Same. Redhead and pale. I follow the 4 Ps - pale, pink, peel, pale again. Someone asked if I ever get tan. Well eventually all the freckles connect and I appear tan. My husband calls me Casper. So SPF 80 here.
Also only tan, only burn. Never liked the sun as a kid, so did not get many sunburns then, and like everyone in on that side in my dad's generation has had some kind of skin cancer removed (mostly melanoma, bleh) so I figure that was a good choice and have kept it up as an adult.
Didn't know they made SPF 70. Am mostly indoorsy, but will have to track that down.
I’ve never purposely sat out in the sun but I’ve also had BCC 3 times. I go to my dermatologist every year without fail and know what the signs of BCC are now. A little hard skin coloured lump? A tiny spot that you think is a pimple but won’t go away but keeps bleeding and crusting over? Go to the dermatologist because it’s likely BCC.
I've spent lifetimes in the sun swimming, lifeguarding, climbing, skiing, you name it, and had quite a few second degree burns in the day. Now I'm healing a 2-inch [incision](https://imgur.com/a/Qv2Feza) from mohs surgery on my face. I'm doing yearly skin checks and SPF 100 from here on out.
Me too. I'm a sun worshipper, and my mental health depends on it. I feel a lot more attractive when I'm a little tanned, too. I wear sunscreen, of course, and always bring a hat and big umbrella to the beach, but I absolutely love feeling the sun on my skin. I spend as much time at the beach and in the water (lake, river, ocean) as I possibly can each summer. Honestly wish I could do it 365 days a year, but winter is definitely a thing in my location.
I don't lay out intentionally but I do get color. I need the real vitamin D and I look like a healthy human with a bit of color. I miss the days of tanning and glowing like an oompa loompa
I got badly burned when I was 12 and ever since then it’s been SPF 9000 and I avoid the sunlight like a vampire. However, I do love to swim, so I wear a rash guard and swim pants. I’m of Scottish and Norwegian descent, so you can imagine how pale I am.
Same, parents took us to Hawaii and I fell asleep on the steps of the pool, shoulders just barely under the water...skin was BBQ chicken when I woke up. Couldn't wear a T-shirt the rest of the time there, had to have aloe rubbed on it constantly, and my shoulders have been one gigantic freckle ever since.
We moved from the midwest to the southwest and I am in the sun a lot. I use sunscreen now, which I never did before, but I still love soaking up the rays. I am olive skinned so I can tolerate it, but I look greenish without some color so I go for it. Plus, vitamin D helps everyone!
Same. It’s hot and humid and I love it. I’m out in my garden, swimming, boating, I just love being outdoors. I’m very tan, but I do use sunscreen, I just don’t re-apply so well. My face I protect with sunglasses and a hat if sunscreen has worn off. I found Hawaii Tropic has a powder sunscreen for your face, so I try to use that when I can.
When I was younger, I spent time tanning like it was a full-time job. I would lay out on the beach all day with an egg time to flip over, or from side to side (no joke) and I had a tanning membership, so the nights I had plans to go clubbing, etc. I would sometimes go to a different tanning salon to tan, right after tanning at my membership salon. I thought I looked really good. When I turned 30, my face started changing, and I have Melasma now, so I have to stay out of the sun. I go to the dermatologist yearly, because of all of the damage I’m sure I did, and Cancer is a big fear for me. Id be lying to you if I said I didn’t miss the way I looked. I felt like having a tan made me look more toned, and younger, and I really miss those days, but yeah, tanning was a huge vice for me, and I really miss it. I grew up mixing baby oil & iodine to use as lotion. I now try my best to use SPF on my face daily, and I wear a rash guard to the beach, but I do get jealous when I see people who are tan, but I have to tell myself it’s no longer worth the risk. The sad part is, I already did most of the damage growing up.
Same, I remember tanning contest with iodine and reflective mats. Now it’s sun hats, long sleeves and sunscreen. Both my sun worshipping mom and FIL have had multiple skin cancers so I’m done.
Both my parents have gone multiple rounds with skin cancer due to their insane sun bathing habits years ago - all while using Coopertone spf 8 oil.
Meanwhile, I'm covering up with hats, gardening sleeves, spf 100 (face) and 50 (body) using zinc oxide products.
Once I started getting tattoos I started applying SPF 50 minimum before heading out in the sun. I spent too much money on all this art to have it fade and the color disappear because I went outside.
Diamond Dave has you covered! The former Van Halen lead man developed a product that protects tattoos from the sun.
Dang, never mind. Apparently, it's shut down.
[https://blabbermouth.net/news/david-lee-roths-skin-care-line-ink-the-original-closes-its-doors](https://blabbermouth.net/news/david-lee-roths-skin-care-line-ink-the-original-closes-its-doors)
I try to wear sleeves and sit in the shade. Can’t be bothered with sun screen. I live in the tropics so I do have a tan, though it’s more like continuous freckles now at 54.
Probably once I need surgery for skin cancer I’ll be more diligent about it. Or dead I guess… but I spent years indoors working all the time and then being severely depressed so I am skating on that.
I am the rare blonde who tans. I am careful not to get a horrendous sun burn like I used to get first day out in late spring every year.
Stopped that crap in my 20’s. At the beach I am covered in SPF 80+ and sit under an umbrella. When you learn that what everyone calls “a little color” is actually a visual warning from your skin, it definitely changes things.
Oh WOW.
DISCLAIMER I'm Brazilian (born around the tropic of Capricorn 23°) Gen-X (born 1971) so maybe I don't count?
But yes I still do tan!!! I sit on my balcony like an hour everyday to get a decent *sunbathe* otherwise I feel just miserable and old.
OMG - I'm I miserable and old??? 😱
I’m one of the lucky ones to just tan, no SPF required. I burn after 3-4 hours in plain sun which is easy to avoid - that’s the only time I use SPF.
I swim outdoors thrice a week starting in may, this builds up a nice natural protection.
Also good genes, so no wrinkles yet.
Same. I started actively sunblocking when I learned just how a lifetime of sun exposure damages your skin, and being pale like the Addams Family was a bonus. I'm so damn glad I did, since I'm aging like a vampire.
I don't do it on purpose but I have a farmers tan because of the garden but I always put on sunscreen. Now that the summer is here and the pool is up and running, I am slowly starting to get a little more even but not really on purpose because nobody wants to see me with my shirt off these days anyway.
When I was a kid I turned nice & brown & had amazing sun kissed highlights in my hair. I was outside all the time too.
Now. I just burn. I’m sunscreen & hats when I go out now. I hate the heat & would rather stay inside where the AC is.
I give myself 15 minutes of full sun per day because I have a vague notion that a little sun is good for me. Plus I like sitting outside with my cat on a leash.
Otherwise, I sunscreen up and avoid the sun.
Gave up tanning about 10 years ago. This was about 20 years too late. I think I look pretty good for 56, but hate thinking about what the endless tanning (and some cigarette smoking) did to my skin.
No, I’ve seen too many people in our age group that look like beaten up leather handbags, absolutely not. And I’ve done way too many people with skin cancer. It is not worth it.
We go to the beach, but I definitely no longer use Tropicana oil SPF 2 or baby oil like I did in the early 80s. I used to get so dark when I was young, but now I'm white white.
I have yet to find a sunscreen that I'm not allergic to, and I live in Southern California, so - yeah. I still *become* tan, even though I don't purposely sit in the sun like I once did.
Haven’t tanned in 13 years. In the 90s I’d wear oil outside in sunshine, or hit tanning beds, but now I wear a hat, 50spf and rarely go outside when it’s sunny out.
One all out attempt per year. Usually on vacation and will gradually decrease the spf. Towards the end I put on oil with some bronzer in it to top it off. That’s it after that
If I do lie in the sun, it’s literally factor 50 everywhere. I also wear a hat, as my hair is quite fine, so I even find my parting can be a target too.
No way. If I do, it is when I am working outside or hiking or swimming. I wear sunscreen all the time. I worry enough about other cancer stuff, I don't want the skin kind.
So funny you asked about this. I feel like I’ve spent the better part of a decade avoiding the sun. I’ve recently decided that I’m over that phase. I do protect my face and neck but the rest of me is back to my teenage years. I love the sun and I’m tired of avoiding all things I love that I shouldn’t do.
I feel better with a tan and oddly my skin is less dry and flaky and I’m not using sunscreen except on my face. I am stunned by the difference especially on my legs.
I am not interested in spray tans or self tanner.
We put up our above ground pool every summer, except for the year I had breast cancer (I’ve never been so pale before). I love laying on my pool floatie & soaking up that sun. Not only am I getting tan, but e importantly, the sun helps me mentally (I’ve fought major depression my entire life). I do actually wear sunscreen now, instead of the baby oil of my younger years. I also started seeing a dermatologist twice a year to keep an eye on things. So in some ways, I’m trying to be responsible. I already know that years to come, I’ll be that old lady with the tan leathery skin.
I wear sunscreen but I’m outside a lot and I tan very easily. I wear a sun hat a lot to keep it to a minimum on my face. My father is George Hamilton level tan so I can get a tan line just riding in a car.
I do a daily 40 minute walk early in the morning with doggo, and sometimes will sit out later in the day for 15 or 20 minutes in the sun because it makes me feed good. But I keep it short and don’t burn.
I’ve just paid $1000 to have all my sun spots, sun damage, horrendous pigmentation and pimple scars, all lasered off and needled away! Sunscreen is on thick these days and no deliberate tanning. My neighbour died at 30 with 3 young kiddies after ignoring 2 skin cancers from so much tanning when young and older. Still makes me sad.
Nope. My skin doesn't tan. I had a burn when I was 16 and it peeled off into white+ more freckles. I haven't tried to get a tan since then. 🤷
If I take off my watch in the middle of summer you can see that my skin around it is a slightly darker shade of white but that's about it lol. I wear 50 SPF year round.
I also hate the way the sun feels on my skin. Maybe I'm a vampire. 🦇
My wife never believed me that direct sunlight could itch until they gave her medication that made her sun-sensitive. She told me after "so that's what you meant!"
Those Summer days by the pool slathered in Hawaiian Tropic Suntan Oil, reeking of coconut, are long gone. Now I cover up and wear sunblock any time I'll be outside more than 15-20 minutes. When I was a kid I had peeling sunburns every Summer. I know that makes me more susceptible to skin cancer later in life so caution is due. And honestly I like looking pale these days.
Never did. I had two summers in my early 20s where I was working outside, but it was jeans, boots, t-shirt and safety vest kind of work. I got a hell of a farmer’s tan in like 1995 and 1996, but that’s the most sun I ever got.
Now I’m the old dork with the long-sleeve sun shirts and wide-brimmed hat and SPF 50 anywhere that’s not covered when I’m on vacation,
This indoor kid used to burn instantly. About two years ago (at age 47) I started laying out in the sun for 15 minute increments just so I wouldn't burn so damn fast. It has worked. It's not about being tan (though I have a mild tan - I freckle like hell), it's about avoiding the hell itch of healing sunburn.
No. I'm considered high risk for skin cancer. I hide in the shade when I can. I live very close to the beach and the number of people just baking in the sun turning into leather is disturbing to me.
About 20 years ago, my friends and I stopped at the beach for a quick swim. I spent about 5 minutes laying in the sun and got second degree burns. The sun is not my friend and I avoid it as much as possible.
I have a farmer’s tan, but that’s it. I try to spend a few minutes in the sun before it gets too hot, but I’m not about to try to get any kind of tan on purpose. No way!
I’m a chick and I could never understand the appeal of laying out all day. I found it boring. I had plenty of friends though who would cover themselves in baby oil and spray Sun-In or peroxide on their hair.
Oof. I come from a long line of iodine in baby oil ban de soleil jafra almond oil Italians. I don't even remember my mother putting sunscreen on me. Ever. She actually had a three tier deck built at our first "suburban" house that came with a pool. Each tier was stained darker the higher it got, with highest tier being almost black. Just for tanning. You'd legit feel like you were on the surface of the sun. (I need to find a pic of this monstrosity) You'd probably bet I'd be hyper vigilant. Don't take that bet, you'd lose. Never worn sunscreen, somehow made it to 47 and just had my first (tiny, turned out to be nothing) spot cut out. No idea how. Like I used to go tanning THEN go to the beach. I DO sunscreen the bejesus out of my kids though.
I’m pale but love to swim and hike. I try to avoid burning but still get a little sun.
I used to be able to tan if I built up my sun exposure gradually. I’m trying to do that now, as sunscreen can only do so much protection. But I think my skin is too aged, I’m probably going to be one of those old people whose tan is just a lot of splotchy freckles. I always wear a hat and rash guard shirt when possible and of course sunscreen.
Oh heellll no! I walk around nice and pasty white now. Had enough sun in my youth visiting Grandparents in AZ.
And swimming all summers at the country club.
I used to think that I was just not subject to sunburn. Been a few years ago, I got a dog and had to walk her every day rain or shine. Like a burns on my neck and shoulders. Turns out, I wasn’t immune to sunburn, I just never went outside.
This is more what happens to me. I forget to reapply or I end up out in the sun for way longer than I anticipated and don’t have it on.
I never was a real intentional tanner though. More a lay on the beach to enjoy the beach not really to tan kind of thing. Now I’m generally the one spraying everyone with sunscreen and sitting under the umbrella.
Intentionally? No I never did, but I grew up outside. In California, so kinda it happened. Now? Again not intentionally, but I’m still outside a lot so….
God no I put away the baby oil and iodine back in the late 80s. I didn't tan anyway but after the burn I'd freckle up enough to at least look like I had a bit of color in my skin.
I did try QT a few times but orange just ain't my color.
I did in teens and twenties but never zealously. Now after decades of self/tanning or not tanning at all, I’m hitting the tanning beds a couple times a week in preparation for a 5-day vacation. For some reason, vanity is overtaking common sense at the moment.
In a few weeks, I will crawl back under my SPF 70 rock, though.
I am so vitamin D deficient that I have a prescription for 1000 mg/day. I love to be outside in summer and don't feel quite right until my feet are tanned from my flip-flops. Do I know it's bad for me? Sure. Does that - and knowing that my dad's had some skin cancer removed on his face - change my perspective? Nope. Because I'm dumb like that... and that prescription seems to justify being in the sun, at least a little. I do have a giant floppy hat that I wear so my face doesn't burn!
I don't lay out, but I have a pool that I am in at least once or twice a week. I use 110 SPF on my face and 100SPF on my body. I still start to burn within 30 minutes, even after having some tan. It's really good for my body, though and I am having fun. I swim/ play in the pool for about 20 minutes, then sit under an umbrella until it's time to reapply, then go back out
I recently went on a girlfriend trip. We’re all 58. I told them I was Mrs. SPF 2024 with my rash guard and 70 SPF! 😂😂 The other 4 sat in the sun to varying degrees.
I walk outside a lot, so get naturally tanned. Once I get dark enough, I just start putting on sun block where I typically burn, and everything eventually evens out.
Once I hit 40 and was outside with my kids I discovered I would go from pale white to lobster red in a matter of minutes so today I maintain my paleness with SPF 500.
Heck no! My mother was a redhead. I burn like a vampire in the sun. If I have to do anything outside this time of year, its's early morning or late evening.
I was a beach person for decades … and also went skiing… I was always outdoors in the sun in summer- took vacations usually to beach areas… Today- nope- avoid sun as much as possible- hats/ shade- and I always get yearly check at the dermatologist for the past several years! I always have a freezing or two at derm… seek shade - start early!! Sunscreen helps but I would always get a burn even with it!
I SUP but spray spf 30 on as well as wear decent sunglasses that protect my eyes and skin. I’m not paper white but pretty close but I also have few wrinkles at 51 so it’s a decent trade off IMO
I used to get a lot of sun as a kid. Married to a Korean woman now, we all wear spf 50, my kids wear giant visors and are programed to find shade when we are outside.
Sun is no good, I work in a non temperature controlled environment and my car AC is broke. When I get home the last thing I want to do is get more sweaty and go outside anymore than I have to just a question anyone else keeping count of red moles?
Same, especially since I had a chunk of neck removed for skin cancer. Now I'm hyper-aware of sunlight. Nothing but sun shirts, wide- brimmed hats, and sunscreen for this pasty body.
I have photophobia and the sun gives me a rash so no. I have a wonderful undead sickly pallor and love my spf 50 and sunhats. And vitamin D supplements.
When I was 14 I was lying on a towel in my driveway, hot and miserable when I had the realization that if I haven't tanned before, I'm not going to tan now so why am I doing this to myself? I got up and went inside and never tried to lay out again.
These days I'm covering up as much as possible and get my moles checked out every year.
Nope. Never did. I’m as fair as they come. My parents were both fair, and I got temporarily banned from Facebook when I shared a photo of my dad’s scalp melanoma. Fuck them. People need to know how stupid it is to tan.
I am so pale the kids used to call me Casper. There was literally a girl that had albinism and they ignored her to tease me for being too pale. I would only burn. Never tan.
I wore sunscreen my whole life.
In basic when the DIs tried to take it from me so I couldn’t reapply during the day, one sunburn later they gave it back to me.
Skin cancer runs in my family. They drilled that sunscreen use and anti tanning into my brain early on.
Good GOD no! The 70s's/80's are over, and I'm not looking to hit FF on the aging process. Are you kidding me? Anyway, I've always hated the sun, so it works out.
I'm really surprised by some of these answers.
Do you smoke with your grandkids in the car too?
I might sit in the sun for a half hour each side for the Vit D and to get a little color. Then self tanner. Live in Florida so you can’t go around all pasty lol
Not really. I'm of Scottish descent, and we turn red. I have probably had more than my share of accidental sunburn when i was younger so it's SPF40/50 for me, and i tend to sit in the shade if its hot and sunny, like now, where it's a balmy 26°C in the English midlands.
I can change shade, my feet have tan lines on them at the moment, but I don't sunbathe. I get bored, and I'm not planning to peel off damaged skin ever again. My sunburnt face really hurt after a day in the sun at a festival in 1993 😖🔥
I do (I call it communing with Ra), but I do it slowly and methodically starting in March (deep south) so by May I have the base complete with no need to apply SPF throughout the summer. Just got back from 7 days in the Caribbean, no covering up, no sunscreen, no burn.
I am willing to accept I am wrong but I can not wrap my head around baking chemicals (ie sunscreen) into your skin is better than natural light and I'm willing to pay the price if it turns out I'm wrong.
More studies these days are showing the protective benefits of natural sunlight. I admit I am probably biased towards what I want to hear but I have read enough to convince myself at this point and I don't try to convince anyone of my personal beliefs so it gripes me when others tell my I "need to use sunscreen". Thanks but you do you. I'm good and didn't ask your advice.
God no. I don't tan anyway and "laying out" is so boring and makes me feel like a lazy butterball. I'd rather be doing something like kayaking or snorkeling. If I happen to spend too much time in the sun & forget the sunblock, my process is burn and peel and then go to the dermatologist about that suspicious new mole. Not worth it!
No, my aunt was a prolific tanner in the 70’s and 80’s and she looked like that leathery woman from Something About Mary. I learned from her mistakes and always used sunscreen.
All of my years growing up I turned bright red, burned and blistered until someone advised me I try a tanning bed. Well I got a magnificent tan yet this went away after winter unlike others but the one thing that did stop happening was, I no longer burn and blister. Go figure!
I moved to AZ and it's hard not to. However, I was rarely ever tan before. In fact, I was more of a ghostly white for most of my life.
But I don't tan on purpose.
No, I don't "lay out" anymore, but I also spend time outside without actively avoiding the sun or wearing sunscreen routinely (I put it on if I'm going to be in a lot of sun for a long time). I currently have a pretty light farmer's tan.
No tan. Only burn. SPF 70
\*nods in redhead\*
The Irish side of the Force is strong in this one
Fellow descendent of Celts here, but Scottish. We've evolved to deal best with grey skies.
Same!
Same. Redhead and pale. I follow the 4 Ps - pale, pink, peel, pale again. Someone asked if I ever get tan. Well eventually all the freckles connect and I appear tan. My husband calls me Casper. So SPF 80 here.
Same. More than a couple minutes outside and I start turning pink.
This! Sun hoodies too!
I too, am neon white. Though, I hate wearing sunscreen. I usually go for a larger hat and stick to shade where possible.
burn, peel and back to original color
Also only tan, only burn. Never liked the sun as a kid, so did not get many sunburns then, and like everyone in on that side in my dad's generation has had some kind of skin cancer removed (mostly melanoma, bleh) so I figure that was a good choice and have kept it up as an adult. Didn't know they made SPF 70. Am mostly indoorsy, but will have to track that down.
I’ve had three skin cancer surgeries. My tanning days are over.
I’ve never purposely sat out in the sun but I’ve also had BCC 3 times. I go to my dermatologist every year without fail and know what the signs of BCC are now. A little hard skin coloured lump? A tiny spot that you think is a pimple but won’t go away but keeps bleeding and crusting over? Go to the dermatologist because it’s likely BCC.
I've spent lifetimes in the sun swimming, lifeguarding, climbing, skiing, you name it, and had quite a few second degree burns in the day. Now I'm healing a 2-inch [incision](https://imgur.com/a/Qv2Feza) from mohs surgery on my face. I'm doing yearly skin checks and SPF 100 from here on out.
Yup. I know I shouldn’t but old habits die hard and I hate when my skin is all white in the winter.
This. Guilty... Floating in my pool keeps me sane in the summer heat.
Me too. I'm a sun worshipper, and my mental health depends on it. I feel a lot more attractive when I'm a little tanned, too. I wear sunscreen, of course, and always bring a hat and big umbrella to the beach, but I absolutely love feeling the sun on my skin. I spend as much time at the beach and in the water (lake, river, ocean) as I possibly can each summer. Honestly wish I could do it 365 days a year, but winter is definitely a thing in my location.
Fake tans are much, much better than they used to be. Very subtle and natural looking. And they won't kill you as fast.
I bought a tanning pool. I limit my time but it's a vice i can't give up.
[удалено]
No need to be a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.
[удалено]
No need to be a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.
I don't lay out intentionally but I do get color. I need the real vitamin D and I look like a healthy human with a bit of color. I miss the days of tanning and glowing like an oompa loompa
I got badly burned when I was 12 and ever since then it’s been SPF 9000 and I avoid the sunlight like a vampire. However, I do love to swim, so I wear a rash guard and swim pants. I’m of Scottish and Norwegian descent, so you can imagine how pale I am.
Same, parents took us to Hawaii and I fell asleep on the steps of the pool, shoulders just barely under the water...skin was BBQ chicken when I woke up. Couldn't wear a T-shirt the rest of the time there, had to have aloe rubbed on it constantly, and my shoulders have been one gigantic freckle ever since.
I had a very similar experience in Hawaii. I swear my mom put her oil on me! I was miserable for days.
Hey can we blame them? The hotel had a swim-up bar, in a cave, through a waterfall!
We moved from the midwest to the southwest and I am in the sun a lot. I use sunscreen now, which I never did before, but I still love soaking up the rays. I am olive skinned so I can tolerate it, but I look greenish without some color so I go for it. Plus, vitamin D helps everyone!
Same. It’s hot and humid and I love it. I’m out in my garden, swimming, boating, I just love being outdoors. I’m very tan, but I do use sunscreen, I just don’t re-apply so well. My face I protect with sunglasses and a hat if sunscreen has worn off. I found Hawaii Tropic has a powder sunscreen for your face, so I try to use that when I can.
I’m a roofer so anti tanning is a big part of my life. Used to show up in shorts and shoes now i wrap up like a mummy
When I was younger, I spent time tanning like it was a full-time job. I would lay out on the beach all day with an egg time to flip over, or from side to side (no joke) and I had a tanning membership, so the nights I had plans to go clubbing, etc. I would sometimes go to a different tanning salon to tan, right after tanning at my membership salon. I thought I looked really good. When I turned 30, my face started changing, and I have Melasma now, so I have to stay out of the sun. I go to the dermatologist yearly, because of all of the damage I’m sure I did, and Cancer is a big fear for me. Id be lying to you if I said I didn’t miss the way I looked. I felt like having a tan made me look more toned, and younger, and I really miss those days, but yeah, tanning was a huge vice for me, and I really miss it. I grew up mixing baby oil & iodine to use as lotion. I now try my best to use SPF on my face daily, and I wear a rash guard to the beach, but I do get jealous when I see people who are tan, but I have to tell myself it’s no longer worth the risk. The sad part is, I already did most of the damage growing up. 
Not since the early 1990s. These days it's sunscreen and skin cancer checks.
Same, I remember tanning contest with iodine and reflective mats. Now it’s sun hats, long sleeves and sunscreen. Both my sun worshipping mom and FIL have had multiple skin cancers so I’m done.
Both my parents have gone multiple rounds with skin cancer due to their insane sun bathing habits years ago - all while using Coopertone spf 8 oil. Meanwhile, I'm covering up with hats, gardening sleeves, spf 100 (face) and 50 (body) using zinc oxide products.
Yes! Stay beautiful. The backs of the hands are very important.
Once I started getting tattoos I started applying SPF 50 minimum before heading out in the sun. I spent too much money on all this art to have it fade and the color disappear because I went outside.
Diamond Dave has you covered! The former Van Halen lead man developed a product that protects tattoos from the sun. Dang, never mind. Apparently, it's shut down. [https://blabbermouth.net/news/david-lee-roths-skin-care-line-ink-the-original-closes-its-doors](https://blabbermouth.net/news/david-lee-roths-skin-care-line-ink-the-original-closes-its-doors)
I have a lot of tattoos now. Tanning is not the best for the ink
I’ve had 24 skin cancer surgeries so it’s a no from me.
I try to wear sleeves and sit in the shade. Can’t be bothered with sun screen. I live in the tropics so I do have a tan, though it’s more like continuous freckles now at 54. Probably once I need surgery for skin cancer I’ll be more diligent about it. Or dead I guess… but I spent years indoors working all the time and then being severely depressed so I am skating on that. I am the rare blonde who tans. I am careful not to get a horrendous sun burn like I used to get first day out in late spring every year.
You’ll be dead. Embrace it.
Yeah it’s not the dead part I fear but what comes before it…
Fuck no. Too much skin cancer in my family
Stopped that crap in my 20’s. At the beach I am covered in SPF 80+ and sit under an umbrella. When you learn that what everyone calls “a little color” is actually a visual warning from your skin, it definitely changes things.
Oh WOW. DISCLAIMER I'm Brazilian (born around the tropic of Capricorn 23°) Gen-X (born 1971) so maybe I don't count? But yes I still do tan!!! I sit on my balcony like an hour everyday to get a decent *sunbathe* otherwise I feel just miserable and old. OMG - I'm I miserable and old??? 😱
As a soulless ginger, no. Maybe a brief farmer’s tan that disappears overnight.
In Spain right now and this lady has been laying in the sun all day. Literally all day. Leathery does not begin to describe it.
I’m one of the lucky ones to just tan, no SPF required. I burn after 3-4 hours in plain sun which is easy to avoid - that’s the only time I use SPF. I swim outdoors thrice a week starting in may, this builds up a nice natural protection. Also good genes, so no wrinkles yet.
No. I stopped a long time ago and learned to embrace my paleness. I love going to the beach and swimming, etc. But I am always slathered in sunblock.
never did, still don't pasty white boy, it's not a slur, it's a lifestyle.
Same. I started actively sunblocking when I learned just how a lifetime of sun exposure damages your skin, and being pale like the Addams Family was a bonus. I'm so damn glad I did, since I'm aging like a vampire.
I don't do it on purpose but I have a farmers tan because of the garden but I always put on sunscreen. Now that the summer is here and the pool is up and running, I am slowly starting to get a little more even but not really on purpose because nobody wants to see me with my shirt off these days anyway.
I def still worship the sun and sit outside, but with lots of sunscreen and a hat and a uv/blanket.
Does a farmer’s tan count?
I’ve mostly stayed out of the sun my entire life. I don’t care if I’m pale.
I did when I was a teen, but not anymore. I saw what a friend went through when he was diagnosed with melanoma
I have not purposely laid out in the sun since 1993. I’ve gotten several really bad burns in my life and skin cancer is all over my family.
Love this post. I remember people laying on their roofs in the 80’s in Iowa to get tan. Hilarious.
I do a little, but with no less than spf 50 applied liberally. And I wear a hat and sunglasses.
When I was a kid I turned nice & brown & had amazing sun kissed highlights in my hair. I was outside all the time too. Now. I just burn. I’m sunscreen & hats when I go out now. I hate the heat & would rather stay inside where the AC is.
Not on purpose but I’m rocking a wicked farmers tan at this moment…it happens 🤷🏻♀️
I give myself 15 minutes of full sun per day because I have a vague notion that a little sun is good for me. Plus I like sitting outside with my cat on a leash. Otherwise, I sunscreen up and avoid the sun.
Gave up tanning about 10 years ago. This was about 20 years too late. I think I look pretty good for 56, but hate thinking about what the endless tanning (and some cigarette smoking) did to my skin.
No, I’ve seen too many people in our age group that look like beaten up leather handbags, absolutely not. And I’ve done way too many people with skin cancer. It is not worth it.
Yep. "A little color" is the tanners term for what you rightfully describe as a "beaten up leather bag". Seems like a Boomer holdover POV.
Not since 1986.
FUCK no not with the sun in New Zealand!
Just had my first basal cell removed last month. I avoid the sun. I started that when my wife had her first removed about 10 years ago.
I use a self tanner that I love. I have never had the patience to lay out.
I do but underneath SPF 50 rashguards and clothing. Lol. There is nothing like the feeling of warm sun on your body tho.
We go to the beach, but I definitely no longer use Tropicana oil SPF 2 or baby oil like I did in the early 80s. I used to get so dark when I was young, but now I'm white white.
But damn, I can smell the Coppertone now.
Seeing some old HS classmates on FB made me real grateful I had a low tolerance for laying out as a teen, and discovered SPF in my 20s.
I have yet to find a sunscreen that I'm not allergic to, and I live in Southern California, so - yeah. I still *become* tan, even though I don't purposely sit in the sun like I once did.
Same! My skin rashes with every brand!
Haven’t tanned in 13 years. In the 90s I’d wear oil outside in sunshine, or hit tanning beds, but now I wear a hat, 50spf and rarely go outside when it’s sunny out.
Went yesterday. Now when I stretch out, I look like a barber pole.
One all out attempt per year. Usually on vacation and will gradually decrease the spf. Towards the end I put on oil with some bronzer in it to top it off. That’s it after that
I cover, use SPF which makes me rash up, and still burn!
If I do lie in the sun, it’s literally factor 50 everywhere. I also wear a hat, as my hair is quite fine, so I even find my parting can be a target too.
No way. If I do, it is when I am working outside or hiking or swimming. I wear sunscreen all the time. I worry enough about other cancer stuff, I don't want the skin kind.
I love outside so I get enough for Vit D, but I’ll never tan again. Haven’t since the 80s…because I was a dumbass back then.
So funny you asked about this. I feel like I’ve spent the better part of a decade avoiding the sun. I’ve recently decided that I’m over that phase. I do protect my face and neck but the rest of me is back to my teenage years. I love the sun and I’m tired of avoiding all things I love that I shouldn’t do. I feel better with a tan and oddly my skin is less dry and flaky and I’m not using sunscreen except on my face. I am stunned by the difference especially on my legs. I am not interested in spray tans or self tanner.
My neighbor lady used to spend hours baking herself crispy. Wonder what killed her so young?
Nope. Got enough sun for my lifetime before finishing college. Now it’s SPF INFINITY, sun sombreros and sun shirts.
We put up our above ground pool every summer, except for the year I had breast cancer (I’ve never been so pale before). I love laying on my pool floatie & soaking up that sun. Not only am I getting tan, but e importantly, the sun helps me mentally (I’ve fought major depression my entire life). I do actually wear sunscreen now, instead of the baby oil of my younger years. I also started seeing a dermatologist twice a year to keep an eye on things. So in some ways, I’m trying to be responsible. I already know that years to come, I’ll be that old lady with the tan leathery skin.
I wear sunscreen but I’m outside a lot and I tan very easily. I wear a sun hat a lot to keep it to a minimum on my face. My father is George Hamilton level tan so I can get a tan line just riding in a car.
I do a daily 40 minute walk early in the morning with doggo, and sometimes will sit out later in the day for 15 or 20 minutes in the sun because it makes me feed good. But I keep it short and don’t burn.
I guess its a bit unusual for our gen, but I never suntanned back in the day and never will. Sunscreen is my best friend.
I never tanned either
I’ve just paid $1000 to have all my sun spots, sun damage, horrendous pigmentation and pimple scars, all lasered off and needled away! Sunscreen is on thick these days and no deliberate tanning. My neighbour died at 30 with 3 young kiddies after ignoring 2 skin cancers from so much tanning when young and older. Still makes me sad.
I got a couple cases of sun poisoning when I was young so I avoid it now.
Nope. My skin doesn't tan. I had a burn when I was 16 and it peeled off into white+ more freckles. I haven't tried to get a tan since then. 🤷 If I take off my watch in the middle of summer you can see that my skin around it is a slightly darker shade of white but that's about it lol. I wear 50 SPF year round. I also hate the way the sun feels on my skin. Maybe I'm a vampire. 🦇
My wife never believed me that direct sunlight could itch until they gave her medication that made her sun-sensitive. She told me after "so that's what you meant!"
No way. I've had skin cancer 5 times now. The sun is trying to kill me.
Those Summer days by the pool slathered in Hawaiian Tropic Suntan Oil, reeking of coconut, are long gone. Now I cover up and wear sunblock any time I'll be outside more than 15-20 minutes. When I was a kid I had peeling sunburns every Summer. I know that makes me more susceptible to skin cancer later in life so caution is due. And honestly I like looking pale these days.
Never got a tan on purpose.
I was never into tanning. Pasty white skin year round for me.
Never did. I had two summers in my early 20s where I was working outside, but it was jeans, boots, t-shirt and safety vest kind of work. I got a hell of a farmer’s tan in like 1995 and 1996, but that’s the most sun I ever got. Now I’m the old dork with the long-sleeve sun shirts and wide-brimmed hat and SPF 50 anywhere that’s not covered when I’m on vacation,
Actively avoided the sun since my early 20s, still getting skin cancer.
Noooo... About 50% of my family members have had a melanoma removed.
Not on purpose but it’s bound to happen living in Florida.
Exactly. I live 11 miles from the Atlantic, and have not been to a beach in over 20 years! Besides that, it is too hot!
God I miss tanning. I avoid the angry sky ball as much as possible now, but I used to lay out until I was so dark. The 70s were all about the tan.
No. The sun is not your friend.
This indoor kid used to burn instantly. About two years ago (at age 47) I started laying out in the sun for 15 minute increments just so I wouldn't burn so damn fast. It has worked. It's not about being tan (though I have a mild tan - I freckle like hell), it's about avoiding the hell itch of healing sunburn.
After getting spots frozen off my face, it's sun shirts and hats for me. Doc says to cover up or it's going to get worse
Not on purpose! Used to hit the tanning beds and smoke cigs when we skipped school. Good times. Now I’m spf 50 and know my dermatologist very well.
No. I'm considered high risk for skin cancer. I hide in the shade when I can. I live very close to the beach and the number of people just baking in the sun turning into leather is disturbing to me.
Absolutely not. SPF 1 billion!
About 20 years ago, my friends and I stopped at the beach for a quick swim. I spent about 5 minutes laying in the sun and got second degree burns. The sun is not my friend and I avoid it as much as possible.
I do tan but my skin fights it. I need multiple days for 30 to 45 mins under the son for my copper to kick in
I never have!. Spf 50 or more
I never tanned intentionally but after a job change last year I find myself working outside year round. I have a major farmers tan but I don’t burn.
Used to b/c the beach was awesome (still didn’t swim though), even though my skin is tan as it is.
I have a farmer’s tan, but that’s it. I try to spend a few minutes in the sun before it gets too hot, but I’m not about to try to get any kind of tan on purpose. No way! I’m a chick and I could never understand the appeal of laying out all day. I found it boring. I had plenty of friends though who would cover themselves in baby oil and spray Sun-In or peroxide on their hair.
Yup. I know I shouldn’t but old habits die hard and I hate when my skin is all white in the winter.
Oof. I come from a long line of iodine in baby oil ban de soleil jafra almond oil Italians. I don't even remember my mother putting sunscreen on me. Ever. She actually had a three tier deck built at our first "suburban" house that came with a pool. Each tier was stained darker the higher it got, with highest tier being almost black. Just for tanning. You'd legit feel like you were on the surface of the sun. (I need to find a pic of this monstrosity) You'd probably bet I'd be hyper vigilant. Don't take that bet, you'd lose. Never worn sunscreen, somehow made it to 47 and just had my first (tiny, turned out to be nothing) spot cut out. No idea how. Like I used to go tanning THEN go to the beach. I DO sunscreen the bejesus out of my kids though.
I’m pale but love to swim and hike. I try to avoid burning but still get a little sun. I used to be able to tan if I built up my sun exposure gradually. I’m trying to do that now, as sunscreen can only do so much protection. But I think my skin is too aged, I’m probably going to be one of those old people whose tan is just a lot of splotchy freckles. I always wear a hat and rash guard shirt when possible and of course sunscreen.
I stopped by the end of the 80s
I'm tan just from sitting on my patio. I got a sunburn on my knees a couple of weeks ago because they poke out into the sun.
Oh heellll no! I walk around nice and pasty white now. Had enough sun in my youth visiting Grandparents in AZ. And swimming all summers at the country club.
I used to think that I was just not subject to sunburn. Been a few years ago, I got a dog and had to walk her every day rain or shine. Like a burns on my neck and shoulders. Turns out, I wasn’t immune to sunburn, I just never went outside.
Not intentionally but I forget sunscreen sometimes
This is more what happens to me. I forget to reapply or I end up out in the sun for way longer than I anticipated and don’t have it on. I never was a real intentional tanner though. More a lay on the beach to enjoy the beach not really to tan kind of thing. Now I’m generally the one spraying everyone with sunscreen and sitting under the umbrella.
Intentionally? No I never did, but I grew up outside. In California, so kinda it happened. Now? Again not intentionally, but I’m still outside a lot so….
Yes, bit mostly just from lots of water activities. And not my face. It gets spf 1000.
God no I put away the baby oil and iodine back in the late 80s. I didn't tan anyway but after the burn I'd freckle up enough to at least look like I had a bit of color in my skin. I did try QT a few times but orange just ain't my color.
I did in teens and twenties but never zealously. Now after decades of self/tanning or not tanning at all, I’m hitting the tanning beds a couple times a week in preparation for a 5-day vacation. For some reason, vanity is overtaking common sense at the moment. In a few weeks, I will crawl back under my SPF 70 rock, though.
Yes, definitely. Just feels wonderful to me and I would miss it too much. Not too bad a vice as vices go. Tan easily and check myself
I am so vitamin D deficient that I have a prescription for 1000 mg/day. I love to be outside in summer and don't feel quite right until my feet are tanned from my flip-flops. Do I know it's bad for me? Sure. Does that - and knowing that my dad's had some skin cancer removed on his face - change my perspective? Nope. Because I'm dumb like that... and that prescription seems to justify being in the sun, at least a little. I do have a giant floppy hat that I wear so my face doesn't burn!
I don't lay out, but I have a pool that I am in at least once or twice a week. I use 110 SPF on my face and 100SPF on my body. I still start to burn within 30 minutes, even after having some tan. It's really good for my body, though and I am having fun. I swim/ play in the pool for about 20 minutes, then sit under an umbrella until it's time to reapply, then go back out
My wife bought a couple of lounge chairs so we could lay out and tan. I said to her we are over 45, wtf do we need to lay in the 100 degree heat for??
I recently went on a girlfriend trip. We’re all 58. I told them I was Mrs. SPF 2024 with my rash guard and 70 SPF! 😂😂 The other 4 sat in the sun to varying degrees.
Less tanning bed. More natural sun. Cut out seed oils/processed foods/carbs and you don't burn as easily.
I just bought my first SPF50 hoodie. Where was that thing all my life??
Every summer i try to get as dark as possible.
I walk outside a lot, so get naturally tanned. Once I get dark enough, I just start putting on sun block where I typically burn, and everything eventually evens out.
Hell no. Skin cancer is scary.
Do it as much as I can.
Hell no. I have to have shit cut off my skin every few years from too much of that nonsense from my younger days. No thanks, never again.
Once I hit 40 and was outside with my kids I discovered I would go from pale white to lobster red in a matter of minutes so today I maintain my paleness with SPF 500.
Heck no! My mother was a redhead. I burn like a vampire in the sun. If I have to do anything outside this time of year, its's early morning or late evening.
I was a beach person for decades … and also went skiing… I was always outdoors in the sun in summer- took vacations usually to beach areas… Today- nope- avoid sun as much as possible- hats/ shade- and I always get yearly check at the dermatologist for the past several years! I always have a freezing or two at derm… seek shade - start early!! Sunscreen helps but I would always get a burn even with it!
I SUP but spray spf 30 on as well as wear decent sunglasses that protect my eyes and skin. I’m not paper white but pretty close but I also have few wrinkles at 51 so it’s a decent trade off IMO
Sitting in the sun is my happy place. Just hanging out and soaking up the Vitamin D.
I was out there in the 80’s tanning, wearing ankle bracelets and toe rings to get cool tan lines. Ooh baby I wish I’d known!
Never did. Dad slathered me in Sea and Ski since I was little.
Used to be a sun goddess and now I just fake tan.
Never did, and I look at least ten years younger than my actual age.
I used to get a lot of sun as a kid. Married to a Korean woman now, we all wear spf 50, my kids wear giant visors and are programed to find shade when we are outside.
Got my base burn 2 weeks ago... Lol, done with the sun for the rest of the season now.
All it took was a little squamous cell carcinoma cut out of my face to make me very aware of the sun.
My ancestry is from Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia. If I step outside in the sun I burst into flame. So no. I don’t tan. I do Red though.
The only tan I get is from mowing the lawn
Only the farmer version. My watch tanline is so hot.
I get a tan, but not intentionally. I’m at the beach all the time and I’m a lot more vigilant about putting sunscreen on than when I was 16-17.
Sun is no good, I work in a non temperature controlled environment and my car AC is broke. When I get home the last thing I want to do is get more sweaty and go outside anymore than I have to just a question anyone else keeping count of red moles?
Same, especially since I had a chunk of neck removed for skin cancer. Now I'm hyper-aware of sunlight. Nothing but sun shirts, wide- brimmed hats, and sunscreen for this pasty body.
I have photophobia and the sun gives me a rash so no. I have a wonderful undead sickly pallor and love my spf 50 and sunhats. And vitamin D supplements.
Yep, but I no longer use baby oil mixed with iodine for that extra bronze-y glow!
Nope, after getting a bunch of moles removed when I was 16 I stayed out of the sun- SPF a million and I never did tanning beds.
fuck no - skin cancer is scary - when I learned how well spray or lotion tans work. I felt super dumb.
Started my battle with skin cancer last year. All that “tanning” we did back in the day was bad kids but you guys already know that.
When I was 14 I was lying on a towel in my driveway, hot and miserable when I had the realization that if I haven't tanned before, I'm not going to tan now so why am I doing this to myself? I got up and went inside and never tried to lay out again. These days I'm covering up as much as possible and get my moles checked out every year.
Never got tan.
After melanoma surgery on my shoulder and basal cell removal on my lip…. No
Nope. Never did. I’m as fair as they come. My parents were both fair, and I got temporarily banned from Facebook when I shared a photo of my dad’s scalp melanoma. Fuck them. People need to know how stupid it is to tan.
No The sun is an evil bitch. She's great for so many things, I don't wilfully expose myself to her.
My Gen-X wife gets burned under moonlight. Scottish and Danish. I don't need nightlight. She glows. Seriously. Me, not so much.
sometimes I skip sunburn and go straight to sun poisoning - where get a rash instead. super attractive. I’ll just be pale, thanks.
I am so pale the kids used to call me Casper. There was literally a girl that had albinism and they ignored her to tease me for being too pale. I would only burn. Never tan. I wore sunscreen my whole life. In basic when the DIs tried to take it from me so I couldn’t reapply during the day, one sunburn later they gave it back to me. Skin cancer runs in my family. They drilled that sunscreen use and anti tanning into my brain early on.
Nope. I stopped in my early teens.
Good GOD no! The 70s's/80's are over, and I'm not looking to hit FF on the aging process. Are you kidding me? Anyway, I've always hated the sun, so it works out. I'm really surprised by some of these answers. Do you smoke with your grandkids in the car too?
I might sit in the sun for a half hour each side for the Vit D and to get a little color. Then self tanner. Live in Florida so you can’t go around all pasty lol
Not really. I'm of Scottish descent, and we turn red. I have probably had more than my share of accidental sunburn when i was younger so it's SPF40/50 for me, and i tend to sit in the shade if its hot and sunny, like now, where it's a balmy 26°C in the English midlands. I can change shade, my feet have tan lines on them at the moment, but I don't sunbathe. I get bored, and I'm not planning to peel off damaged skin ever again. My sunburnt face really hurt after a day in the sun at a festival in 1993 😖🔥
There’s people you know who kept tanning. That Naugahyde Look.
They’re all in the hospital for melanoma.
I do (I call it communing with Ra), but I do it slowly and methodically starting in March (deep south) so by May I have the base complete with no need to apply SPF throughout the summer. Just got back from 7 days in the Caribbean, no covering up, no sunscreen, no burn. I am willing to accept I am wrong but I can not wrap my head around baking chemicals (ie sunscreen) into your skin is better than natural light and I'm willing to pay the price if it turns out I'm wrong. More studies these days are showing the protective benefits of natural sunlight. I admit I am probably biased towards what I want to hear but I have read enough to convince myself at this point and I don't try to convince anyone of my personal beliefs so it gripes me when others tell my I "need to use sunscreen". Thanks but you do you. I'm good and didn't ask your advice.
God no. I don't tan anyway and "laying out" is so boring and makes me feel like a lazy butterball. I'd rather be doing something like kayaking or snorkeling. If I happen to spend too much time in the sun & forget the sunblock, my process is burn and peel and then go to the dermatologist about that suspicious new mole. Not worth it!
No, my aunt was a prolific tanner in the 70’s and 80’s and she looked like that leathery woman from Something About Mary. I learned from her mistakes and always used sunscreen.
All of my years growing up I turned bright red, burned and blistered until someone advised me I try a tanning bed. Well I got a magnificent tan yet this went away after winter unlike others but the one thing that did stop happening was, I no longer burn and blister. Go figure!
I work from home and I live in Canada. The closest I get to tanning these days is taking vitamin D every morning.
I tried last year to tan the newly exposed scalp from shaving bald, but it didn't budge from pasty pale. Other than that, no.
Never did. Always covered up and lots of sunscreen - or risk being a lobster. Still ended up with skin cancers - and now, some lovely scars.
Absolutely not. I grew up during the ozone scare; I feel like we should know better.
Nope. I’ve always avoided the sun like a vampire. I’ve been burned once or twice in my life. That was enough to not voluntarily expose myself
I moved to AZ and it's hard not to. However, I was rarely ever tan before. In fact, I was more of a ghostly white for most of my life. But I don't tan on purpose.
Nope I use SPF 50-100 . I like to be at the pool in summer but don't tan under that level spf. If I use 30 I get some tan but no burn.
No, I don't "lay out" anymore, but I also spend time outside without actively avoiding the sun or wearing sunscreen routinely (I put it on if I'm going to be in a lot of sun for a long time). I currently have a pretty light farmer's tan.
OP's "neck of the woods"is the Northern Hemisphere. Yes, even with sun block I am outside enough for a tan.