Were your parents sun worshippers?

[baskingasacrisp]

Mine were. My dad was the worst for it; the slightest hint of sunlight and he’d shoot out, shirt off, just lying for hours and not moving. My mum didn’t do it at home but she did on holiday.

Age has made me understand some things my parents did a lot more but that is something that still hasn’t really hit me. They didn’t read or anything; they’d literally just lie there for ages without moving, baking to a crisp.

They were both 1945 births. Not sure if an age thing or just something my parents did.

No. Born 1938 and 1939.

No, not at all. Born 1909 and 1918.

Not really- born 1946 and1948. No deliberate lying out tanning. But not careful about sun exposure either.

Yes my mum was, would slather on carrot oil and bake for hours. At 50 she looked like a raisin. The skin damage was really bad.

Yes my parents were the same. Dad would frequently burn himself toasting topless like a sun dried tomato sleeping on the sun bed. Mum would charge out and baste herself with baby oil. This would have been in the early to mid 70s.

Mine were 60’s babies and farmers so outside all year round. I would say that my dad is the sun lover more than my mother but he’s out more often due to old fashioned roles.

Yes… mine were 1941 and 1946 babies also Australians. Both were smokers and had many barnacles removed also. At 50 I look about half the age my mother did as I have religiously avoided the sun by wearing sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, shirts and carried a parasol. (I don’t mind embarrassing my kids) I have never smoked either.

My dad, definitely. Born in 1950.
Natural colouring = Celtic blue
Summer colour = 70s teak

Mine were. They were born mid-50s. I hated it so was always in the shade when forced to be outside. Luckily no-one has had any skin cancers at this point.

Yes, particularly my mum. Getting really, really brown was the aim, hence the not reading or anything. If I was reading in my bedroom, I’d be made to come and do it in the garden. Amazingly, she didn’t get skin cancer.

Nope

both born in 46 and we were routinely slathered in sun cream and brought into the shade (in wales) as kids -our friends used to think it was hysterical that we’d come back of holiday paler than we went

I’m glad of it now though!

My dad's the same but a 1948 baby. My mum is pure porcelain. My colouing is ruddier, but still pale as I hide from the sun.

1952 births.
One is from a country where sun worshipping is definitely not a thing and the other is pale and fair so avoids the sun. I’ve never seen them use sunscreen though.

Dad would definitely do gardening etc with a shirt off, but not lie around in it. Tanned beautifully. Freckly mum avoided it like the plague with big straw hats and shade where possible.

Both born 1947. Suncream was always a thing for us in the eighties as kids due to mum's ability to burn easily. Dad ignored it, no skin cancer.

Yes, both 40s babies. As a result of not taking care in the sun during the 1960s-1980s, Mum had stage 4 melanoma in her late 60s, from which she made a full recovery, but it wasn't pleasant.

Oh yes - think David Dickinson mahogany. She would also make me lie in the sun (without protection) as a child, "otherwise nobody will know you've even been on holiday". I got terrible sunburn on my shoulders one year and the skin peeled off, straight back in the sun the next day and the skin went all bubbly and blistered. Still have the sun damage scars.

My mother also used to stare into the sun whilst sunbathing which unsurprisingly caused her to have cataracts.

No. I suggest it was a 'your parents' thing.

Mine were a good 15 years older than yours. They weren't vigilant about suncream like we are today, but never had time to just sit still.

So, if gardening, for example, I don't think they considered sun cream until the mid 70s when we had those two gorgeous long summers.

No. Born in 43/44 and we are all ginger/pale skin so avoided sunbathing generally. Some occasional sunburn but that was it.

However when we had our first foreign holiday in the late 80's it was the first time we had used suncream and my parents thought they were being cautious buying factor 8. Needless to say all of the photos show us looking like lobsters! I remember my brother actually had scabs across the top of his back. I use factor 50 as a matter of course now.

Oh yes, my mum (famous for her ice blue eyes) had cataract surgery twice. Never had photos in anything less revealing than a bikini and always with an erect cigarette in her hand.

Yes mine did this. And then so did I for a few years in the 80s and early 90s as o thought that’s what you did, especially on holiday. Can’t imagine it now.

Mine aren't from the UK so no, and I've never understood this! Never once saw my parents lying in the sun. It would never have occurred to them to do so. We didn't even have any sun beds.

My parents were immigrants and working professionals, on sunny days my mum was always cooking for some overseas visitors or extended family and dad was usually working! We lived in a very nice area though and our neighbour used to sunbathe in her garden, I used to think she was very glamorous and privileged to be able to do that!

Yes, born late 1930s. Mother in particular used to bake in olive oil the first sign of sunshine, just laying still, occasionally turning so as to get an even tan.
Bizarrely they didn't get skin cancer.
I do love the sun too but with factor 30 and a healthy dose of shade.

Yes. I remember my father sunbathing on the beach in the 1980s with a bandage on one leg - where they’d taken a skin graft - and a bandage on the other leg - where they’d removed a malignant melanoma (and covered it with the skin graft).

Mid 1940’s parents and no! My mum tans well just from being outside but I’ve never known her lie in the sun and we’ve never done a family holiday abroad. I don’t think she could spend an hour lying on a sun lounger if there was a large amount of money at stake!

No. Mum born late 1930s has actively avoided sun exposure all her life.

She still developed skin cancer.