Always avoid the sun – but have a t shirt tan from biking year round – not good

No. When I ride I use sun cream, but over the year I get tanned.
Missus would leave if I had a cyclists tan, and my lad calls them paedo tans.

However I do currently have four tone legs. Normal, shorts tan, 3/4s tan and ankle tan from roofing last week.

When in hot climates I never sunbathe, always seek the shade when I’m not doing anything specific outdoors. But when windsurfing, biking, etc. I’m happy to be out all day in the full sun just in a pair of shorts.

I do, however, coat myself with Riemann P20 as soon as I get up in the morning which gives full protection all day, no matter how much I’m in the water or sweating. Tops of ears and tops of feet especially.

I’m absolutely paranoid about skin cancer – my friend was diagnosed at 18 after a mole went nasty on his arm. He ended up having a chunk of his forearm cut out, and most of his armpit (as it had spread to his lymph glands). He was on chemo for two years, then in remission for five. Throughout his treatment and remission he remained a relentless party animal, always joked about his illness and if he was ever suffering he never let anyone know it. He was given the all clear in June 2005… then started having back pain in the November. They sent him for scans just to be on the safe side, and discovered that the cancer had returned and was in his spine, kidneys and liver. He died January 2006, at the age of 26. RIP Roy. 😥

So whenever I go on a beach holiday I always use factor 50, hide in the shade during the hottest part of the day and even in the UK I tend to use factor 15 – 25. I still end up with my arms tanned but my shoulders and hands pasty white. You can even see it on our wedding photo. 😳

P20 for me – apply once and forget it all day. it doesn’t sweat off or rub off. I never burn but it still allows a gentle tan (in my case I don’t really tan very easily anyway)

Easy peasy 😀
I just slap on a bit of fake if I want some more colour!

OOh snap BigJohn!!

As others, I don’t look to get a tan and really don’t like to burn, but being outdoors a lot and taking part in watersports (no, not those kind 😉 ) means I can heartily recommend the following, they’re pricey but they go along way. They truly are ‘put them on first thing in the morning and forget about it’. As tested over the years in Egypt, Cape Town and the Caribbean 8)

P20

Prosport

PS. Also use P20 on sunny UK bike rides, its definitely sweat-proof

smoking and sunbathing both increase cancer risk by about the same level,

Define sunbathing, with or without lotion, what strength sun at what times of the day, duration of exposure, skin type, genetic predispositions etc? That’s a seriously misleading headline! Working in a scientific field I’d hope that you can back that up and have details on all of the above factors before releasing such statistics into the wild, so to speak! Fry all day daily without lotion, or fry occasionally (worse) without lotion is going to be totally different to the jo blogs who goes out with factor 10 on for 2-3 hours in the afternoon.

Just sitting thinking of ClareyMorris standing on a beach, just in a pair of shorts…

What’s the advantage of Prosport over P20, Headfirst? Now that P20 doesn’t stain white Tshirts, I can’t think of anything wrong with it, but there are always scary stories about the UV types getting through.

dont sunbathe, never have.
never used cream, which i now know is stupid.
never burnt tho.

someone once told me that all us kids born in the 60’s, it was no good us using sun block now to stop skin cancer, cos all the damage was done when we were kids and it wasnt used then.

Elfinsafety – Member

Apparently some people in Scotland are not white, but a pale blueish colour. quite a few actually. They go red in the sun. No inbetween stage.

Myself I got a lot of sun when younger and now have a huge amount of skin damage. Nothing dangerous but I have to keep an eye on my hide. moles all over my body and my feet are turning brown permanently as all the moles and freckles run togethe . ( who ever thought to put sunscreen on their feet FFS!)

I’ll be surprised if I don’t develop some malignant melanomas at some time

I don’t avoid the sun but will limit the time I spend in it without sun cream on.

Personally I can’t see the fun in increasing your chnaces of getting cancer and the irreversable ageing effect that sun gives you.

I dont purposefully tan, But I tan easily so I dont need to.

Olive Skin though.

i know coffee king it was bad!- infact there was a daily mail story based a review carried out at my work

the study i was talking about was a comparison of the in increase skin cancer rates compared to lung cancer -lung being linked to smoking and skin cancer rates increasing with affluency as more people can afford foreign travel
(genetics obviously being a massive factor in all cancers)
ill dig it out

in australia its already overtaken lung as the 4th most common cancer and its 5th iirc in this country

malignant melanoma kills 1 in 5 people diagnosed with it

the media,lawmakers and the public are obsessed with protecting us from smoking and cancer
yet you still hear the phrase ‘healthy tan’

I used to love sunbathing now I hate it, put cream on whenever I remember (even if just working in the garden) and wear a hat.

Big john, prosport is very waterproof so really good for windsurfing, surfing etc and its higher spf than p20 when its 35c or hotter!
Oh and ultrasun is good too, like p20 but comes in different factors

Always try to avoid the sun, not easy when I lived in South America. Tan quiet easily i just don’t handle hot temperatures well.

Aren’t certain types of sun cream as carcinogenic as going into the sun anyway?

Never been a sun bather but I do believe that your appearance should reflect what you do so let myself get brown and a bit singed from time to time.

One of my kids goes brown almost instantly when the sun comes out. Gypsy and Spanish blood on his mother’s side.

I can burn badly in a lunch hour but love the sun, used factor 15 for years. Have a slight tan but don’t care if I don’t. That P20 stuff looks good I hate the reapplying/greasyness.

Do you actively seek a suntan?

Definitely – love the feel of a bit of sunshine too. I do burn initially but soon go brown – not worried about ageing – heck I’m old already 😆 . Hate daft suntan marks though which is a bit of a nuisance when cycling – brown arms/ white hands and (as my current fave pair of cycling jeans have one ripped knee) one brown knee 😕

I’ve used P20 in the tropics so it’s pretty effective. And these days I burn quite easily if not protected, but I’ve never even itched when using it once a day.

I was diagnosed with skin cancer two years ago which came as a very big shock as I was completely unaware I had it. I was very fortunate when a mole on my shoulder blade bled a little just before I went to the Docs about a sore throat. I mentioned the mole & I was referred to a consultant who said they would remove it ‘to be on the safe side’ & I had the minor op a few weeks later.

I went back for a follow up appointment & my Chinese consultant opened my file & said (in very comical Chinese accent) ‘Agh that mroll we trook off was a marignant merranoma’ ……….. **** me I thought that sounds bad, I asked if he meant I had skin cancer? & he said ‘Ress you got skrin Kranca’

Anyway I then went back a few weeks later where they did another op to remove a strip of skin where the original mole was. I was left with a rather impressive large Zig Zag scar on my shoulder. I used the scar to my advantage telling the kids in the pool on holiday that I was bitten by a shark 🙂

My advice to everyone is please please please take care in the Sun & wear a high sun factor cream, I don’t use anything less that 20 & often use 30+. Sunburn is not big or clever and you really don’t want to catch skin cancer believe me you really don’t. If anyone has a mole which is an irregular shape or flaky or bleeds or is getting bigger please get it checked out. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if my skin cancer hadn’t been removed, I could be sitting here today typing this completely unaware that it was getting a hold & things could have been a whole lot more serious.

I am now two years into remission & I’m very grateful for every day I have. I am also very grateful to the friends I have made due to my condition & in particular to two people off STW who gave me invaluable information & support when I was at my lowest point. When you think you are going to die anytime soon it sort of fries your brain & the emotional turmoil is a nightmare, but they kept me sane & pointed out that what I was experiencing was all part of the Cancer journey.

Just thought I’d share my story of the danger of too much Sun on the skin & I hope it might make others think twice before going out to ‘fry’ themselves without any SPF on.

No I don’t sunbathe and am not bothered about looking brown. But I like to allow gentle melanin build-up on the normally exposed parts of my body to protect them and to promote vitamin D which is needed for good bone and mental health.

Hill walking was quite bad for sunburn risk so I wear hats and cream. I find that much of my cycling is in the woods where the exposure is relatively low.

My advice to everyone is please please please take care in the Sun & wear a high sun factor cream, I don’t use anything less that 20 & often use 30+. Sunburn is not big or clever

But I don’t need sun cream to avoid burning (not normally in this country – I’ll use it if I’m somewhere the sun is stronger). Also don’t have any moles. Does that mean I’m at significant extra risk by getting a bit of a tan, and not overdosing?

thats a very strange way of wording your last question – ambiquous- like you want us to say yeah get tanned you will be fine
Your argument fials on some fundamental points
1. you dont need to burn in the sense you mean to get skin cancer the two arenot related- see below- though both caused by the sun
2. Sun tan lotion does not stopping you tanning – it reduces the amount of UV absorbed whihc prevents burning but not tanning – se ebelwo
3. you produce small amounts of melanin [ gives you your tan] so the best way is short regular periods of exposure not a full days blast which damges the skin – red , peeling etc without creme] but does not give a great tan afterwards. Hence why lotion does not stop it as you still get peak production

Just looking for information – sorry for the phrasing. Though you’re still mentioning reddening which I don’t get, and I do seem to tan more when I have a full day in the sun rather than just a few minutes.

I assume the reddening is the bit that damages skin ie burms it and causes the increased risk of cancer but tbh I dont know I just googled 😆

I don’t really seek it out and I’d never sunbathe to get tanned, but for some reason it does make me happy to have a farmer’s tan just from being out and about doing stuff. I do use sunscreen though, especially on my arms if I’m going out on my road bike.

There’s been some interesting reports lately of people not getting sufficient sun, I forget the exact figures but it’s something like 30 mins over 25% of your body daily to produce the correct chemical/vitamin/hormone balance. Apparently those who habitually cover up and use SPF30+ suffer with other illnesses related to this.

All in moderation IMO.

Surely even as a person of ethnically dark skin you can still get sunburned?

A work colleague recently brought his girlfriend back from the Philippines, she got fairly bad sunburn on the first ‘hot’ day this year.

‘Different type of sun’ apparently 🙂

I have found the clear sprays excellent. Started a few years ago with Factor 10 and can now get up to 30

They do a factor 50 now. Brilliant for me for surfing as it seems really water resistant too.

+1 for Factor 50 and generally avoiding the sun. Malignant Melanoma for me too around 6 years ago. Never really been a sun worshiper, tan fairly easily, dark hair, etc. Scared the crap out of me and changed the way I act in sunshine – always wear a hat, stay covered up, heavy factor sun screen on the visible bits…

It does concern me a bit knowing how I got roasted as a kid. However I rarely got anything other that slightly pink, going dark instead. Hopefully this was some degree of protection.. hopefully 😕

I might have to seek out a bit, since I’ve skillfully tanned massive stripes into my forearms with my elbow pads 😳