To wonder about sunburnt children before suncream was popularised?

[Leah5678]

Apparently wasn't popularised until the 70s. With children playing outside practically every day back in the days before television was invented how did they not burn? Did they just get used to it?
Apologies if this is an extremely stupid question just something I've been wondering about with the last few days of decent weather

We all burnt every year in the summer. Skin always peeled off in big sheets, sometimes blisters, especially on shins. We used Hawaiian tropic oil to make us dark brown. I’ve had several moles cut out now that have turned ulcerous, as have my siblings and most of my friends.

Born in 1981 with olive skin but my mum was ahead of the curve and insisted on factor 15 for the first few days of a holiday, down to factor 8 after that. We never burnt badly, the odd pink shoulder/nose. Didn't wear cream in the UK but due to my skin tone it wasn't a problem. My husband is 8 years older and fair (and would readily admit his family were not as forward thinking!) - he remembers burning to the point of peeling and blisters!

It was both the norm and bloody horrible to get burnt. Almost seen as part and parcel (is that the phrase?)

Me and my fair skinned brother, both of Irish descent used have competitions to see how much skin you could peel off in one go. Upper arms to elbow was usual.

Back burnt, peeling, sleeping in a bunk bed in a caravan without soothing lotions etc.

My parents bought me a back scratcher though, scratch all that dead skin from your burned back.

Always just bright red with cossie marks.

I can't believe it looking back. Needless to say, our skin damage is noticeable and both of gave had moles and basic carcenomas removed.

Of course my Mum denies it all.

I remember terrible sunburn as a child in the 70s. My mum would apply calamine lotion after we had been in the sun, that was it. My DH & his brother had to go to hospital with second degree burns on one beach holiday - MIL was most annoyed that the consultant given her a row for not covering them up. To be fair to MIL, it just was not considered in the 70s.

I was born in the very late 70s. I have light olive skin that tans easily -never been sunburnt beyond the odd short lived red patch of skin when I have been caught out by the sun. We were outside all the time (farm kids).

We had suncream, albeit usually low factor and not regularly or diligently applies.

We never went abroad and summer was for harvesting not holidays.

Due to being outdoor workers my parents knew to cover up, wear hats and stay out of sun on the hottest parts of the day. My dad would harvet in mid to high 20s wearing cotton trousers, a long sleeved cotton shirt and a straw hat.

1970s child. Blonde haired, fair skinned child of a dark haired, olive skinned mother used to use tanning oil or olive oil to brown in the sun. I burnt badly, peeled terribly, and spent many holidays in bed with sunstroke. Eventually, my redhead dad bought us sunhats which improved matters a bit. At least DM didn't baste us like she did herself.

Suncream wasn't really routinely put on kids until well after the 1970s. It's a very recent thing. People might have put a bit of SPF on their kids' shoulders and back for a boiling hot day at the beach, but that was about it. Kids didn't wear sunscreen just to play outside. The suncreams that were available were mostly very low factor - I remember when most places only stocked factors 2 to 8, and factor 15 was basically only used by very pale redheads.

And yes, we got burnt. Not really on the forearms which are exposed a lot of the time and where you build up a gradual tan from spring onwards, but on the first day it was hot enough to have bare shoulders or to be running about in the garden in swimwear, we generally got burnt and didn't notice until it was too late.

I was born in 1976 and I would estimate that I probably got burnt on the shoulders, chest and back every single year of my life until the age of about 23ish. I'm really pale and this was just something I thought you had to put up with. I'm very glad times have changed!

We used to swim in T-shirts to prevent burns on shoulders/back.

Forearms were pretty hardy after being exposed the whole time.

I was born in the 60s and remember holidays abroad in the early 70s, DM burned easily herself so used to slather us in ambre solaire but moaned about how expensive it was - it was in a white tube with orange lid and didn’t have any kind of factor rating but if applied frequently and after swimming did the job
DF was mixed race and tanned very easily even if he spent a lot of time asleep under a tree! We always had a sun umbrella too
If we got caught and went a bit pink we had lashings of Vaseline intensive care - I still remember the smell
Living in North West England - playing out on a normal summer day in shorts n t shirt didn’t have a huge risk but if we were going to beach or an outdoor lido we would still use cream

80s child and very pale. To my mother's credit she was quite sun safe because she didn't want her children to experience the pain of sunburn...but out of her sight I wasn't so careful. So whilst it was fairly infrequent for me to get sunburn it did happen.

Roll on to my forties and I've already had cancerous cells removed from my skin. Mercifully not the lethal kind that can affect the rest of your body, but still very painful and unsightly to deal with.

So to answer your question...the children who grew up without sun safety/sun cream as the norm are at pretty high risk of skin cancer as adults. Given that I avoid being out in the sun directly as much as possible (just because I don't like being hot) I can't imagine the damage some sun worshippers are doing to themselves.

I was born in 1972 and I am paler than a pale thing, and despite a permanently outdoors upbringing I never tanned and just burnt. So due to that and my tendency to get sunstroke my mum got me special permission to wear a hat outside at school and sourced sun cream for me. I still remember being terribly burnt though and all the skin coming off my feet round my sandals.

I’ve never had a natural tan in my life, I am pasty white or bright pink with not a hint of tan in between.

Thank heavens for fake tan to make me look slightly less ghostly.

I got sunstroke on holiday (in Somerset!) when I was about seven or eight, and was seen by the holiday park's doctor. After all the usual advice about drinking plenty of fluids etc, he just told my parents to get me a cotton baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes in future. Never even mentioned the notion of staying in the shade or whacking a bit of Ambre Solaire on me.

Me too. Seven surgeries, a year of immunotherapy, permanent side effects from immunotherapy plus my arm is twice the size of the other as it is full of fluid as I had to have my lymph nodes removed.
Stage 4 melanoma is not much fun.

My mum got sunburnt a lot in the 60s/70s and now has had skin cancer, I think that's fairly common.
Even in the 90s I remember kids at school often coming in with sunburn and blisters and peeling skin - schools would be reporting parents for neglect if they let their kids get in that state these days.

I am Australian born in the early 70s.

We used to just burn. There was an idea that you had to burn to a tan, so the aim was to burn in the first days peel the skin (we used to sit around and peel each other's skin off like wall paper) and then go through the cycle again.

There's a reason why Australia has the highest skin cancer rate.

My parents were the same. They both have had a number of skin cancers removed and now in their mid 70s they both have a standard 6 month checkup with their skin cancer specialist and usually have something else removed every year or so. My mother a week or so ago had a skin cancer removed from behind her ear. My dad a few months ago got one removed on his back. My dad's first one was when I was about 6 (I recall visiting him in hospital).

We used to wait for our mums to fall asleep sunbathing, then put jigsaw pieces on their skin

80s child and very pale. To my mother's credit she was quite sun safe because she didn't want her children to experience the pain of sunburn...

Yes, I should add that my mum was, in fact, way more attentive about sunburn than most parents were, but 'attentive about sunburn' when I was little meant a bit of Factor 4 on your shoulders and then maybe a bit more later if you seemed to be turning a bit pink. And there was none of the advice then about re-applying frequently, remembering to put more on after swimming, etc.

I remember once, around 1990/1991, that we had a swimming gala at school when I was a teenager (outdoor pool) and we all had to attend even if we weren't competing. There was almost no shade and it was over 30C and everyone was either in their swimsuit if they were competing or a short-sleeved cotton open-necked school shirt and bare legs if they were spectating. Nobody had sunscreen, hats or water and we all went home that day with awful sunburn and belting headaches. A couple of parents (including my dad) wrote letters of complaint - one of my friends was a very pale, freckled redhead (she was Irish and had that classic Irish complexion and beautiful dark red hair, really stunning) and she burned so badly on her legs that her shins blistered.

We all used to say the same in the '70's:
"I have to go red before I go brown"
It was rare to see any sun factor over 6. Mostly we used Hawian Tropic because of the smell.

Spent lots of years living abroad on a Mediterranean Island and no, local children play out on the beach all day long and I never saw cream used.
That's not to say they didn't use it initially, but they were so tanned by then.
They had probably played on the beach up to 10 hours a day by the end of April onwards.

Dark skinned Siciliani, not Anglo Sax/ Scots/Irish with red hair and Freckles though 😁🌞

I was born in the late '60s, andf have pale, freckly skin. I remember getting sunburnt each summer on caravan holidays in the UK. Back and nose, usually. The sunburn would hurt - you'd use 'after sun' cream. Then it would blister, then a few days later peel off in sheets. The idea was to go brown as quickly as possible. I remember a particular sun oil, smelled amazing (sort of orangy?). No SPF to speak of, of course...

These days, I keep a close watch on my collection of moles and dark skin marks, for any changes that could indicate melanoma. I use factor 50. I try to stay pale.

Fried pretty regularly as a kid but also not that good with the sun so much more likely to be sat in the shade with a book. Actively avoid the sun and sunbathing as an adult but damage has likely been done. My father has regular chunks of skin removed and weird acid peel stuff. So far nothing worse but he's under active 3-6 month reviews and never goes without having to have some sort of treatment now and that's been the way for 10+ years. He loved the sun so was a real lie in it with factor 2 oil and used to really pressure me to get a tan.

This. Born at about same time. Very very fair skinned. I just got burnt all the time. Sunscreen wasn't generally worn by anyone when I was young. It was very expensive and people didn't know how harmful burning was.

Born early 70’s. I remember the pain of sunburn, blisters and peeling all too well. As early teens we even slathered baby oil all over to get a tan! I didn’t use sunscreen until I went abroad at age 17.
Madness!
I’ve worn high strength protection (daily on my face & on my body between spring-autumn end) since I was early 20’s

As a pale ginger in the 70s I spent my childhood either burned or the only kid on the beach with clothes on.

The rest of the time I was hot a red faced mess. There were times that I truly hated the sunny days.

A Scottish radio presenter who died of skin cancer said he could directly link the area it occurred to where he was horribly burnt on a Scottish beach as a child.