his legs from his limited sun exposure of going to the park and playing.
So I don't know how I feel about it now. When we lived in Florida I was more strict with it since the sun was stronger and you got more direct and indirect exposure.
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Robin wife to one awesome guy for 18 years,
mama to four beautiful boys
No sunscreen here! It scares me! We only wear it if we are going to the beach.Otherwise we don't go out for long periods during the really hot months(here in Florida). I take the kids outside to play everyday at 5pm!Even the natural stuff gives us rashes too. I am scared for dh though.He goes out in the sun all the time with no suncreen and he used to be a fair skinned red-head. Now his skin is redder than his hair and it has been for years! It doesn't hurt.It is his version of a tan.It looks really painfull though.He always gets comments.
I don't use sunscreen unless I know I'm gonna be outside all day doing some sort of water activity (like lake, ocean, what-have-you) - and then I always get a burn anyways. Never anything serious though, just usually on my nose and shoulders and even then it only peels a little. So who knows if the sunscreen is really helping anyways. I am a little darker since I'm Portuguese though, so that probably helps. Dh is Portuguese too though, but he burns more easily than I do. Dd has never had a burn, but ds was outside for a few minutes and had pink cheeks for the rest of the day. But instead of using sunscreen, I just make sure he's covered more and only stay in the sun for a few minutes at a time with him.
__________________ Patti - Momma to Beth (2/02), Dom (10/03), and Lily (12/05)
I don't usually use sunscreen because the smell hurts my throat. especially the stinkin' perfume kind.
You know the whole perfume sunscreen to go with your perfume laundry detergent, perfume dryer sheets, perfume body wash, w/ perfume lotion on top, and your perfume body spray, and your perfume, and your perfumey hair products, and perfumey makeup, and perfumey deoderant.
AGGGGH! I wish people could smell themselves because I sure can..several aisles away in the grocery store.
Anyway, I have a light olive skin tone and tan well and don't usually burn. I also have tons of moles/beauty marks...not the sticking up kind..just flat spots.
nope no sunscreen here. DD has never burned. I agree that there must be a natural "get out of the sun" thing because she is very selective about when she's out in the sun vs shade. I'm surpised that DD has never burned because she has the exact same coloring as I do & I burn very easily. But maybe that's becuase my mom was a sunscreen user. I remember that my younger brother got a very bad burn when he was about 8months old (my dad's fault) but from that day forward he never burned. He actually gets this amazingly dark tan. Make him look very strange with his light blond hair and all.
We also don't have restrictions on time of day outside etc. I should say we live in the midwest so we have a very limited time of sun anyway. DH is german/english & I'm german/russian, both very fair but this is about the right latatude for us. DH does wear sunscreen because he works outside, frequently on roofs where you need what ever protection you can get. He also always wears long pants, t-shirt & hats. How he handles the heat suprizes me.
Chole
__________________ 18th century Mama to a exciting 8yr old, SO to a graphic novel guy
we use sunscreen,but arbonne it is not WATERPROOF. waterprroof gives ua all rashes from hell.
anyway i am hispanic my dh is full on italian so i have little kids who turn black in the sun,but we all would burn to a crisp out here in the high desert of california.
my son grew up naked in fla and neer got a burn or a tan,but just this week he went in the pool once with out sunscreen and got so badly burned onm his shoulders it peeled and bled.i won't make that mistake again.
i can't get over that people think skin canser is some conspiracy.
thank you everyone for your replies, it is a releif to know I'm not the only non-sunscreen user on Earth. I do agree with mommy2maya, about people haveing some sort of genetic marker for sun protections, and with chole who says her brother got a bad burn and now tans.
There is one thing I want to add to my earlier post. I am very fair and generally a bad burner, I had sunburns every summer as a child, in almost every part of my body. In my early 20's I began working outside in the full sun from 5:30 am 'til about 10am. I did this from Feb (very cold) til October. Those years I worked outside I tanned gradually, and rarely burned and infact I seem much more resistent to burning now. It seems that those years working outside as given me a sunburn immunity.
The only other thing I wonder about is this, and I am very interested in peoples opinions about this as River is heading into his third summer: If we keep our kids completely out of the sun so they get no tan at all, aren't we interfereing with this natural immunity. Like Robin said her baby has a tan on his legs from very limited exposure to the sun.
I'm not saying all sunscreen is bad, And yes at the beech I would probably put some on or just go early morning and late evening.
just because I don't use sunscreen doesn't mean I don't use sun-sense
anni
Never anything serious though, just usually on my nose and shoulders and even then it only peels a little. So who knows if the sunscreen is really helping anyways. I am a little darker since I'm Portuguese though, so that probably helps. Dh is Portuguese too though, but he burns more easily than I do. Dd has never had a burn, but ds was outside for a few minutes and had pink cheeks for the rest of the day. But instead of using sunscreen, I just make sure he's covered more and only stay in the sun for a few minutes at a time with him.
- Momma to Beth (2/02), Dom (10/03), and Lily (12/05)
especially the stinkin' perfume kind. 
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