70's -80's children how many remember getting sunburn.

[Sunflowerkeep]

I barely remember them putting suncream on me always dark, sometimes burnt i certain areas and parents are like ahh you got a nice tan even when I was clearly burnt and must have had sun stroke as remember feeling bit chilly in 35c yeah really. Loads of my friends remember the same from that generation. Weird hey. I've got olive skin but my brother I remember burnt to a crisp one year. Poor thing

…aged about 12 on the beach with my friend and her mum. The mum's reason for my sunburn was that I spent too much time indoors reading so my skin hadn't got used to the sun whereas her family was 'outdoorsy' and therefore unaffected. Utter rubbish

Oh yes, I remember this insane logic. You were required to ‘get your skin used to the sun’ and ‘get a good base tan’. The same logic that led people to hire sun beds before going on holiday. My parents never did, thank god. My friends’ parents did, though. I can remember the awful smell, ther’s nothing quite like it.

No Suncream but we used to wear tshirt over swimmers. I had terrible burns over my back after a day at a waterpark, you weren't allowed t shirts on the slides so I went without. My back blistered and peeled, the pain was excruciating. I was about 9. I burnt my cheekbones a couple of years later and my face swelled so much my eyes nearly shut. I shudder to think of the sun damage I must have suffered.

I remember getting sunburnt on holidays. Once in Greece when I was about 9 really sticks in my mind. Felt really poorly as well, being sick and shivering. Another time was in Menorca but I was about 15 then so could have taken some of the responsibility myself. Felt very ill then as well. Don’t remember getting burnt often in this country so I must have had cream on. I remember wearing t shirts in the pool as well.

I was born in 83, so later on
Got really really burned one year at school as they wouldn't let us go inside/in the shade (sports day) and I ended up with huge water blisters
Remember my mum going mad and she took me out of school for sports days after that. She was pretty hot on SPF/covering up/shade because I'm a redhead prone to needing to recline on a chaise in hot weather

Yes I was a child in the 70s, teenager in the 80s. No sun cream ever used - not even in the summer of 76!! Scary when you think about it now.

But my dh (white) grew up in South Africa and he never had sun cream on either! And it's bloody hot where he's from - Durban, they don't even have a Winter as such.

Yes I remember being sunburned as a kid. It was grim. I remember that one year one of my neighbours was really angry with my parents for letting it happen. I'd been to her garden to play with her DD and was wearing my swimming costume - she took me inside and slathered me in Nivea.

Poor DH ended up in hospital on a family holiday to France as a kid - he's Scottish, white skinned, red-haired and ended up with 2nd degree burns after a day at the beach.

My family tried to be responsible in the early 80s, we had a sun lamp we just to sit in front of to acclimatise our skin. When we went abroad (often 3 times a year) there was factor 4 for the first few days, a special bottle of factor 6 just for me being the fairest one, and the majority of time it was factor 2 all round.

I've definitely got sun damage. Had quite a scary lecture from an NZ doctor about notllowing myself to get burnt anymore. I don't blame my parents, they thought they were being responsible.

I was born in 1978. I don't think I was ever told to use suncream in the UK, no matter how hot it was! I definitely remember burning and my mum sunbathing using suntan oil instead of cream. We did use cream when we went abroad, although I still remember peeling like hell (usually on the plane on the way home) and getting huge blisters on my back from endless days on the beach in the south of France. Being super tanned and having a huge contrast between the tanned bits and white bits was the dream back in the days... Yikes!!

Born late 70s. I remember peeling off sheets of skin as a child and it was just the norm. Factor 8 was considered really high.

I've always been super careful with DD11 but her upper back did go red once on holiday and I felt so upset. It didn't peel though so it couldn't have been as bad as our youth

I was born in '88 and my parents were really hot on suncream - they were both raised in Australia and sun safety is taken MUCH more seriously over there. I wasn't allowed out without a sunhat, suncream and a t-shirt covering my shoulders.

I only remember burning once and that was on the tip of my ear when we were on holiday in Italy - my parents must have just missed a spot. It hurt a LOT.

I work outdoors nowadays and wear suncream everyday from about April to September. I am tanned but I don't burn.

Born early 70s, never went abroad as a child. Very fair skinned. Burned every year in Scotland as we were "encouraged" outdoors at all times in sunny weather with factor 4 if you were lucky.

Born in 1967 and got no sun protection whatsoever. I have pale skin and was burnt to buggery every year. My sister's skin was so pale it was translucent and I remember her sloughing the dead skin off her back by rubbing it on the rough outside wall, which temporarily relieved the itch too😬 My brother has darker skin, so he always went lovely and brown without burning.

I only really wised up in my late twenties, after several beach holidays abroad. It never seemed to dawn on me that I wasn't even getting much of a tan - I lay there and barbecued my fair skin. I don't even know why I did it as I hate the beach, except on cooler days when it's virtually empty and I can have a lovely long walk. I have worn a high SPF for more than 20 years now.

Early 80s child here.
I remember getting burnt a few times, 2 times really badly...
In lanzarote and I went the colour of a cooked lobster, there's a picture somewhere of my in bright white underwear looking very sorry for myself (actually has sunstroke the following day).
Another time in France when my shoulders got so burnt they blistered and mum had to replenish cold flannels and aloe Vera all night.
It was a different era...my folks didn't put cream on me at first so I could get a 'base colour', and even then, maximum factor was 15 and applied maybe once or twice during the day (and rarely after swimming as it doesn't wash of does it?!) I recall mum putting factor 4 on herself because she felt 'a bit tingly', and I've never seen dad put cream on (he's definitely a sun worshipper...slightest sunny day and he's outside tanning).
I remember them hiring a sunbed at home to use before holidays (the base colour theory again, although I've never used a sunbed).
Role on to now and I have 3 large scars on my back where I've had moles removed, one being melonama. I was lucky, I caught it early.
So my 4 kids have never got burnt, I stress the importance of cream, shade, reapplication and staying out the sun during peak times.
How my parents haven't had skin cancer I'll never know, I was just unlucky I guess (or maybe there is something to the theory of base coats although I'll never chance it!).

I also remember going on an orchestra trip to Malta aged 15 for 2 weeks. It was blimmin' hot and I only had Factor 5 suncream packed. On my return, my mum was astonished when I said my friend had been using Factor 50. She'd never heard of such a thing. I think 20 was her absolute maximum!

Born 1980 and had sunburn only once as a child. My parents were always careful to apply suncream or only let me out in the shade after that.

I remember being burnt on holiday when about 9 or 10 .We were on holiday SC,)Where we now live)! Big blisters .I think we were out a bit too long and the Sun creams then were pretty weak .Now we are all covered head to toe in cream!

There is nothing more painful than a bumpy/turbulent flight home when the plane seat belt is laying over a blistered stomach. My bikini days are behind me now though.

Child of 70s/80s.
We had cream but it was a very low factor. I didn’t use anything higher than 8 until I was in my 20s! Now my lowest is 30.
I burnt my back really badly aged 15 - prob the worst burn I had. So painful.
we smothered our own kids in cream as youngsters but my dd, now 20, has burnt when she’s forgotten at uni or whatever…
we are all pale as the driven, my em was olive skinned so always tanned v easily. I was always envious!

Yes. Born late 70s. Pale skin. Every single summer we would spend 12 out of 14 days on holiday sitting on the beach from about 10am to 5pm.

Suncream was applied once in the morning & again after lunch. But you had to be very sparing with it "because it's expensive".

I remember going abroad with a variety of different SPFs. I think we were supposed to start off with 15 then work our way down as our skin got used to the sun. Mum used the sun beds for a base tan before going away.
Getting a tan was the main aim of going abroad.
I’m sure I remember carrot oil being a thing too!

Yep, I have clear memories of me and my best friend peeling each others backs!

I don't sunbathe at all now. Shade all the way for me.

I was born in the late 60’s so grew up 70’s and 80’s. All I remember is tanning oil. “Sun screen” would have made name think you were talking about a physical barrier! 🤷‍♀️

70s and 80s childhood. Grew up in a hot country but genetically half Irish.

When I was five I was bedridden on my stomach because my back was so burned and blistered.

No lesson learned. My olive skinned Mum didn’t burn but she let me burn continuously throughout my childhood.

Had basal cell carcinoma on my lower eyelid by my 40s. Needed a plastic surgeon to do the repair afterwards. Have lots of solar keratoses and other sun damage.
it’s really a matter of time before my next bit of skin cancer reveals itself, I suspect.

My mother says: “oh, we didn’t know, then”.
FFS, how hard would it have been to throw her child a sun hat and put on sun block. It did exist.

Yes, getting sunstroke used to be part of any holiday we went on 🙄

I can't understand how 80s kids got burnt. There was total sunblock available, along with all the others. My sons never got burnt. I, on the other land, did get burnt in the 60s and 70s.