To wonder about sunburnt children before suncream was popularised?

I remember a few of the very well off girls in my class getting third degree burns when they went on fancy holidays to Antigua/Barbados etc - they ended up with some pretty bad scarring.

I remember hiding from my mum in the 90s because I didn't want to put suncream on. When I was a bit older (early 2000s) I got sunburn on my shoulders but not too badly. As an adult my face and scalp got burnt at a music festival I went to over a decade ago and the skin peeled off my nose. I learnt my lesson! Last time I went to the beach (Isle of Wight) I put on SPF50 and carried a parasol. ⛱️ I've been doing that for years and getting funny looks.

People could wear long sleeves and hats if they were fair skinned. Suncream was only for the beach though - definitely wouldn't have been applied for school or a normal day in the garden like it is now. I remember getting burned a few times, usually after a beach day on areas that didn't see much sun normally like shoulders

I have burned badly several times as a child (blisters, even a hospital admission) hence my huge wariness with my own children

70s child I remember peeling being something that was part of summer. I'm red head and my children marvel over the massive number of freckles I have when they have so few. I don't think they'll get so many really. I do remember sometime in 84 my mum being warned by the doctor that the suncream she was getting just wasn't adequate for my skin type

I burned. When Factor 50 appeared it was a godsend.

I was born in the 80s, so my parents should have known better, and I got burnt stupid. To the point where I had huge blisters on my shoulders and arms. Peeling skin was normal part of childhood. I used to ask why I didn't tan and was told you have to get a proper good burning once and then after that you get a tan. As I've got older I still just go red then white again so that was bollocks. Everyone used carrot tanning oil back then!

If we went to the beach in summer we tried to avoid the heat of the day - so we'd go out in the morning and go back inside in the middle of the day and out again late afternoon.

80’s kid, I burnt loads, we had SPF 15 in the house and only on scorching days. I have a memory of my Mum only putting it on our shoulders too, for some reason!! I was forever burning; tops of my feet, my ears/hairline, neck etc etc. Wincing in a cold shower!

It's not true that everyone burned in the 70s and no-one used sun cream! Some of us had sensible responsible parents!

TBH, I think its overused.

Suncream was really expensive as well, it's cheaper now, in pounds. I remember it being 5 or 6 pounds in the early 90s I think, and possibly only from the chemist. So no one used enough, either. You might get a bit on your shoulders in the morning but wouldn't reapply it after swimming etc.

I was born in 86 and I think was a child at the turning point of suncream; as in, it was applied once a day. Fine for me as I’m olive skinned like DM and have never burnt. Less fine for siblings who took after our DF/their DM (in the case of the half siblings), all of whom now monitor moles carefully.

I married an olive skinned man, so the DDs have our skin tone, but even with that in mind they are covered in factor 50 multiple times a day and aren’t allowed outside without a hat. I cannot even imagine letting them go red, let alone burn.

How times change.

They burned. If they didn't, suncream would never have been invented.

I was born in the mid 60s and recall at least 2 holidays in Cornwall where we came home early because I was literally burnt to a crisp . However I burn even with sun cream and in 1986 I fell asleep in the garden and ended up with burns to my legs that required hospital treatment and burns dressings . I’m amazed that I’ve reached my mid / late 50s with no sign of skin cancer .

Australian kid kid in the 80's here. Surprisingly I didn't burn that much. Sunscreen messages were only just starting with the good ol' Slip Slop Slap ads.

I do see the results of no sunscreen in my parents & own generation though. Some people are constantly getting sun spots & skin cancers burnt off or cut out. I have pigment on my face & arms are spotty. Although, some people, like my DF, who was a farmer, and from a farming family, so grew up outside, has never had a single issue. It's odd.

I got terribly burnt when I was 12, early 60s. I was away in Devon with another family. Nothing was said, no treatment. Couldn’t sleep for nights. I went brown and peeled a lot. My friend still remembers it and has apologized on behalf of her parents but it wasn’t their fault, no one knew about skin cancer.
Although sun cream wasn’t sold in the 70s like it is now, I always had my DDs wearing T-shirts for protection, however they weren’t the ones that protect like now.

I loved peeling mine and my siblings skin off when we were kids. My school trip to France I remember being told to bring factor 6 sunscreen and factor 8 if you were fair skinned 😬 Im 100% factor 50 form my family. One of my DDs can’t wear sunscreen so she’s walking round like a mummy covered from head to toes

i will never forget a relative of mine, fairly intelligent woman taking her dc to the Drs as he was sick and complaining his skin was hurting. This was late 80s, the Dr said he has sun stroke and his skin was burnt. Her response, but he’s brown how can he get sun burn? His dad was Jamaican so she thought he didn’t need to wear sunscreen because he was naturally brown🤦‍♀️

I was a child in the 70s and 80s. There was TV back then by the way!! I regularly got burnt stupid. No sun cream whatsoever. I went on holiday with friends and one of them told me that Brylecreem made you tan and not burn. Don't test the theory, it doesn't work and I ended up with very bad blisters and was barely able to walk. Vegetable oil was another favourite.

I was hospitalised in the 70’s at the age of 3yrs with the most awful sunburn. I still remember being bandaged up (torso and shoulders) and being bathed in cold water.
Later, through the 70’s and 80’s , I had many incidents of terrible sunburn and had sunstroke at least 3 times that I can recall.
I don’t actually remember any real push on sun safety until the early 90’s

This scares me because I've always worn sunscreen, re-applied it every few hours, tried to stay in the shade- and I will still sometimes get a slight tan. I have olive skin and 10 minutes is all it takes.

Well - those ancient parents may have had different ideas of childcare, but they were well aware that nobody changes sex and would in no circumstances have allowed their children to think they could do so, allow them to have cross-sex hormones or encourage life-affecting non-reversible surgery.

Each age has its own idiocies, I suppose.

Edit for spelling

Apparently wasn't popularised until the 70s.

I dunno about crazy British & the midday sun.
In california we had suncream from 1920s at latest.
Which is not to say we never burnt, it's easy to get caught out.

I was born in 78 and remember using sun cream as a little child

Ds was born in 95 and had a uv swim suit back when i don't remember anyone else having one, although we have family in Africa so probably got his first from out there when he was a toddler

My daughter is a red-head so obviously frekelly skin, I am brown-haired and the sun and I do not agree with each other. I too got told late 70s/early 80s to build up a tan. Luckily, I can't stand heat so always sat in shade