To not understand why some people won’t wear suncream?!

[ClandestineAdulation]

Currently sat in the garden and enjoying the sunshine with my factor 30 on... with the family and not one of them is wearing suncream.

I can see their skin burning.

They can see their skin burning.

But they think I’m weird for wearing suncream.

I don’t understand why some people would knowingly do this?!

I’m posted up thread about not sitting in the sun. I’m still sitting inside my north facing kitchen with the door open. I don’t understand why you can’t enjoy the nice day outside the sun.

People with darker skin are much less likely than white people to get skin cancer, but when they do, it's more likely to be fatal.

I have to wash it off because it's bloody thick and disgusting and I feel clammy and horrible in our horrendously hot house (it was 29.5 in here last time I checked the thermostat). Also, as I said, I spend a lot of time at my allotment, which in this heat is very dusty and the mud sticks to the cream.

A number of people have asked that question zzzz. Seems to be multi-causal.

There's the perception that if you're black or brown you can't get it so those people are maybe less alert to symptoms than white people. White British people generally do a pretty crap job of skin protection but I think there is at least fairly general knowledge amongst paler people that dodgy moles need checking. Because it's rarer HCPs are less good at recognising it, and even some of them think black and Asian people won't get it. Also apparently it's to do with where black people get them too.

I do take the point about needing to balance it with Vit D, and in fact even white people in the UK often have deficiencies, but skin cancer can still kill black people. Bob Marley for example!

I do wish there would be some type of guidance about what factor/ how often suncream needs applied to darker and black skin. I used to slather DD in sunscreen but that seemed to cause a massive Vit d deficiency. No HCP has been much use when asked.

I should add that I still use sunscreen on her, factor 30 instead of 50 and try to let her have 15 mins in the sun when it isn’t at its height. (Had a black friend who died of skin cancer so Im aware darker skin can get it)

Having felt like death with vitamin D deficiency - but I only sit in the sun for half an hour, and stop before sun burn!

Hate hate hate the feel of it. Am very pale and burn easily and am out in the playground from midday onwards. However, I now carry a sunshade umbrella which keeps me out of the sun and provides something for the children to ask endless questions about!

I work in a histology lab, we get SO many samples every day of skin that has been exposed to sun and is cancerous. Mainly ears!

I will always make sure I am covered and so are me children. It's simply not worth the risk.

MIL scoffed at me putting sunblock on DDs when they were toddlers.

Apparently she doesn’t need to use sunblock because she’s been sun bathing for 70 years. I’m sure she thinks it’s like building up a resistance.

Hmm... I’m pregnant with a mixed race baby, I’ve never considered that sun protection may need to be different.. off to google vit. D and sun cream!

My ex FIL took the piss out of me for not wanting my baby in the full hot sun once, his reasoning was that babies still have all their moisture in their skin, whereas he didn’t... so he would burn long before a baby would. Therefore, if he was fine without suncream, my baby would be too 🙄

I think a big problem is that you choose between one problem and another wrt sun exposure- are you more bothered about melanoma or Vitamin D deficiency? Choose your risks.

Of course this is a potentially different set of risks for darker skinned people than paler. And it's not helped by the fact that we've only started to get really significant numbers of black and brown skinned people actually being born in this part of the world pretty recently. We're still well within average lifetime of the people who'd have been born here as the children of the first post WW2 immigrants, and skin cancer is commonest in the elderly.

I’ll put suncream on if direct sunlight is unavoidable but on balance would rather spend more time in the shade and be able to top up my vitamin D levels.

Meh, I only wear it on holiday, quite honestly. I'm mixed race so tan really easily and have only been burnt once in my life, on holiday. I don't sunbathe but don't avoid sun at all costs either. Works for me.

Just looking at the sun through a window and I burn. Fair skin blond hair and without sunscreen I go like a lobster. Had some pretty bad sunburn when I was younger. Now I have to wear a hat too because my scalp burns. I always use la Roche posey spf 50 face cream everyday and I use Nivea protect and refresh spray 50+ because I hate the feel of sun cream. My friend got skin very young when she was in her early 20s on her nose and chest because of sun exposure when she was a child

I once got so sunburnt I had scabs for weeks after, now I always wear factor 50 and if I want a tan I apply one out of a bottle!

I apply it to myself and my children if I think there is a chance of us burning. They’ve never burnt and I haven’t been putting suncream on them very often.

People go into hysterics over it, while letting their kids eat cancer causing foods and run around barefoot (in their uv protection suit) on a grass full of pesticide.

Grass full of pesticide?

Weed killer, ant killer, same old

The vitamin D thing is very important so I will spend half an hour in the sun, then into the shade I go. I really do not like this heat. If I was abroad in and out of a pool I would wear it, but you would still find me in the shade in the heat of the day.

It's foolish to refuse to wear sunscreen and then get burnt, but I admit to thinking that people who smother themselves in high factor sunscreen without actually spending enough time in the sun to risk burning or even tanning in the first place are quite loopy. I loathe sunscreen - have never found one that doesn't make my skin feel slightly uncomfortable and aggravate my eyes. I would rather limit my time baring my skin in direct sunlight than plaster myself with unpleasant and expensive substances and then roast uncomfortably in the sun worrying whether I've missed bits...

I always put it on the children, their skin is sensitive and they do run around far more than I do.

I can't afford it. It's a luxury. I've had to borrow money from the fuel money to buy food today. I buy Nivea Kids for the DC because DS2's not allergic to it, so I'm reluctant to try anything else. I'm not using it because it's bloody expensive and it'll run out quicker.