To use sun cream?

[Esmereldapawpatrol]

A minor celebrity I follow on Insta is currently away on holiday in a sunny destination. As with a lot of influencers they holiday a few times a year. Her and her children always look sun kissed and have a tan. She was doing a AMA yesterday and someone asked what sun cream she uses for her and the kids and she stated that they don't use sun cream. Instead they wear hats, cover up and play in the shade when they feel the kids have had too much sun but the kids have built a resilience. She said it's because of all of the cancer causing ingredients in sun cream, if they have to use sun cream they use a Zinc based one.

I was really shocked by this but she later posted to say how much support she'd had and the story has been shared online and there are lots of comments saying they agree and they don't use sun cream on their kids either.

I was under the impression that it's not just burning that does damage to the skin, it's being unprotected in the sun and the skin can still be damaged without being burnt.

Have I been living under a rock and everyone else thinks sun cream is poisoning us or is this a random theory people are running with?

But sunscreen is to protect you from burning. You don’t need it if you’re not in it long enough / it’s not strong enough to burn you.

No. It is to protect the skin from harmful UV rays and that’s not just about burning.

Also - UVA can harm skin even on cloudy days so that whole bit about “not being in the sun long enough” is nonsense. A friend got badly burnt two weeks ago on a very overcast day climbing a mountain in Scotland.

waiting until you think you’ve been in the sun long enough is lunacy and I find it really depressing that we see so many burnt eejits across the UK during summer in a way you just don’t see (to the same extent) overseas.

I am equally obsessed with ensuring my kids get the right sun exposure for vitamin D etc too though. It’s just about education and common sense.

sadly, when it comes to the suncare, many people lack common sense.

Thick as pigshit and so are you if you’re paying any attention at all to her views. I despair.

https://drjuliansass.com/sunscreen-database/

This guy has a great database where you can filter for exactly what you want from a sunscreen. I’ve used it quite a bit and his recommendations are very good.
Im ginger and only ever use 5 star spf 50 on me and my kids.

Sam Faiers. Her children are gorgeous but her son already looks like David Dickinson.
Is it part of the Davina Taylor bio-hacking trend? She is close to my age and is really suntanned all year round. I appreciate she’s made huge strides with her health, but baking in the sun is just daft.
I think it’s odd with Sam - she clearly spends a fortune on her skin so I’m not sure why she’d recommend this. And oddly enough back in the day I was part of a team (with a top dermatologist) and she was the face of our anti skin cancer campaign! It was all about wearing SPF.
The irony…..

It's crazy.

I saw a post from a Dr earlier who broke down the ingredients of the collagen she flogs and it’s full of toxins. She and her gormless sister are morons.

Here's my story, for anyone interested. I have had 30+ non malignant moles removed from my body, including 10 on my face. This is because when pregnant, they grew quickly and became a huge problem, catching on clothes then bleeding. After pregnancy, the remain much bigger and would grow again at the next.

I am old enough that sunscreen wasn't around when I was a child, and every year I suffered horrendous sunburn because I have very fair skin and blue eyes. It used to irritate my parents because they had far better sun tolerance and thought that I was "too pale". I was always being sent to play in the sun.

As I had medical insurance at the time, removal was all done privately (in batches of 10 with local anaesthetics and stitches), but my initial appointment was a lengthy consultation with a consultant dermatologist. He identified correctly, that as a child I wore a seersucker swimming costume - we all did in those days. Every one of the moles was in an area exposed by the costume.

He told me that moles are hereditary and develop when a baby is in utero. Most of us have them. It is only sun exposure that makes them grow and become visible, although pregnancy and the associated increased blood supply can make existing moles grow too. (My children are now in their 30s. I always used factor 50 on them and covered them up in the sun too. Tshirts/wetsuits when swimming. They do not have moles and have few freckles.

Freckles, as most of us know, are a sign of sun damage which can be observed on children. When I saw the Dr, I was plastered in them, particularly my face. You could hardly put a pin between them. Since I became diligent about factor 50 suncream on my face, they have faded considerably. They are hardly noticeable but are still there.

Sun damage is far more than skin cancer. UVA rays don't burn the skin, but damage the skin as badly as the burning UVB rays. Sun related aging skin is real, as are sun related cataracts.

Please everyone, protect your children's delicate skin from the sun. Normalise covering up and playing in the shade. Use high factor sunscreen on them, particularly in the summer months and before they go to school in the morning. Yes, they hate it, but they will thank you when they are older.

Yeah I’ve seen this trend on tik tok !! Absolutely insane and down right dangerous !
use your suncream but it’s best to cover up wear hat and stay in the shade any kind of tan is damaged skin ! And it’s very ageing x

Oh no, don’t misunderstand me - I think a wide brimmed hat and sun cream is the best option, as keeping out of the sun is the best protection.

I’m on my phone so can’t find the actual study but this article references it (it looks like it’s sunglasses that are the issue, not hats too so I’ve misremembered/it was misrepresented when I heard about it) https://lizearlewellbeing.com/read/health/longevity/do-sunglasses-harm-health/

But my point was more about how studies can be twisted to support the conspiracy. I’m absolutely not ditching my hat, sunglasses or SPF, and I’m not advocating anyone should!

if you ask people who have developed skin cancer they’ll usually say their biggest regret is not wearing sunscreen. I’d stick to taking medical advice from reliable sources because these influencers don’t know a thing and spot what ever rubbish will get them views

Just get the list of ingredients from your suncream and look them all up, that will tell you why she chooses not to use it.

Caroline Hirons, the the celebrity beautician and skincare influencer, did a very good story on IG last night advocating responsible suncare and refuting pretty much everything Sam Faiers says. Definitely worth a look.

this is dangerous advice!

Tallow is not an spf, what happens when you put lard or oil on your skin then go in the sun? You sizzle

She is an idiot and I won't be taking parenting advice from someone who is choosing to put her kids at a much higher risk of getting skin cancer.

When did I ever say I agreed with her or was following that advice? My point of the post was that I'd never heard the absurd claims that suncream caused cancer and was harmful?

You know you can listen to what people say but not have to agree with them? I like to follow an array of people because I find it interesting. Think that's kind of the whole point of social media is it not?

Fucking influencers 🙄 I hate them all

Not proven to cause cancer: Suncream

Proven to cause cancer: Exposure to UV rays from the sun/sunbeds.

If you chose to believe an influencer over scientific research, you are an idiot.

I’d rather put pins in my eyes than listen to anything that the likes of Sam Faiers and other conspiracy theorists bang on about, tbh. I really hope her children don’t get skin cancer in years to come because of her stupidity.

The best sunscreen to use is whatever you are happy to use. But, there is absolutely no evidence that sunscreens cause cancer.

A suntan is the first sign of skin damage. There is no such thing as a healthy tan on white people.

https://www.skincancer.org/risk-factors/tanning/

If they're covered up wearing a hat and playing in the shade, then where is the problem.

I do wear sun cream but only on skin that is exposed.

I have to say that after a hot and sunny day, the skin that was covered up by clothing and didn't have any sunscreen on.It is always in far better condition than the skin that was exposed and had sun cream on.

Even skin that had SPF50 on, there still some freckling in a bit of darkening. The skin that was completely covered up by clothes is in perfect condition

So if she's covering her kids up with clothes and hat, what's the problem.

Liz Earle believes this too. She’s releasing a podcast about it soon (she mentioned it a couple of weeks ago)

To be fair, I live in a very hot place in the Carribean, the sun is directly above us and incredibly damaging, but most people's first port of call is not sunscreen.

It's shade and long sleeve linen or cotton, even for kids. Long sleeve UPF swimsuits for the kids. No one takes their child out between 10am and 6pm. Most people in my office wear a hat even just to cross the road to get a coffee etc etc. Not necessarily because sunscreen is damaging but it's greasy and it goes away when you sweat. it's impossible to keep on top of it every day. Being a bit more careful and choosing shade is the best thing to do...

I'm not saying I agree with her. But I am shocked when we go to the UK and I see parents slathering cream on kids and letting them play in the sun in midday in the park.