Sunscreen?

I was born in Southern California, when I was about four, we moved to Ft Worth, TX; we stayed there a short amount of time. The next place we lived was Huntsville, Al, and at the age of eight, my parents uprooted us for the last time and we headed to the Cocoa Beach, Florida area. 

I love the beach and I love the sun. I love the way the sun feels as it beats down upon my skin. That being said, getting a bad sunburn and the fever blisters on my lower lip is not something I am a big fan of. 

I remember growing up and going to beach. During the summer, that would be everyday. As the afternoon lingered, the storms came, and kicked us off the beach. Don't want to be on the beach during those lightening storms. 

By the time we got home, the storms were gone. We would grab a bite to eat and hop in the pool, where we would spend the rest of the day. I can also remember slathering baby oil on my skin so I could get a nice tan. Well, darker anyway.

I have never put any coloring on my hair...EVER! To be honest, I'm just too lazy. That being said, with the natural very light hair comes very light skin. I have always hated it, because I was teased and made fun of it all my life. Still very self conscience about it. Anyway, even though I did get a very dark tan, people didn't notice it as such, because I had to start from a much whiter tone.

Toward the end of my high school career, sunscreen started to show it's face. I can remember my dad coming home from work with all these pamphlets about the sun and how bad it is for you. I never listened.

Today, I do use a little bit of it, but I have always felt that too much of it can probably be worse...aren't sunscreens full of chemicals? 

So, when I'm out on the beach or cruising the Caribbean, I do wear it. But everyday? No. In fact when I head to the pool to do my laps, I don't wear it. I do get a little bit of sun, but not that much. 

Vitamin D is something that we all need, and most of us are not getting enough of. I had someone say to me the other day, that she would rather suffer the consequences of not enough vitamin D, than the skin cancer. Personally, I have wondered if sunscreen might cause some of the skin cancer we see so much of lately. As I mentioned earler, when I was growing up, we all laid out in the sun for hours with baby oil. You hardly ever heard of anyone getting skin cancer. Now, almost everyone has had some form of it removed. Granted, they say it is because it takes time to creep up on us, but there are so many young people with it too, and not all of these are sun bed people.

Today, someone posted a pretty interesting article about this very subject. Click here to read it. It pretty much sums up what I have thought for many years.

So, for me, I will continue to worship the sun. As far as dark tans from it, maybe not. I use self tanners for that. There are some pretty good ones out there, even had a doctor get onto me one time for being so tan. I get people telling me a lot that I look like I spend a lot of time in the sun, so, that tells me it looks natural. I don't get mine at the stores, I order them online and do pay a little extra, but I feel it is worth it.

So, whenever I can, you will see me enjoying the sun, BUT, I will be smart about it...moderation in all things!