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

I work in care, most of the people in their 70s upwards have skin cancer. There’s very few that don’t and the ones that don’t tend to be women,
we’ve had 6 men diagnosed in the last month with skin cancer.

I was born in the 80’s and very pale and blonde, even now I look at the sun and burn like a lobster, always burnt very barley as a child. It’s why I hate summer!!

Grew up in 80s

• we only ever went on summer holidays in the uk
• we were outside generally a lot from spring onwards, so we very gradually built up a light tan, so by the time we went on a beach holiday we were already a bit tanned
• we burned. I remember getting burnt shoulders a lot and having a dark red back/ backs of legs on a few occasions
• in some ways we were more careful - we had beach umbrellas etc and were encouraged to go in the shade in the middle of the day.

I was born in the mid 70s and have olivey skin so only burnt maybe once or twice, never peely. My younger sister was much paler and I remember her skin peeling off just the once. My mum was quite progressive for the early 80s and we had factor 8 sunscreen. We also practiced a lot of sun safe tips - hats, t shirts, stay in the shade, not out between 12 and 3.

My PIL are the total opposite. They lived in Australia for 2 years and FIL spent most of the time working outdoors topless. He died at 63 of malignant melanoma. Just after that my MIL tried to put some factor 4 suncream on my 2 year old (the bottle must have been at least 10 years old). That was 2012 and she couldn't understand why that might be wrong.

Yep, born late 80s and I never had cream and always burnt. One of my enduring childhood memories is lying in bed in agony and also peeling sunburn every year. We spent a lot of time outside as I grew up on a farm. I can remember floppy hats to try to cover us up but we didn’t like them and they were taken off pretty quickly. My mother goes brown really quickly but I’m bluey white and can burn even with F50 on. She still doesn’t get it - I sent her off with sun cream when she had DCs on a sunny day and told her she must put it on them. They burnt. I was really cross and asked her how often she applied it and how come they burnt - turns out she didn’t put any on cos “it wasn’t that sunny” and she doesn’t understand this modern obsession with sun cream 😡 She won’t be having them again with that attitude!!!

Burnt my legs so badly I couldn't walk one year in France aged 7ish. Utterly grim.

I grew up in the sixties. Fair skinned and burned regularly when young , it was thought that it would harden you off and then you'd tan. I have never tanned and never will my freckles might join up bat that's about it. Lots of people used olive oil in the sun , yuk. I remember going in holiday to Spain and being laughed at because I stayed in the shade as I was scared of burning too badly. I now use SPF 30 or up when in the sun and cover up as much as possible and I'm having a mole and skin check this week to check all is ok.

We spent the whole summer holidays out playing in the sun all day and then in the evenings watching TV peeling the skin from our arms and legs or each others shoulders to see who could get the biggest bit off in one piece, or play slapping each others sore red bits. The best bits were the skin peeling on your head and peeling off with lots of holes in it like a teabag.

Ah the memories.

Mum had some special medicated cream, that really stank, but relatives from Canada swore by, they brought it over every year in huge tubs and we got slathered in that every night before bed to "take the heat out".

I was a child of the 50s and 60s. Nobody used sun cream. I have had surgery for pre cancerous lesions on my face. The surgeon said it’s common in my age group.

I grew up in the south of England in the 70s, played outside all summer as we all did. Granddad was a ginger and worked outdoors all his life. Rest of the family never thought twice about sitting out on a sunny day. I don't recall being aware of the existence of sunscreen as a kid.
The first time I ever used suncream was in my teens on our first holiday 'on the continent' (Italy), which was also the first time I ever got sunburnt! To this day, I only use it if I'm on holiday somewhere south of southern England (I live in the far north now :-)) In contrast, my grown up stepkids use sunscreen whenever they step outside, and get burnt without it - customers for life I guess!

Hi I was born in the 60s and my mum's policy for us kids in the 70s was 'You'll burn, and then your skin will get used to it and go brown.'
Amazing when I look back now.
My sisters and I had many a 'fun' holiday evening peeling each other's skin off - to see who could get the biggest sheet in one go.
It was very painful when you had sore face, ankles, back, shoulders, legs etc but you'd be taken back to the beach every day for more of the same.
Mum was always careful with money and in the late 70s made her own 'sun tan lotion' with olive oil and vinegar ...!!!! She slapped it all over herself and us to go brown. We all smelt disgusting. Like a stale hot salad.

Exactly the same for me, crying in the shower with pain!

People live longer now so it's possible that they were getting skin cancer previously but it wasn't picked up.

And then yes the ozone layer must play a part. And many people here talk about a culture of trying to get a tan in the 60s onwards which might not have been as prevalent before then? I know that in the past it was considered desirable to be pale skinned because being tanned meant you were probably a farm worker. But not sure exactly when this was the prevailing attitude.

I grew up in the 70s, no sun lotion and never burned that I can recall, although tbf i dont burn easily even though i am quite fair. Small children wore sun hats and were kept in the shade, I vaguely remember being told not to stay too long in the sun. We never went abroad but we were outside a lot, rain or shine.

Sixties child here, burning was the norm!
I used to go sailing 3x a week with no suncream and as a result have to have pre cancerous lesions burned off with dry ice. Age spots at a young age too!

My DM was born in the sixties. Burnt a lot as a child and young person, used to even use sunbeds in her late teens/early 20s regularly.

From age 30 onwards wore very conservative clothing outdoors so hardly had any sun exposure after that age apart from to face and started to use sun scream on it around then.

Mid 50s was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma.

I’ve got red hair and blue eyes so you can imagine how pale I am, I remember once being so badly sunburnt I had scabs, and that was from a school trip, probably would’ve been late 80s.

In the very early 70s I can remember the PE teacher ( female) sitting outside on the school terrace covered in cooking oil. It might have been olive oil but could have been sunflower I suppose. Remember her telling us 14 year olds it was great for tanning 😳
Only time my mother ever bought sunscreen was the only year we went on holiday. Probably because the sun is so much stronger in Devon than it was in Manchester.

Not me, but my (very pale) Mum got extremely burnt several times as a child/teenager in the 60s and 70s. She was also quite freckly by about age 3.

When I was 5 in 1982 my mum started putting factor 15 on me in summer. I had a sun hat too.

For this she was thought rather over the top by my sun worshipping granny.

child of the 50's and yes we burned sometimes. Sunblock wasn't a thing then but children wore hats and t shirts (at least we did) I don't ever remember burning badly but we did peel. the treatment was calomine lotion.

Child of the 50/60s. Don't remember being burnt from playing in the garden or streets think as we were out so much it just built up to a bit of a tan but definitely pretty much everytime I went to the lido or beach. Smothered in calamine lotion at night if it was bad. My mum sunbathed wearing vinegar and olive oil, yuk!
I once had my shoulders burnt so badly in Ibiza I had to wear a tee shirt for the rest of the holiday, including in the pool.

We used to burn. I was born in 1981 and grew up by the sea. Suncream was considered a bit of an affectation. We were in wetsuits a lot so that helped, but I remember being in agony from my school shirt on my back. When I was about 8 we went to Spain and I remember insisting on wearing the same swimsuit all week for the tan lines. The only saving grace is that we are all pale so did sit in the shade a lot.

DP was even worse, he's 10 years older than me. He reined it in when he got a basal cell carcinoma on his face though.

Interesting points, I also wonder if there were more forests and kids played under trees in the shade a lot more in the more distant past?

I was born in the mid 80s I was always burnt and peeling. I don’t remember my parents EVER using sun cream on us. My mum to this day seems to find sun cream a confusing concept and has had the same bottle of factor 15 on the go for years!

As a red haired kid born in the 70s I always burnt so badly.

My mum started to put spf8 on me but I still burnt to a crisp, so when I saw spf50 in the chemist I asked could I get it. Turns out in those days, that was just for holidays abroad in the sun, so I just kept burning.