Did anyone else have parents who would toast themselves to a crisp every holiday?

[Imreallysnowedunder]

Another thread made me think of this. Both my mum and dad would go on holiday and just lie under a baking hot sun on the beach all day. Sometimes they’d briefly dip in the sea but the main portion of the day would be spent roasting.

They would both get extremely narky with me if I sought shade.

Haha, yeah. My parents were brilliant about keeping me and my siblings covered up and sunscreened but hopeless at doing it themselves. Sunburn and sunstroke all the time.

I have Irish parents who are sun worshippers and obsessed with tanning. They're both fair skinned but they do tan. Not every Irish person is ginger and ghostly pale!

My mother does the lying in the sun for hours on end thing. My dad will read a book, and have a dip in the pool but she just lies there, sweat lashing off her, for hours. She doesn't read, doesn't listen to music, and never ever goes in the water. I don't know how she doesn't die of boredom. And like others, I used to get bollocked for wanting to sit in the shade or stay inside 🤷🏻

Every time we go away we marvel at the 60- and 70-somethings turning themselves the colour of raw steak. I don’t understand it, I’m not as sun-averse as the MN standard, but they must be in absolute agony.

Both mine and DH Mother loved sunbathing. It didn’t affect my Mother but MIL has had three lots of cancerous moles removed.

Yep! And they used to try to force me to do the same. I refused.

Guess who is in and out of hospital with melanomas now?

Ain't me.

@pantsofshame I was like you but in the 70s/80s my parents used to buy high factor from the chemist, called Uvistat. It was really thick and not like todays high factors!

My mother has avoided the sun all her life. She has never sunbathed.

She still got cancerous moles.

My parents didn't go in for sunbathing but they were outside a lot and our holidays were very active. I remember my dad turning a very dark brown. We used to have factor 15 for the start of the holiday and then drop to 8 near the end. I was thinking the other day that I don't remember ever putting suncream on unless we were "on holiday" ie: away from the house, maybe we did for day trips but not for school. Early 2000s I was a holiday rep in Spain, outside all day and even then I think the highest factor I used was 25 or possible 30. Factor 50 was what you maybe used in nose, lips and cheeks.

As a teenager, having a tan was ideal - as was sunbleached hair. I spend more time in the shade now but I still don't suncream myself as much as the DC and I still find myself calling it "suntan cream" - the emphasis on the tan not the protection.

Yeah but they both tan, so they would come home from holiday really dark rather than burnt to a crisp

A friend's mum used to be almost thé colour of chocolate. Apparently she used a mixture of olive oil and vinegar.

No. Also we'd be bored to sobs.

Yes - my Dad. If he put any sun protection on, it would be oil but he'd allow himself to go bright red every summer in the garden and abroad. He's since had 3 areas affected by skin cancer, including a skin graft on his forehead which looks awful.

Ha, my dad used to actually lie in different poses to get an all over tan & shout at us if we blocked the sun 😆

I used to use baby oil in the sun because we knew no better.
My parents weren't sunbathers but we were outdoorsy and so we got quite a lot of sunburn.
I'm now on a dermatology 2 week wait.

Oh my folks would spend all day at the beach and I would be bored witless. I still hate being out in the sun

That was definitely my parents, I would burn every day which would blister and vomit with heatstroke. Like other posters would be told off for reading in the shade. Drinks were also highly restricted as they were expensive!

Oh yes.
You used to have to burn before you tanned.
My mum tells me that suncream wasn't invented in the 80s (I think she's wrong).
I've stayed out of the sun as an adult but I'm sure some damage was done when I was a nipper.
She's still the same now, has been sat out in the garden gently roasting all day.

Her parents were the same, my grandad in later years had lots of skin cancers removed.

I'm gobsmacked that so many parents actually told kids off for seeking shade. What on earth were they angry about?

'You used to have to burn before you tanned'

Mine won't even acknowledge that red skin after sun exposure is a sun burn. Apparently it's 'just your skin getting used to the sun' 🙄

Ha, my perma-wrinkled, heavily tanned mum summed it up the best: once I was in charge of myself I began using high factor sunscreen to avoid aging and cancer, and did not sunbathe at all. So I came back from a trip abroad the same pale colour as when I'd left.

"Well," scowled Mother, "What's the point in going on holiday if no one can tell that you've been?"

God, I remember that stuff! It felt sticky to put on.... but obviously did the trick.
My Mum is very fair, and burns at the drop of a hat, so we never went anywhere stupidly hot - it was usually Northern Europe, Scandinavia, etc. (So, warm, but not Mediterranean hot.)
We also had stuff from Australia, when family came over. It was a revelation! It was clear, and factor 25 - called Blok Out. It was liberally slathered on us three kids.

However, my Mum's brother toasted himself to a crisp every year - home and away. He had fair Scottish/Irish skin - and sadly died of malignant melanoma in his 50s. That was enough of a reminder for us to use sunblock.

When I went to live in Australia for a couple of years, I was also super vigilant with the sunblock, especially on my face. That was the 90s, and sun damage effects were getting more known, especially for skin cancers. Even now, when I visit there, people say how beautiful my skin is! It's not, but it's just not 45 years of Australian sun damage!

I am a sun worshipper and although we enjoy cultural holidays (in warm and cool places) and city breaks I love nothing more than the warm sun on my skin and swimming in cool water. I can literally feel my body unwinding and recharging. The sun has enormous health benefits.

I remember the peeling, too. Used to sit and peel sheets of skin off my dad. Grim.

My dad tanned easily so was always out in the sun - not sunbathing as he could never sit still long enough. My mum has extremely fair skin that has never tanned, which I have inherited. She always covered up even when it was unfashionable. To her credit, she has lovely unlined skin at the age of eighty and looks years younger than her contemporaries who were sun worshippers.

Sorry to hear that. If it is something cancerous hopefully it can be sorted out easily. Most are.