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

I should say my dad is not English and grew up in another European country, so I think he used to stock up on suncream when there. Mind you spf 8 was considered high factor then. I hated it as was heavily fragranced. Was called Delial in big yellow bottles.

I grew up in west Cornwall, and spent May-September on the beach. I don’t remember much in the way of sunscreen. I think we had factor 8 but it wasn’t reapplied much, and barely used except for at the start of the summer. Money was really tight so I suspect that had something to do with it, but we were also in and out of the sea all day so it would have come off anyway. I do remember being encouraged to wear T shirts in the heat of the day, but I also remember so much sunburn, peeling skin. But I think I was most irresponsible as a teen, and had some horrific sunburn then, and that would have been a day at the beach without my parents.

Born mid 70s
Had some memorable burns, particularly in the mid 80s so badly I couldn’t move. Parents were not perturbed. That’s how it was then.
Im quite tanned now. I work outdoors and my legs and arms are out usually by late March so I gradually build up a tan. Thus I don’t really get burnt now. I use cream on vulnerable areas but it’s easier to just cover them up. The sun isn’t our enemy and not enough is as bad as too much

My mum was pretty early on the uptake with sun cream so we were always slathered in the stuff but I still recall several times I got very very burnt. 80s suncream was crap and factor 15 was considered very high.

I was born in 1989 and my parents don’t use sunscreen and still don’t. I only remember being burned once.
Now as an adult, I get burned really easily…I don’t know what the science is but my skin was so much more robust back then. I hate wearing sunscreen but I have to now if I want to be out in the sun.

Born in the mid 70s and rarely burned myself (though would probably burn accidentally once or twice a year when the weather changed) but as kids we’d roam free all day and the boys would take their T-shirts off and so burnt their shoulders without their parents having a clue.

We never had sunscreen as kids but I never got burned my mum would never waste money on creams or lotions.

I remember getting badly burnt arms and shoulders first time we went away abroad when I was 4 and that was early 90's. After that it was often just my shoulders and then I'd end up at some point wearing a T shirt in pool to keep them covered 🙈 if only uv suits had been invented then! I cld have got one with with long sleeves!

The lotions weren't as gd back then either and I think some folk thought once it was on that once was enough for the whole day! No wonder so many folk got badly burnt.

My sister was born in ‘88 and my mum has always been shit hit with sun cream. I was born 9 years later and I definitely never had sun burn as a child. The first time I had sun burn was when I was 15 and thought I was infallible to the July sun of Tenerife.

I’m a 90s child and I got sunburnt every time I went abroad. I have olive skin but I still burn, I don’t really remember my parents being bothered about sun cream. I went to Mexico when I was 11 and I had the worst sunburn imaginable on the first day we arrived, my whole back was burnt and it was absolute agony.

I don't think I saw sun cream before I was at least 18

I burned every single year. Blisters at least 5 times, hell's itch...it was miserable. When I was 7 I got lost on a big beach in Brittany, fell asleep on the sand and woke up with huge, fat yellow blisters all over my back and shoulders. My dad had to tear holes in a t shirt for them to poke through. A mate of his who was a GP (also on holiday) said they were third degree burns. I have scars.

Also had proper sunstroke, twice. Wouldn't go through that again for all the tea in China.

Early 70s baby here - no, I didn't get sunburned. By the time we went abroad on hols (around 1980) we had sunscreen and my parents also made me cover up.
My Dad had experienced sunstroke though, so I think he was more aware. Skin cancer wasn't really a concern though.....

I was born in 89 and remember being terribly burnt even in the 90s and 00s. I remember being abroad and having blisters on my shoulders, they were that burnt. I have a bright red face in all the photos from the same holiday and couldn’t sleep at night because of the pain. Picking the peeling skin was part of the holiday. I used to use a ruler to scratch my back.

My parents just weren’t that bothered about sun protection. We went away with some friends and my mum and dad were criticising them for slathering their blonde hair, pale son in factor 50. To them it was healthy to have a tan. My dad grew up in the 50s and 60s and his beautician older sister told him that sun was the best thing for the skin and he still maintains this to this day. He rarely uses sun cream.

Born in 70s. My parents never put sunscreen on me , despite living in the middle East from age 3 to 8. Interestingly the only time I had awful sunburn was during a trip to the beach in Cornwall when I was visiting family. It was awful.

Never. We worse t shirts on the beach over our swimwear to protect our shoulders and always wore hats and sun cream. My Mum was very strict on suncare.

• wore not worse.

I was born in ‘68. We never used sunscreen in UK (my mum use to use tanning oil to try and increase the impact of the sun). I burnt a a couple of times as a young child, but by the time I was 10 I just didn’t. I was outdoors all the time and built up natural defenses to burning.

I’m not outdoors all the time now, though. And niether are the kids. So we use sunscreen at the peak of the year if we’re out noon - 2:30ish.

Skin cancer risks were just becoming talked about when I was a teen. Ozone “hole” over Aus brought it to popular attention. By the time I was in uni I was well aware that getting burnt was a risk factor and people were talking about problems with tanning beds and whether having a ton was healthy at all.

I was 11 in 1992. Very fair and did not burn as mum aways had sun cream for us. Even in Spain when I was in and out of the water. And we used a bit of cider vinegar in a cool bath as aftersun. Never peeled

#1982 ! My typo

Born 1970. It was "suntan lotion", not sun cream, apparently to help you get a tan. I remember blistered shoulders a couple of times and I still get dh to check my abundant freckles and moles every so often.

Who was coated in calamine lotion afterwards?

My dc are young adults now and have never been sunburnt!

Yes I remember repeated bad burns as a child. I'm anal about suncream for my family now.

I was a 70s child/teen and we got sunburnt every year - it just wasn't known how dangerous it was. I live in a country which has many more sunny hot days than the UK, and the sun is pretty strong here. Annoyingly I would go brown as a child, now it just peels off! My whole back blistered one year when I was a teen after an entire day of lying outside in full sun.

My mum made us "sun tan lotion" which consisted of olive oil and lemon juice. No idea what the lemon juice was supposed to do but the oil fried us nicely

Born 1988 and my mum was really good at applying suncream on us as kids, and reapplying throughout the day. Made us wear sun hats and T-shirts on the beach on holidays. Hardly any sunburn as a child, just a tiny little bit of peeling on my ears.

The first time I remember getting bad sunburn was aged 14 in Greece, when I wouldn't have listened to sense. I got burnt on one side of my face quite badly when I was sunbathing to try and help get rid of spots!

I apply the factor 50 once a day stuff on my own kids but don't take it as given that it really does work all day so will top up, especially if we're on the beach or out in the sun all day. Keep t shirts on them too and try and keep them in the shade when it's hot.

I remember the early 80's - when we were very little we had a sun screen in a black tube (probably only factor 10 or something) called Uvistat. I still remember burning and peeling every year, but never had blisters thankfully. I do have sun damage now though. As teenagers, everyone used to fry themselves in baby oil or Factor 2 Hawaiian tropic... To a PP who mentioned they didn't like Delial - I used to love it, the smell meant summer!