When did daily sunscreen become a mainstream thing?

[dolobug]

I'm 45 and have been using spf on my face every day since I was in my late teens / early 20's. I think that when I was in my earlier teens the info about sunscreen and skin ageing just wasn't as known and that very few moisturisers or foundations actually contained any sunscreen at all and not many would have put (sun tan lotion) on their face in winter! In fact I remember when most sunscreens seemed to be spf 6 and my parents using tanning oil in the 80's. Perhaps people from different countries where it is sunnier had different attitudes to spf but in the UK I don't think anyone was really wearing it daily until the early 2000's where they?

I recall being an outlier amongst my peers for caring about spf when I was in my 20's in the early 2000's and that people even thought the spf 15 I was wearing in winter then was excessive, never mind the daily spf 30 - 50 I was wearing daily by the mid 2000's. Even at that point when spf was more commonly found in make up and moisturiser it was and spf 15 and mostly you weren't applying that in a thick enough layer for it to be effective.

Am I wrong now in thinking that most people are wearing spf 30 - 50 on their face and exposed skin everyday even in winter? When did you first start to take notice of how important sunscreen was for your skin? Do you where it regularly and think it has made a difference to the quality of your skin as you have aged?

To be clear I'm not suggesting people don't use sunscreen, or that sunburn /skin damage is something people have dreamed up! I'm suggesting that feeling a 'need' to use a factor 50 in the UK in midwinter is probably excessive!!!

Well indeed. I get neither spots nor dry skin without using any skin care products at all in summer (just wash face with water). Sometimes my face gets dry if I am out in the cold every day for more than an hour or so in winter, so I would use some then.

I am in my forties and always used sun cream. My parents were very strict about it when we were kids.

i remember when factor 30 was the highest you could get and people bought factor 4! Can you even get factor 4 anymore?

you could buy sun block back in the 1980s - which was rally’s thick white awful stuff.

now I carry factor 50 spray at all times and use special face sun cream.

a dermatologist told me not to rely on sun cream built into tinted moisturiser or foundation. Apparently you don’t put it on thick enough.

I do sunscreen on my face every day. Probably a bit late in my 40s, but hopefully it will combat the damage done by a sweet tooth and wine habit.

I'm pissed off the the sunbed queens and smokers of my youth don't look dramatically older than me. I was led to believe they would be wizened old hags in their 40s, whereas I would look like I'd drunk from the Well of eternal youth.

I don't use sunscreen routinely on my face or anywhere else and I'm in my 50s. I only wear it if I'm going to be out all day in hot weather eg hiking or on the beach, allotment etc.
I'd rather have a few lines and good, high vitamin D levels.

Imo using factor 50 in the UK in summer is excessive unless you work outside all day. In winter it's ludicrous.

@BloodyHellKen are you a dermatologist?

We have skin cancer in our family. A cousin tragically died in his forties.

i will carry on using my factor 50. I am not harming anyone - and for me it’s as easy to slap on factor 50 as it is to slap on factor 30.

I think suncream all summer in the UK is a sensible precaution. In the winter I will put it on my face if I am out all day. It’s not health anxiety - I am in a very high risk group for skin cancer and I might get it despite the precautions. But I am doing my best to avoid it.

@BloodyHellKen or you're a redhead like me. I need factor 50! I can burn at 10am being outside for 10 mins
So today when I wanted to go on a walk around lunch time and knew we were going to be out for 90 mins I put factor 50 on
Why would I use a lower factor?

Is my husband ludicrous for wanting to avoid sunburn?

I'm fair (Irish) and wear suncreams on days I'm likely to burn (usually). I always burned as a child.

I don't use anything on my face and never have done.vi own no make up. Based on skin quality alone most people guess my age as mid 30s. I am nearly 50.

I work outside and wear sunscreen pretty much daily from around April to October.

I re-apply two or three times a day but I already have a ridiculous tan from the last few weeks of heat.

while I am sure you look fabulOus- it would be unusual to look 15 plus years younger! People do tend to flatter.

I wear suncream to avoid skin cancer not sun spots and wrinkles. that’s just a happy side effect.

sun damage can be ageing of course. It just seems very unlikely that someone, especially someone who has never worn suncream or make up looks 15 years younger than their actual age.

To prevent burning?

I mean, you do realise it doesn't have to be hot for the sun to burn you, right?

Well, in the MN tradition I could say I'm a highly qualified Dr of Dermatology, but no, I'm not @Mellowyellow222 .

Fair enough I take your comments on board. If there was a strong history of skin cancer in my family I would probably use factor 50 too. I'm sorry you are high risk.

Fair enough @PeloAddict If you are redhead I understand you burn very, very easily and have to be careful in the sun.

@Simonjt If you're husband is wearing factor 50 in a UK winter (December - February) then unless he has a special condition that makes his skin super sensitive, then yes I think he is being ludicrous.

I wear 50spf every single day now thanks to having my face rearranged due to skin cancer (BCC).

Four operations later and I don't go out without it on. So I guess I've become a skincare nerd 😥

Not necessarily, my dad's side of the family are very lucky and a lot of them look far, far younger than their actual age. My nan is 90 and looks 70 at most, she's lucky enough to be very active and spritely too (she was talking about wanting to do parachuting 😱). I accept that she is most definitely not the norm though! I'm in my late 20s and still get asked if my mums home occasionally and frequently asked for ID. One shop worker even accused me of having a fake and didn't want to serve me 🙄 that was not flattering it embarrassing and inconvenient. So while it is unusual its not impossible.

I'm in my early 40s and I've only recently started using a tinted moisturiser when I remember that is SPF 15. Until now I've just cleansed my face at the end of the day but never moisturised.
I wear shorts and tshirt from about April - October when I run, but I only really wear sunscreen when it's very hot. I do put it on DC more often especially Dd as she has extremely fair skin, she always wears a hat in warm weather though

We bought some factor 50 this weekend as DD is very fair skinned. I wouldn't use it in the winter though.

Interesting, if tanned skin is damaged skin (and I admit I didn't know that) why do so many go to the effort of getting 'tanned' via sprays etc - do they want to look like they've got damaged skin?

Because its fashionable in some cultures. Mostly western cultures. It used to be fashionable to be a size 0 - that's not healthy, it was once seen as desirable to be extremely overweight - also not healthy, or use toxic eye drops to create a doe eyed look, thick white lead makeup, foot binding and teeth blackening have all been fashion trends historically. Just because many people want a certain look, doesn't mean that look is healthy.

Factor 50 all year round. I don't want to look like a crocodile handbag by the time I'm 55 thanks.

It used to be the case that pale skin was fashionable as it was a sign of wealth. If you had a tan, it meant you worked outdoors or did manual labour and were therefore poor.

Nowadays a tan a the sign that you're fit, healthy and active, or rich enough to afford to spend lots of time out in the sun.

It's mostly cultural though as in parts of Asia, pale skin is hugely desirable- hence why lots of Japanese and Chinese tourists use parasols and wear long sleeves and trousers!

I use a La Roche Posay SPF 50 on my face neck and chest area daily because I use Tretinoin for acne and I want to protect my skin. It's an oil control one and it's amazing, sits under my make up like a primer! I put it on my chest because I always wear scoop neck/v neck tops and I noticed my skin there was much darker even in winter than the rest of my body skin even with no active 'tan' because obviously it's exposed all year round. I am very pale, late thirties.

Don't use sunscreen anywhere else unless it's a sunny day, then I use SPF 30 or 50 because that's all I buy. Do you even get the low factor ones these days? 15 maybe. I remember years and years ago, the higher SPF you got the more expensive it was!

In my childhood in the 80s/90s we only ever wore SPF 15 on hot summer days. I can never recall wearing a sun hat like they do at school now! And in my teens we used to use SPF 4 tanning oil or worse... baby oil. No wonder I fried myself so many times. Ridiculous and dangerous thing to do. Also used sun beds occasionally which I would never do now. We were so desperate for tans! I'm quite happy being pale now.