New online trend to say it's better not to wear sunscreen

[Mummabear04]

Has anyone else come across this? People claiming sunscreen is carcinogenic and that you shoud never use it. These people are not even putting it on their kids?! Am I the only one who thinks this is absolute madness?

Me? Actually I do, but only because I used to work in the industry as a chemist and like to look at all the scary sounding chemicals that I know are vinegar and the chemical names for completely natural ingredients 😂

I rarely use it on my kids but they wouldn’t ever sit out in it, if they were (say sports day) then I put sun cream on. Otherwise they always wear T-shirts and hats never sleeveless.

Idiots. My best mate and I were talking about our skincare routines, I explained mine and mention spf 50 doing my face and neck mainly due to using strong retinoids, she then said oh I don’t use suncream because of the nasty ingredients in them cause cancer, so I told her about mineral ones, which she said would be too expensive 🤷‍♀️

I’m not a massive fan of sun cream tbh. I do put it on my 3-year old. But I prefer to avoid the sun, I cover up and don’t go out in heat. Other times of the year, it is so grey that any vitamin D is always welcome.

It's not, at all. Sunscreen doesn't block the production of vitamin d.

Not using sunscreen when it's bright/hot enough to warrant it is utter madness. Yes, it's better to cover up/ stay in shade etc but sometimes that's just not possible.

Jesus Christ. The claim it’s the sunscreen that gives you skin cancer and not the sun is as ridiculous as the anti vaxx movement. Tell that to all those people who in their 40’s/50’s/60’s grew up not wearing sunscreen and now have skin cancer. Myself included. I’m riddled with sun damage and have had a skin cancer removed in my early 40’s, having never been a sun worshipper, just through incidental exposure in the long term. If the sunscreen doesn’t kill you, the sun might…or maybe the water we drink, air we breathe and vegetables we eat covered in chemicals. Nobody can live entirely risk free, but no way I’m risking my kids burn, or even heavily tan, because even that is UV damage.

My brother in law refused to wear sunscreen as he to believed it caused cancer. He had an aggressive melanoma on his head which spread to his skull. Part of the skull has been removed leaving a large dent and skin grafts to cover his brain. He also has had most of his ears removed and painful treatment to numerous skin cancers on his face.
Please wear sunscreen .

I am the same. I wish someone had told me this when I was younger although, to be fair, I am not sure my parents would have had enough money to be in a position to buy me a decent pair. I definitely would have bought them myself as soon as I started earning. My DM always used to prioritise teeth and feet, so I always had six monthly dental check-ups and always had good quality, well-fitting shoes for school.

Do you have a source for that? You may well be right, but I always hear people talking about being "a pale redhead" and therefore burning more easily. My mum is dark skinned, and does dress relatively conservatively (typically keeps her shoulders and knees covered) but doesnt wear sunscreen and has never burned in the parts of skin that is exposed. Anecdata, I know, but it seems to be a widely accepted myth that fair skin is more vulnerable, if it's a myth.
(As an aside, I had a midwife express surprise that I was finding BF painful because "its usually the paler nipples that's more sensitive" 🫩 so I'm aware that there are myths about darker skin being more... 'robust', and perhaps this is another of them!)

I think that poster meant darker skins need the vitamin D more, not need sun screen more. Pale skin burns more easily