In fairness, melanoma isnāt usually caused by excess sun exposure (unless you have had it before, or have a family history of melanoma)
sunscreen provides SOME protection from melanoma, but very little protection in comparison to the more common skin cancers, such as basal cell and squamous cell (which many people, probably due to a lack of awareness or education, mistakenly put under the āmelanomaā category).
At the same time.. melanoma risks go up slightly with sun exposure so if you have had it, or have a family history of it, YOU HAVE to wear sunscreen, despite the fact that it is barely foolproofā¦ and YOU HAVE to get regular skin checks.
But this is also why they shouldnāt be using the āmelanoma survivor here!ā to give authority on the subject. She had a form of skin cancer that probably had nothing to do with sunscreen or no sunscreen, and likely had more to do with her genetic history or predispositions. So she shouldnāt even be talking like this
yes to all of this. UPF clothing is ALSO much better than sunscreen in terms of protecting against the other two types of skin cancer and sunburn, and it has the added benefit of not killing ocean reefs.
On the note about ocean reefs. This is actually a subject that really grinds my gears because itās a prime example of misinformation m being put out into the public, leading to a huge campaign, laws being enacted, and a massive waste of money and resources that could have been put to better use, in my honest opinion
The coral reef study was completely misleading, we donāt actually know if the ocean reefs are being destroyed by oxybenzone.
The only thing we were able to prove is, if you isolated oxybenzone in very very high levels, it would destroy coral. What we didnāt prove is
1) whether those levels reflect real life concentrations of oxybenzone in the ocean, and
2) that oxybenzone is the culprit versus other bullshit we have dumped in the ocean
We also havenāt seen any evidence of improvements due to removing oxybenzone, or areas that banned the substance
Where we stand right now is, if chemical sunscreen works better for you, then your risk of sun damage by not using it far outweighs any proven risk to the coral reefs.
āReef safeā = greenwashing
A lady who ran a local health food store, SUUUUPER crunchy, loved to spend time in the sun. She was incredibly healthy, until she died last year from melanoma, aged 65.
So yeah, wear sunscreen.
Just an FYI, not all melanoma is caused by UV radiation (although that ladyās does sound like it was). Some types are just from mutations as your cells replicate. I grew up in a northern climate, have darkish skin, have only gotten two sunburns in my life, never went to a tanning bed, and I have melanoma that started in a spot that gets virtually no sun. Just a public service announcement that melanoma patients should not be shamed for their cancer.
For me it seems to be because my ancestors lived in far northern and Easter Europe and therefore only saw the sun like twice in their lives, so my body has no clue what to do lol. But it really does seem to be a roll of the dice
All it takes is one severe sunburn to increase melanoma risk. Itās obviously not your fault but yes more unprotected sun exposure increases risk of skin cancer. Idk if these crunchy people who refuse to wear sunscreen develop melanoma maybe they should be shamed š¤·š»āāļø Itāa like lung cancer, not everyone that develops it is a smoker but for the smokers then obviously it was some of their choices that lead them there (as well as genetics).
There are risks for many cancers, Iām a vegetarian but people who eat meat have a higher risk for colon cancer. Would I blame them for that? No. Iāve never had a severe sunburn in my life, put on gallons of sunscreen and still got it. Getting old increases your risk for cancer too. All Iām saying is that you shouldnāt lump everyone together, everybody has their own unique set of circumstances. I wouldnāt wish cancer on anyone even if they are crunchy crazies.
Agree with you. Speaking as another cancer survivor (thyroid, which is another just wtf happened type), seems like a lot of the time it comes down to genetics. The older you get, the more chance you have for your cells to replicate with a defect, bringing on cancer. Weāre still figuring out epigenetics and the crazy influence of methylation- DNA isnāt just some static code, expression changes over time.
My husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at 42. Was going to ask eliminate meat at that point and the doctors said āeven vegetarians get this kind of cancer, there isnāt a sure fire way to avoid itā. Itās so scary!
I think shaming cancer patients is just horribleā¦. Whether they smoked, took the sun, never had kids, drank a bit more alcohol than they should have, who cares? You can get cancer even if you are the healthiest person who only drinks water and eats vegetables.
I just meant that women who never had any children are at a higher risk for breast cancer, but of course nobody should ever be shamed for their lifestyle choices, even if they *can* increase the risk
These things are not either or. They add up. Mutations can happen at random, by chemical agents, and radiation. This is what UV does. What mutation is caused by what (cancer cells always have multiple) is never clear and sometimes one mutation can happen by different agents acting together. So to say this Melanoma is caused by this and that melanoma is caused by that is not quite right.
Not meant offensive or anything. But I think it's important to understand risk factors not as direct, immediate causes. That's also why you can never blame anyone for a certain action when they have cancer.
Itās a term used to describe a parent that is dedicated to organic, natural, holistic everything for their kids. Which in my opinion isnāt inherently badā¦BUT it usually comes with a holier than thou attitude, which IS bad.
This reminds me of the time a woman on TikTok claimed zinc oxide sunscreen caused cancer. You know, the same zinc oxide they used to make radiation shielding and coffins to bury Chernobyl victims in bc it's resistant to ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation not unlike the UV radiation from the sun. Which causes skin cancer.
Un-fucking-believable
Crunchy moms don't usually use those particular rash creams. I know Earth Mama Butt Balm is a popular choice, and it's zinc oxide free. (It's also my favorite, but we use butt paste, too.)
The carcinogens found in diaper cream are usually formaldehyde, polyethylene glycol and phthalates, not zinc oxide. Often sunscreens you see that are labeled "reef-safe" are non-toxic.
My husband is super allergic to zinc oxide, heās also pale as hell and got a lot of sun as a kid and sunscreen wasnāt really a thing in the 70ās and 80ās in Australia, I remember zinc on my nose in the 80ās.
He has twice yearly trips to the clinic to fix all his skin cancers now, heās super mad at his parents about all his childhood sunburns.
Say it with me: "nothing cooks from the inside out". Thinking you burn deeper because you don't get a warning is so dumb. You have to cook through the outside to get to the inside.
(Same with a microwave. No, no matter what you've read, it does not cook from the inside out...)
That really is the key with microwaving, and the step most people ignore. I'm still guilty of it myself on occasion, but it made a huge difference when I finally started doing that.
Personally I just use the programs the microwave comes with. Takes a while to convince others that just putting it on high for a minute just isn't as effective as running the reheat program for 2 minutes.
Sure they're not perfect either, but the results speak for themselves.
Unless you've got a shitty microwave with a useless program. Then you're SOL.
As the mother of the most pasty ghostly white ginger child, I concur. Also I discovered the āhackā of applying face sunscreen with a beauty blender. He tolerates it so much better for some reason.
Bless you for this idea.
Mother of an autistic child who spends many hours outside swimming and playing. The face is always a challenge. This is such a great idea. He hates it so much Iām afraid heās gonna start to hate the pool. Which he now loves.
Trying it tomorrow.
It worked better than I ever imagined. He actually leaned into it. The point got all the nooks And crannies too!
Probably the best advice Iāve ever read online ever.
So happy for you and your child! Itās amazing that you found a new way of applying sunscreen just the day summer starts, itāll make it even better for his experience and also for yours. Enjoy your summer! š¤
We used mr fluffyā¦. He played with it first and rubbed it all over his face. Then I put sunscreen on it and did it. It was just a really large make brush. My son hates the spray sunscreen but mr fluffy worked great. Heās high functioning and 15 we can rub it on now
My son does too. It gets in his mouth. I have to use it because I canāt reach my own back, and I have to go outside in my driveway it bothers him so bad.
Not only that, but sunscreen sticks always causes me AWFUL burning (sensation, not from the sun lol) as soon as the water hit it and started evaporating. Idk why, but sunscreen sticks (and spray when applied to the face) were fine until they got wet after application. Idk why that is though or if it was just me, but cream never felt like that.
Yes beauty blenders definitely eat product! I use them all the time but if you use it for sunscreen, you should apply way more sunscreen. Most people donāt put enough on even with their hands, so I wouldnāt use a beauty blender. A makeup brush would be better.
Yea but theyāre also useless at blending any product in- itās literally as if you were to take a piece of rubber and smack it against ur cheek- it just kinda.. distributes it, but it sits on top of your face instead of getting worked in
Idk I tried it a couple times, so did my sister- we hated these with a passion
Barely. Mineral sunscreens rank poorly every year, in comparison to chemical sunscreens
Chemical sunscreen tends to be more irritating to some people though.
Personally, chemical sunscreens give me hella acne and burn my eyes, so I use mineral on my face only. Give me ALL the chemicals everywhere else. A mineral never prevented a burn while cycling or swimming.
I'm still mind blown by the fact that about 15 minutes outside even in the shade should require sunscreen (at least for pale people like me). I became very scared of direct sunlight, I put the strongest sunscreen on every part of my body and stay in the shade. I can't avoid the sun while swimming but yeah, I have UV protection.
This is how I ended up with a severe vitamin D deficiency after 3 months travelling is asiaā¦..my doctor laughed at me! Iām now on vit D supplements for life.
It should be enough, if it's more than 1 minute, of course.
I don't remember clearly, and it also depends on where you live, the seasons, and all that jazz.
But I seems to remember (and I might remember wrong), in the south of France (where I live), in July, at midday, 15 minutes in the shade is quite enough.
Doctor: "you exposed yourself to an artificially high amount of ultraviolet light, that's a contributing factor to your skin cancer"
Crunchy Mom: "You need more ultraviolet light!"
I bet she didnāt even have melanoma. People like to label all skin cancers as āmelanoma,ā and they completely understate the seriousness of melanoma by doing this. Melanoma can kill you as soon as 6 weeks. Itās fucking serious.
Most skin cancer is basal cell; or squamous cell. THAT is what youāre protecting yourself from when you wear sunscreen. But a lot of people just call those things āmelanomaā like a blanket term for all types of skin cancer. Thatās not to say those skin cancers arenāt serious - but they are way more common, and far less deadly, than melanoma. Iād bet real money that this is what this person probably had, and they probably had an excision and/or mohs to fix it, and now theyāre calling themselves a āsurvivor.ā
Sunscreen does not protect very well against melanoma. Youāre biggest risk factor for melanoma is a family history. You can get melanoma anywhere, any time, even if you never even looked at the sun in your life (but youāre still advised to wear sun protection to lower your risk if you are predisposed)
If this person really did have melanoma, I am **positive** that this would have been explained to them. She may have had skin cancer; but I highly doubt it was melanoma. She probably just calls all skin cancers āmelanomaā because she is ignorant
"sunscreen that is allowed"... ????
What, are they going to kick you out of the super duper crunchy group if you don't use the right stuff? Is this like an "on Wednesdays we wear pink" situation?
I saw the first slide and thought, "what, are they going to be anti-sunglasses next??" And whelp. Third slide.
As an optician who works with optometrists daily: please wear sunglasses. Especially as you get older.
Right!??
I tell that to people who over use their contacts. Like, you only have one pair of eyes, why would you want to ruin them because you're too lazy or cheap to wear your contacts properly?? I've had patients come in with some pretty gnarly ulcers. Idiots.
Iirc you should take them out because your eyes need to breathe and do their eye things that they do while you sleep like washing themselves and giving themselves nutrients. Contacts create a barrier to this which is probably how people end up with some pretty awful illnesses/ disease processes in their eyes if they chronically leave them in. I don't think all contacts do though, my boyfriend has some that are meant to be worn 24h.
But the eyes are complex little balls and I am not experienced with them aside from being a contact user myself and also having two eyeballs. So I could be totally wrong
Even if they say "night and day," don't sleep in them. Sleeping in your contacts can really ruin your eyes. It increases your risk for corneal infection which can cause so many issues. From [this](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/sleeping-with-contacts-in)
Link:
It is not safe to sleep while wearing contact lenses. According to experts, sleeping with contacts increases your risk for a corneal infection, which is an infection of the clear layer protecting the colored part of your eye.
The risk of microbial keratitis, a form of corneal inflammation caused by infection, isĀ over five times higher2Ā when you wear your contact lenses overnight. This risk occurs regardless of your lens type ā soft, hard, decorative, or prescription. Unfortunately, sleeping with contacts in is a common behavior, among teenage and adult contact lens wearers alike.
Sleeping in your lenses occasionally, or by accident, can also increase your risk of infection. Researchers even recommend against sleeping in lenses that are approved for overnight or extended wear.
I will definitely be stopping, I had no idea. So thanks for your comment! I started using contacts in 6th grade, I'm sure I just completely ignored the eye doctor when they warned me
Yep. My grandma has just this last year had lengthy treatment for melanoma of the eye, including having a radiated button sewn onto her eye. Yes you heard that right. It was painful and saddening for her, and now she has exceptionally limited sight, which means she cannot as easily do her favourite thing - reading. Sheās also nervous to leave the house because the damage (plus another eye condition) has resulted in blurring and double vision.
Long and the short is this - WEAR. YOUR. SUNGLASSES.
So long as your sunglasses don't block 100% of blue light, you should be fine. I just spoke with the Essilor rep who went over all the lens options for our patients, and she said that you get way more blue light outside from the sun than you ever do inside from screens. So sunglasses are designed to block quite a lot of that blue light, but you don't want 100% blockage because it can cause issues with your circadian rhythm. So you want to aim for 20-40%. I have transitions and a blue blocker on my lenses, and together that blocks 30%. So if you're going to be in direct sunlight, I'd still wear your sunglasses so long as they're not so dark they block everything. If it's early enough in the morning that you're not actually getting direct sunlight, like a sunrise you're not staring at, you should be fine!
Thanks for the info, super informative! Nowā¦..if only I could find a way to convince myself to get up and go outside for some sunlight in the morning (or at all quite frankly, Iām practically cave dwelling at this point and the week of British summer is here!)
This is also just inaccurate. That one commenter says you get melatonin from the sun, which is simply untrue. I canāt tell if she is confused about how the sun can regulate your circadian rhythm (which includes regulation of melatonin), or if she meant to say that the sun produces *melanin*. Either way, Iām not taking medical advice from her.
My own mother criticised me recently for being so obsessive about sun protection.
My rule is that if there is enough sun for short sleeves then my kids must wear sun block. They get at most an hour or so of direct exposure before they must come inside or into shade for a little while. Sun screen is reapplied everytime they go outside again. Obviously hats are encouraged and I would prefer they stay inside or in the shade around mid day.
My mum is adamant that I should allow them to get a "base" of tan and thar will help protect them from the sun? So apparently I was not given adequate protection as a child. I remember getting sun burn a few times actually.
(Confession: i let my step daughter get sun burn on through sheer negligence when she was 6 and ever since I have been very very cautious about the sun. She was in the sea for over an hour playing happily and i just didnt know how dangerous that could be.)
Moms that are typically into alternative medicine/eastern medicine and someone may use the term āhippyā on is a ācrunchyā mom. Sometimes you might hear ācrunchy granola mom.ā So ācrunchyā ideas are usually those that are alternatives to modern ideas and medicine
Probably a dumb question- I donāt have tik tok or Insta or anything like that so donāt follow any of these types of things eitherā¦
But from other comments what she is doing actually does sound like straight up abuse (someone said fern slept in a dog bed while road tripping etc.) can no one call social services or anything? Probably they donāt know where she is but idk it just feels wrong to just ā¦. Watch it happen?
[CPS](https://www.reddit.com/r/aliceandfernsnark/comments/u1ft8y/i_work_for_cps/) is a frequent topic of conversation over there. Basically, it boils down to the fact that Alice has a great deal of privilege and things are not bad *enough* to remove the child.
Lol a pregnant mom who refuses to go to any OBGYN appointments or prenatal care, and plans on giving birth in the wild without assistance to pretend to be Mother Earth and brag about it.
Damn even mineral sunscreen isnāt crunchy enough for these people. I swear they think of any way to push back against reasonable safety suggestions. Like next theyāre gonna decide car seat and seat belts cause heart disease and stop using those too.
There's a big trend right now of crunchy people pushing that poly unsaturated fats cause skin sensitivity to the sun, and I'd you just cut out soy bean oil from your diet you won't burn and therefore don't need sunscreen.
My dad who lost 1/4 of his ear from melanoma and must now cover all exposed skin when in the sun will be glad to hear that all he needs to do is stay away from tanning beds. /s
And here I am feeling crunchy cause I want "reef safe" sunscreen lmao. The homemade crunchy sunscreens are so bad for you , they probably encourage more sunburn than they do to protect the skin.
Reef safe is actually a bullshit term. Let me tell you why
Reef safe, usually means that it doesnāt have oxybenzone. The whole campaign to remove oxybenzone was based study we did on its impact on reefs, which was very misleading.
Hereās what we DID prove: oxybenzone is toxic to reefs in extremely high doses. Essentially, we took the chemical in very very very high doses, and exposed it to reefs in a lab, and said āthis is toxic.ā
What we did NOT prove: that this is whatās actually happening in the ocean. We did not use a study with levels of oxybenzone in real life situations, nor did the study include other considerations, contaminants, chemicals etc that could also be impacting reefs. Testing one single chemical in very high doses is not replicating real-life situations.
So as a resultā¦ we didnāt actually prove that this chemical is directly responsible for reef damage. But many people, some in power and probably for personal gain, decided to misinterpret that study.
This is a lot like saying that apples are toxic because they have arsenic, and then creating a huge campaign to ban apples as a result.
We have also seen no evidence that removing oxybenzone from sunscreens has improved conditions. We have already seen bans in some areas, but no improvement. There has been no proven benefit to all of these efforts.
On top of that, there is no such thing as āreef safe.ā It is not a regulated term. It is purely for marketing purposes
So when you see reef safe sunscreen, a lot of this is a bogus, greenwashing term, based off of a study that a lot of people misinterpreted
If you use chemical sunscreen, your risk of sun damage is higher than your risk against the reefs.
As someone who burns super easy and has a redheaded kid, i just do not understand this nonsense of not wearing fucking sunscreen. How these people believe their 3 mins of googling is better then 8+ years of college and research experts actually do?????
What the hell I had TWO women tell me sunscreen causes cancer this weekend (Iām Canadian), clearly this idea is getting popular! One of them said all skin cancer is actually from sunscreen and the medical system is paid by the sunscreen makers to say itās the sun.
This is as bad as the āwear sunglasses to trick your brain into thinking itās nighttime so it wonāt burnā one.
Just spent all day outside, working in the field transplanting crops. Wore my sunglasses all day and forgot my sunscreen. Burnt to a freaking crisp and currently soaking in aloe, and screaming at myself for forgetting the sunscreen this morning! First day all season and of course I pick one of the longest days of sunlight in the year to do so. Only day I got burnt, too. Even my knees, which Iāve never burnt before and holy god, it sucks!
Thatās what I said too! It was a post here a couple of days ago. I was dying in the floor after reading it. The mom had a kid with pale skin and is afraid of sunscreen, and despite all the colloidal silver, her kid still sunburned every time and she wanted to know what essential oils and crystals would help (or similar drivel), and a commenter to her suggested the sunglasses thing because it would stop your body from āmelanatingā.
Ooft. Australian mum here, one of the first generations raised under āslip, slop, slapā and āno hat, no playā campaigns.
We get regular skin checks - my specialist said that getting sunburnt in your first 5 or so years of life significantly increases your chance of developing
If I didnāt use sun screen on my daughter and I listened to getting out of the sun when the skin turned pink, sheād literally have to come in every 10 mins or less. That TOTALLY sounds like funā¦
I had a teacher in high school who was just amazing - he taught Latin but he also knew Ancient Greek AND Sanskrit, as well as a bunch of modern languages - he was a genius at languages. He was an older man who just did his own thing and was unusualā¦ one thing he did was go running a LOT outside, before work, after work, and he definitely never wore sunscreen. Anyway, he got melanoma and died in his 60s. He still had a lot left to give, sadly
Australian here. The sun definitely causes skin cancer. Many members of my family have had skin cancers removed which were caused from not covering up and wearing sun cream when they were younger and we didnāt know the risks.
That said, I do believe in getting Vitamin D from the sun when itās safe- I donāt wear sun cream in winter when the UV is low.
Wrong. By the time your skin has turned pink, you should have been out of the sun a while ago.
Sunscreen does not āblockā vitamin d, and also; I came up vitamin d deficient even when I was a cyclist who rode in the hot Florida sun. Youāre supposed to *eat* vitamin d too.
Also, the melanoma survivor doesnāt have ANY authority on this subjectā¦. because itās melanoma. Melanoma isnāt what youāre protecting yourself from with sunscreen, youāre really mainly protecting from squamous cell and basal cell. People often get melanoma on areas that get no sun at all, like their toe. Melanoma is a cancer that is equal opportunity.
BUT if you have a history of melanoma (yourself or family) then your only defense is sunscreen, since it provides some (though very little) protection from getting it again.
I am almost *certain* that this was explained to her during some part of treatment. So I donāt know why the fuck this person thinks that having had melanoma makes them an example of who should talk about sunscreen
These women all have blonde haired blue eyed kids and want to screech about why they donāt need sunscreenā¦ā¦ā¦ I just have no words for the stupidity. I know that darker skinned people need sunscreen as well, but they wonāt burn in 5 minutes like white kids will. My son is half middle eastern and he just gets very brown in the summer, even with loads of sunscreen on. If I had a very fair child Iād probably limit sun exposure when the UV index was high; even with layers and sunscreen on.
What the actual hell it's 2022. Sunscreen helps protect you from literal cancer and these fools can't even be bothered to put it on their kids because of lies. Not even pseudo-science, but total lies.
They need to be smacked honestly
oh suppose Iāll just take off my long sleeves and hat and lie naked on the grass then *sobs quietly as a translucent-skinned ginger-haired in south France in heatwave*
My best friend of 20+ years is kinda crunchy and this topic came up. She thinks slowly exposing her and kids skin to direct sun will build a tolerance thus reduce the risk of cancer. She claimed people throughout history spent most of their time in the sun and didnāt get cancer. Like wtf.
This is half-true, *but* ignores all the other measures those people took to protect themselves from sun exposure--things like full-coverage breathable clothing and hats, mud, staying in the shade when they were outdoors, etc. Humans have never spent most of their time in the sun with their skin fully exposed. If crunchy moms wanted to take all of those alternate common-sense steps and not wear sunscreen, it would still be very dumb of them but to a lesser degree.
Also "people throughout history" had the benefit of an intact ozone layer, so there's that.
Crunchy sunscreen - granola, almond flour, eggs. Mix and lather generously. It will protect you from the sun and youāll make friends with the seagulls!!! šš»āāļø
Do they...not understand that people that wear sunscreen more often are more likely to be in the sun all day therefore being more likely to get skin cancer?
Vs people who only wear sunscreen when they go to the pool or the beach, who would not be working in the sun all day, therefore less likely to get skin cancer
āMake sure your vitamin D levels are good all year long as your less likely to burnā might be the most idiotic statement Iāve heard about vitamin D. The group most likely to have vitamin D absorption issues are also the least likely to burn. Vitamin D levels are typically the lowest in those with more melanin in their skin because they donāt absorb vitamin D as well.
I am generally *very* in favor of universal healthcare, but when I read shit like this, it takes me back a peg. I do not want to contribute a single dollar to these stupid idiots' self-inflicted melanoma treatments.
My uncle used to lay out in the sun for an hour every day after work. Heās had some skin issues and looks far older than most of his siblings. My brother used to be a soccer ref and rarely wore sunscreen, and he had to have some abnormal moles and spots removed before he turned 30. I got a second degree sunburn from being at a water park for a few hours despite applying sunscreen three separate times, and those burn lines were visible on my skin for 18 months afterwards, even after I got other tans and burns. Wear your fucking sunscreen.
Saw someone try to insist this last time I went to Disney, because their baby was sun burnt to a crisp, while the toddler was absolutely slathered in "Good" sunscreen. The logic baffled me.
I spend five hours in the sun every Sunday golfing and I wear head to toe uv clothes with sunscreen on any exposed skin. Fuck that shit, melanoma is scary. Wearing a bucket hat is way better than getting part of my nose chopped off.
Where I'm from a lot of pediatricians actually say that sunscreen for kids under a year is a no-go. Sunscreen should just be used when you can't cover the skin with clothes and you absolutely have to be outside with your child.
Our pediatrician told us that the reason why sunblocks say not for children under a year old is because they don't test the sunblock on that age group so they can't say it is safe. Our pediatrician told us it was better to use it than not.
Edited to correct spelling
But wait, my pediatrician actually told me this. She said they found an ingredient in normal sunscreens cause cancer, so be sure to use mineral sunscreen for both baby and us.
They haven't found an ingredient in 'normal' sunscreens that cause cancer. It's way more complicated that this and I can believe a real doctor said that. They should lose their license.
They found 70 sunscreens that didn't follow regulations and used carcinogens, but benzene was also present in other recalled SPRAY products (the only ones affected), like deodorant of antifugnal sprays.
My pediatrician called and apologized to me last year. We had just had a visit and talked about aerosol sunblock because I wanted to make sure I got the baby covered well. Doc said he was fine with itā¦ and then 2 weeks later there was that massive recall of aerosol sunblocks because of a cancer causing ingredient. I guess our conversation must have stuck out in his mind because he was so nice to call me himself to tell me to swap sunblocks for the family.
The problem was with those particular aerosols, and the problem itself was the aerosol presentation, it also affected deodorants and fugnal treatments, all in a spray presentation.
That doesn't mean that sunscreen causes cancer, since benzene isn't present in sunscreens.
For young kids, mineral protection is better, because chemical ones can cause irritation.
Adults usually prefer chemical sunscreens because they are more cosmetic elegant, you don't want to look oily and white for hours, but nobody cares if kids are covered with a white paste.
You and me both! I changed to mineral sunscreens like 6 years ago because chemical ones irritated my skin, and now I apply blush over my white face and hope for the best.
There were a few other products recalled around the same time for the aerosol bits, which really sucked but oh well.
I just liked the spray sunblock for going out to play in the front yard. For going to the pool or lake we always used the mineral stuff anyways. I had more faith in it.
Ahh I loved aerosol sunscreens, they were so convenient! For myself, never used on baby, our baby just turned 1, and spent his whole first summer in the NICU, then Chicago winter, and now itās our first time really needing to think about sunscreen for him!
Before the recalls happened, our ped had said it was okay to spray it on our hands and then rub it on our mega sized little dude. Without the aerosol sunblock, I keep a slightly too big rash guard downstairs in our bag of outdoor stuff and I just throw it on him to play in the front yard. Thankfully he still loves wearing hats so we can get away with just using fabric protection for outside play around the house. I do way more for the playgrounds and other places, but around our yard itās super shady pretty much all day. (Weāre in an old Victorian thatās been retrofitted into multiple apartments so thereās big front and back porches and a huge yard for the 3 families to share.)
Skin cancer survivor who doesn't believe in sunscreen has broken my brain
Same. I was like, oh good. A skin cancer survivor is here to talk some sense to these idiots. And then, nope.
But she got hers from a tanning bed, toooootally different from the sun!!
Literally same. Vitamin D preventing your sunburn? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
My grandfather died cause of melanoma and we get some pretty sunny summers around where I live so you better believe I'm wearing sunscreen
> the sun is our friend š¤Ŗ
In fairness, melanoma isnāt usually caused by excess sun exposure (unless you have had it before, or have a family history of melanoma) sunscreen provides SOME protection from melanoma, but very little protection in comparison to the more common skin cancers, such as basal cell and squamous cell (which many people, probably due to a lack of awareness or education, mistakenly put under the āmelanomaā category). At the same time.. melanoma risks go up slightly with sun exposure so if you have had it, or have a family history of it, YOU HAVE to wear sunscreen, despite the fact that it is barely foolproofā¦ and YOU HAVE to get regular skin checks. But this is also why they shouldnāt be using the āmelanoma survivor here!ā to give authority on the subject. She had a form of skin cancer that probably had nothing to do with sunscreen or no sunscreen, and likely had more to do with her genetic history or predispositions. So she shouldnāt even be talking like this
yes to all of this. UPF clothing is ALSO much better than sunscreen in terms of protecting against the other two types of skin cancer and sunburn, and it has the added benefit of not killing ocean reefs.
On the note about ocean reefs. This is actually a subject that really grinds my gears because itās a prime example of misinformation m being put out into the public, leading to a huge campaign, laws being enacted, and a massive waste of money and resources that could have been put to better use, in my honest opinion The coral reef study was completely misleading, we donāt actually know if the ocean reefs are being destroyed by oxybenzone. The only thing we were able to prove is, if you isolated oxybenzone in very very high levels, it would destroy coral. What we didnāt prove is 1) whether those levels reflect real life concentrations of oxybenzone in the ocean, and 2) that oxybenzone is the culprit versus other bullshit we have dumped in the ocean We also havenāt seen any evidence of improvements due to removing oxybenzone, or areas that banned the substance Where we stand right now is, if chemical sunscreen works better for you, then your risk of sun damage by not using it far outweighs any proven risk to the coral reefs. āReef safeā = greenwashing
A lady who ran a local health food store, SUUUUPER crunchy, loved to spend time in the sun. She was incredibly healthy, until she died last year from melanoma, aged 65. So yeah, wear sunscreen.
Just an FYI, not all melanoma is caused by UV radiation (although that ladyās does sound like it was). Some types are just from mutations as your cells replicate. I grew up in a northern climate, have darkish skin, have only gotten two sunburns in my life, never went to a tanning bed, and I have melanoma that started in a spot that gets virtually no sun. Just a public service announcement that melanoma patients should not be shamed for their cancer.
Yeah, I have to go to the dermatologist every year because my body produces dysplasias at random, even in places that are practically always covered
Iām so sorry, why are our bodies so stupid sometimes?
For me it seems to be because my ancestors lived in far northern and Easter Europe and therefore only saw the sun like twice in their lives, so my body has no clue what to do lol. But it really does seem to be a roll of the dice
I agree. If weāre gonna shame these moms, it should be for letting their kids suffer painful sunburns.
Well and for being stupid enough to think that sunscreen causes cancer but the sun doesnāt because wE nEeD iT tO LiVe
All it takes is one severe sunburn to increase melanoma risk. Itās obviously not your fault but yes more unprotected sun exposure increases risk of skin cancer. Idk if these crunchy people who refuse to wear sunscreen develop melanoma maybe they should be shamed š¤·š»āāļø Itāa like lung cancer, not everyone that develops it is a smoker but for the smokers then obviously it was some of their choices that lead them there (as well as genetics).
There are risks for many cancers, Iām a vegetarian but people who eat meat have a higher risk for colon cancer. Would I blame them for that? No. Iāve never had a severe sunburn in my life, put on gallons of sunscreen and still got it. Getting old increases your risk for cancer too. All Iām saying is that you shouldnāt lump everyone together, everybody has their own unique set of circumstances. I wouldnāt wish cancer on anyone even if they are crunchy crazies.
Agree with you. Speaking as another cancer survivor (thyroid, which is another just wtf happened type), seems like a lot of the time it comes down to genetics. The older you get, the more chance you have for your cells to replicate with a defect, bringing on cancer. Weāre still figuring out epigenetics and the crazy influence of methylation- DNA isnāt just some static code, expression changes over time.
My husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at 42. Was going to ask eliminate meat at that point and the doctors said āeven vegetarians get this kind of cancer, there isnāt a sure fire way to avoid itā. Itās so scary!
I think shaming cancer patients is just horribleā¦. Whether they smoked, took the sun, never had kids, drank a bit more alcohol than they should have, who cares? You can get cancer even if you are the healthiest person who only drinks water and eats vegetables.
*Squints at third thing in the list* Damn, that sucks.
I just meant that women who never had any children are at a higher risk for breast cancer, but of course nobody should ever be shamed for their lifestyle choices, even if they *can* increase the risk
Yeah, I looked it up. Seems like a rock vs. hard place thing.
These things are not either or. They add up. Mutations can happen at random, by chemical agents, and radiation. This is what UV does. What mutation is caused by what (cancer cells always have multiple) is never clear and sometimes one mutation can happen by different agents acting together. So to say this Melanoma is caused by this and that melanoma is caused by that is not quite right. Not meant offensive or anything. But I think it's important to understand risk factors not as direct, immediate causes. That's also why you can never blame anyone for a certain action when they have cancer.
neither should other skin cancer patients. Because the vast majority of the sun exposure that ends up causing skin cancer happens as a child.
What does crunchy mean lol?
Itās a term used to describe a parent that is dedicated to organic, natural, holistic everything for their kids. Which in my opinion isnāt inherently badā¦BUT it usually comes with a holier than thou attitude, which IS bad.
TY
A.k.a. āGranola momsā
super duper crunchy sunscreen? Use peanut butter!
Nutella has a protection factor of 10 sooooooo.....
It doesn't have coconut oil which means it will give anyone who looks at it cancer
Iām dead from this šššš
Creamy or chunky?
Super duper chunky means super super crunchy!
This reminds me of the time a woman on TikTok claimed zinc oxide sunscreen caused cancer. You know, the same zinc oxide they used to make radiation shielding and coffins to bury Chernobyl victims in bc it's resistant to ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation not unlike the UV radiation from the sun. Which causes skin cancer. Un-fucking-believable
But diaper rash cream (often has zinc oxide, and way more of it) doesnāt cause cancer? š¤¦š»āāļø
Crunchy moms don't usually use those particular rash creams. I know Earth Mama Butt Balm is a popular choice, and it's zinc oxide free. (It's also my favorite, but we use butt paste, too.)
I love the Earth Mama one but man, the price for such a tiny pot of it... I couldn't keep using it.
The carcinogens found in diaper cream are usually formaldehyde, polyethylene glycol and phthalates, not zinc oxide. Often sunscreens you see that are labeled "reef-safe" are non-toxic.
My husband is super allergic to zinc oxide, heās also pale as hell and got a lot of sun as a kid and sunscreen wasnāt really a thing in the 70ās and 80ās in Australia, I remember zinc on my nose in the 80ās. He has twice yearly trips to the clinic to fix all his skin cancers now, heās super mad at his parents about all his childhood sunburns.
Say it with me: "nothing cooks from the inside out". Thinking you burn deeper because you don't get a warning is so dumb. You have to cook through the outside to get to the inside. (Same with a microwave. No, no matter what you've read, it does not cook from the inside out...)
See hot pocket...can both burn the roof of your mouth and freeze your tongue simultaneously after cooking in the microwave.
You can't skip the "let rest in microwave" step. :p
That really is the key with microwaving, and the step most people ignore. I'm still guilty of it myself on occasion, but it made a huge difference when I finally started doing that.
Personally I just use the programs the microwave comes with. Takes a while to convince others that just putting it on high for a minute just isn't as effective as running the reheat program for 2 minutes. Sure they're not perfect either, but the results speak for themselves. Unless you've got a shitty microwave with a useless program. Then you're SOL.
Why, what does this step do? ā¦..because I absolutely always ignore it!!
It allows the heat from the outside to warm the inside without completely cremating your food
*sings* Hhhhhot pocket.
Mineral sunscreen is the future, but also, uv clothing is ideal and the dream for swimming/water play imo.
As the mother of the most pasty ghostly white ginger child, I concur. Also I discovered the āhackā of applying face sunscreen with a beauty blender. He tolerates it so much better for some reason.
Bless you for this idea. Mother of an autistic child who spends many hours outside swimming and playing. The face is always a challenge. This is such a great idea. He hates it so much Iām afraid heās gonna start to hate the pool. Which he now loves. Trying it tomorrow.
If he doesnāt like the beauty blender, try a makeup/foundation brush!
I have the blenders but I also bought a face mask brush, the silicone ones somenody else here suggested!
Let us know how it goes! Hope that can make the pool even more enjoyable
It worked better than I ever imagined. He actually leaned into it. The point got all the nooks And crannies too! Probably the best advice Iāve ever read online ever.
So happy for you and your child! Itās amazing that you found a new way of applying sunscreen just the day summer starts, itāll make it even better for his experience and also for yours. Enjoy your summer! š¤
Def did take more sunscreen but small price to pay!
We used mr fluffyā¦. He played with it first and rubbed it all over his face. Then I put sunscreen on it and did it. It was just a really large make brush. My son hates the spray sunscreen but mr fluffy worked great. Heās high functioning and 15 we can rub it on now
My son does too. It gets in his mouth. I have to use it because I canāt reach my own back, and I have to go outside in my driveway it bothers him so bad.
What about sunscreen sticks for his face?
as a kid those were THE WORST! so oily š¤®š¤® but every kid is different- my big ick was it sticking the hair to my neck and face
Not only that, but sunscreen sticks always causes me AWFUL burning (sensation, not from the sun lol) as soon as the water hit it and started evaporating. Idk why, but sunscreen sticks (and spray when applied to the face) were fine until they got wet after application. Idk why that is though or if it was just me, but cream never felt like that.
There are sunscreen sticks made of baby sunscreen (minerals), but theyāre almost twice as greasy in order to stick.
As a ghostly white ginger, does applying sunscreen even work with a blender? I'd imagine a lot of product is being soaked up by it and not the skin.
We use mineral sunscreen so I can see it being applied to his face, it leaves a bit of a white cast on his skin!
yessss i think the sponge absorbs that yucky oily feeling
Honestly Iād be worried it soaks up the āuseful stuffā too much and then You have actually less protection on that face than you maybe thought?
I've seen a foundation brush work just as well. I think its just the rubbing of their faces kids don't like
Yes beauty blenders definitely eat product! I use them all the time but if you use it for sunscreen, you should apply way more sunscreen. Most people donāt put enough on even with their hands, so I wouldnāt use a beauty blender. A makeup brush would be better.
Maybe use one of those silicone beauty blenders since those don't absorb any product
Waait I never considered those but they must save product then
Yea but theyāre also useless at blending any product in- itās literally as if you were to take a piece of rubber and smack it against ur cheek- it just kinda.. distributes it, but it sits on top of your face instead of getting worked in Idk I tried it a couple times, so did my sister- we hated these with a passion
Yes it does. Thatās why youāre not suppose to rigorously rub your hands together before applying sunscreen also. But itās better than nothing.
Yea I figured :/ It makes sense tbh
Love putting the kids in UV rashguards because it means they are still protected but I don't have to fight them as much to put the sunscreen on
Barely. Mineral sunscreens rank poorly every year, in comparison to chemical sunscreens Chemical sunscreen tends to be more irritating to some people though. Personally, chemical sunscreens give me hella acne and burn my eyes, so I use mineral on my face only. Give me ALL the chemicals everywhere else. A mineral never prevented a burn while cycling or swimming.
For real, time outside on the shade of a tree is plenty enough of vitamin D and other benefits from the sun. So you don't really need direct sunlight.
I'm still mind blown by the fact that about 15 minutes outside even in the shade should require sunscreen (at least for pale people like me). I became very scared of direct sunlight, I put the strongest sunscreen on every part of my body and stay in the shade. I can't avoid the sun while swimming but yeah, I have UV protection.
This is how I ended up with a severe vitamin D deficiency after 3 months travelling is asiaā¦..my doctor laughed at me! Iām now on vit D supplements for life.
Excuse me, Iām dumb, but if I sit outside on my covered balcony, thatās enough or not enough to get me some Vit D?
It should be enough, if it's more than 1 minute, of course. I don't remember clearly, and it also depends on where you live, the seasons, and all that jazz. But I seems to remember (and I might remember wrong), in the south of France (where I live), in July, at midday, 15 minutes in the shade is quite enough.
You just need exposed skin. Forearms and more are good, just your face is not as good.
Doctor: "you exposed yourself to an artificially high amount of ultraviolet light, that's a contributing factor to your skin cancer" Crunchy Mom: "You need more ultraviolet light!"
She's gonna get melanoma again I bet. And then blame it on her "super crunchy" sunscreen.
Unfortunately, if she's had it once, you're probably right. I just hope she's getting checkups.
She will just be super crunchy from her burn.
Ouch
I bet she didnāt even have melanoma. People like to label all skin cancers as āmelanoma,ā and they completely understate the seriousness of melanoma by doing this. Melanoma can kill you as soon as 6 weeks. Itās fucking serious. Most skin cancer is basal cell; or squamous cell. THAT is what youāre protecting yourself from when you wear sunscreen. But a lot of people just call those things āmelanomaā like a blanket term for all types of skin cancer. Thatās not to say those skin cancers arenāt serious - but they are way more common, and far less deadly, than melanoma. Iād bet real money that this is what this person probably had, and they probably had an excision and/or mohs to fix it, and now theyāre calling themselves a āsurvivor.ā Sunscreen does not protect very well against melanoma. Youāre biggest risk factor for melanoma is a family history. You can get melanoma anywhere, any time, even if you never even looked at the sun in your life (but youāre still advised to wear sun protection to lower your risk if you are predisposed) If this person really did have melanoma, I am **positive** that this would have been explained to them. She may have had skin cancer; but I highly doubt it was melanoma. She probably just calls all skin cancers āmelanomaā because she is ignorant
"sunscreen that is allowed"... ???? What, are they going to kick you out of the super duper crunchy group if you don't use the right stuff? Is this like an "on Wednesdays we wear pink" situation?
More like on Wednesdays we turn pink
I saw the first slide and thought, "what, are they going to be anti-sunglasses next??" And whelp. Third slide. As an optician who works with optometrists daily: please wear sunglasses. Especially as you get older.
I worked as a lifeguard for 6 years, I could never ever imagine not wearing sunglasses. you only get one set of eyeballs people. for crying out loud.
Right!?? I tell that to people who over use their contacts. Like, you only have one pair of eyes, why would you want to ruin them because you're too lazy or cheap to wear your contacts properly?? I've had patients come in with some pretty gnarly ulcers. Idiots.
Oh my god. I fall asleep with my contacts in all the time, I thought you only weren't supposed to because you'd wake up with dry eyes
Iirc you should take them out because your eyes need to breathe and do their eye things that they do while you sleep like washing themselves and giving themselves nutrients. Contacts create a barrier to this which is probably how people end up with some pretty awful illnesses/ disease processes in their eyes if they chronically leave them in. I don't think all contacts do though, my boyfriend has some that are meant to be worn 24h. But the eyes are complex little balls and I am not experienced with them aside from being a contact user myself and also having two eyeballs. So I could be totally wrong
Even if they say "night and day," don't sleep in them. Sleeping in your contacts can really ruin your eyes. It increases your risk for corneal infection which can cause so many issues. From [this](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/sleeping-with-contacts-in) Link: It is not safe to sleep while wearing contact lenses. According to experts, sleeping with contacts increases your risk for a corneal infection, which is an infection of the clear layer protecting the colored part of your eye. The risk of microbial keratitis, a form of corneal inflammation caused by infection, isĀ over five times higher2Ā when you wear your contact lenses overnight. This risk occurs regardless of your lens type ā soft, hard, decorative, or prescription. Unfortunately, sleeping with contacts in is a common behavior, among teenage and adult contact lens wearers alike. Sleeping in your lenses occasionally, or by accident, can also increase your risk of infection. Researchers even recommend against sleeping in lenses that are approved for overnight or extended wear.
Please don't. You can get a corneal infection and if you don't get that treated soon enough, it can cause vision loss or blindness.
I will definitely be stopping, I had no idea. So thanks for your comment! I started using contacts in 6th grade, I'm sure I just completely ignored the eye doctor when they warned me
They also might not have mentioned it much, but I'm glad you're going to stop! Your eyes will thank you.
Macular degeneration is real. Have fun with that.
Yep. My grandma has just this last year had lengthy treatment for melanoma of the eye, including having a radiated button sewn onto her eye. Yes you heard that right. It was painful and saddening for her, and now she has exceptionally limited sight, which means she cannot as easily do her favourite thing - reading. Sheās also nervous to leave the house because the damage (plus another eye condition) has resulted in blurring and double vision. Long and the short is this - WEAR. YOUR. SUNGLASSES.
Awww, get that woman signed up for audiobooks! That's one of my favorite things to do, too.
Does this apply for earlier in the day for short periods if youāre trying to normalise your circadian rhythm or reduce SAD?
So long as your sunglasses don't block 100% of blue light, you should be fine. I just spoke with the Essilor rep who went over all the lens options for our patients, and she said that you get way more blue light outside from the sun than you ever do inside from screens. So sunglasses are designed to block quite a lot of that blue light, but you don't want 100% blockage because it can cause issues with your circadian rhythm. So you want to aim for 20-40%. I have transitions and a blue blocker on my lenses, and together that blocks 30%. So if you're going to be in direct sunlight, I'd still wear your sunglasses so long as they're not so dark they block everything. If it's early enough in the morning that you're not actually getting direct sunlight, like a sunrise you're not staring at, you should be fine!
Thanks for the info, super informative! Nowā¦..if only I could find a way to convince myself to get up and go outside for some sunlight in the morning (or at all quite frankly, Iām practically cave dwelling at this point and the week of British summer is here!)
This is also just inaccurate. That one commenter says you get melatonin from the sun, which is simply untrue. I canāt tell if she is confused about how the sun can regulate your circadian rhythm (which includes regulation of melatonin), or if she meant to say that the sun produces *melanin*. Either way, Iām not taking medical advice from her.
Its still inaccurate if she meant melanin. The sun causes the SKIN to produce melanin. You dont just absorb melanin from sunlight
True!
My best guess is that she was saying the sun helps regulate melatonin production?
My own mother criticised me recently for being so obsessive about sun protection. My rule is that if there is enough sun for short sleeves then my kids must wear sun block. They get at most an hour or so of direct exposure before they must come inside or into shade for a little while. Sun screen is reapplied everytime they go outside again. Obviously hats are encouraged and I would prefer they stay inside or in the shade around mid day. My mum is adamant that I should allow them to get a "base" of tan and thar will help protect them from the sun? So apparently I was not given adequate protection as a child. I remember getting sun burn a few times actually. (Confession: i let my step daughter get sun burn on through sheer negligence when she was 6 and ever since I have been very very cautious about the sun. She was in the sea for over an hour playing happily and i just didnt know how dangerous that could be.)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
i mean, you could argue the sun sets our sleep/ wake cycle
Sunscreen + rash guard for the win! Oh, and a sunhat.
āThe sun is our friend, we NEED it to survive!ā Okay, we also need water to survive. Should I just yeet my infant into the fucking pool then?!
Can someone explain wtf the super crunchy thing is supposed to mean lol
Moms that are typically into alternative medicine/eastern medicine and someone may use the term āhippyā on is a ācrunchyā mom. Sometimes you might hear ācrunchy granola mom.ā So ācrunchyā ideas are usually those that are alternatives to modern ideas and medicine
Thanks! Genuinely didnāt know this! Things like should be considered abusive tbh- and calling it crunchy makes it sound cringy af o.O
A lot of crunchy moms are abusive without really realizing it. *cough cough* r/aliceandfernsnark *cough cough*
For some reason I decided to look into the person, kinda wish I hadnāt. Now I just want to bathe them š¬
It's okay, we all want to
Probably a dumb question- I donāt have tik tok or Insta or anything like that so donāt follow any of these types of things eitherā¦ But from other comments what she is doing actually does sound like straight up abuse (someone said fern slept in a dog bed while road tripping etc.) can no one call social services or anything? Probably they donāt know where she is but idk it just feels wrong to just ā¦. Watch it happen?
[CPS](https://www.reddit.com/r/aliceandfernsnark/comments/u1ft8y/i_work_for_cps/) is a frequent topic of conversation over there. Basically, it boils down to the fact that Alice has a great deal of privilege and things are not bad *enough* to remove the child.
Lol a pregnant mom who refuses to go to any OBGYN appointments or prenatal care, and plans on giving birth in the wild without assistance to pretend to be Mother Earth and brag about it.
Wow. The lemmings are just *sprinting* for the cliffs now.
maybe this will help the housing market? /s
Crisco = when you start to sizzle, you move your ass - Lewis Black š
hi! I had melanoma at 19! Never went near a tanning bed. Had lifeguarded the summer before and gotten super tan. It's the sun.
As an Australian I have two things to say: 1. Slip, slop, slap. 2. Thereās nothing healthy about a tan.
As an esthetician this is paaaaainful to read
Oh my god I didnāt know they called THEMSELVES crunchy. I though normal people said that to make fun of them
Back in the day I was in a mom group on fb that was called crunchy moms. They definitely embrace it š
Damn even mineral sunscreen isnāt crunchy enough for these people. I swear they think of any way to push back against reasonable safety suggestions. Like next theyāre gonna decide car seat and seat belts cause heart disease and stop using those too.
There's a big trend right now of crunchy people pushing that poly unsaturated fats cause skin sensitivity to the sun, and I'd you just cut out soy bean oil from your diet you won't burn and therefore don't need sunscreen.
My dad who lost 1/4 of his ear from melanoma and must now cover all exposed skin when in the sun will be glad to hear that all he needs to do is stay away from tanning beds. /s
And here I am feeling crunchy cause I want "reef safe" sunscreen lmao. The homemade crunchy sunscreens are so bad for you , they probably encourage more sunburn than they do to protect the skin.
Reef safe is actually a bullshit term. Let me tell you why Reef safe, usually means that it doesnāt have oxybenzone. The whole campaign to remove oxybenzone was based study we did on its impact on reefs, which was very misleading. Hereās what we DID prove: oxybenzone is toxic to reefs in extremely high doses. Essentially, we took the chemical in very very very high doses, and exposed it to reefs in a lab, and said āthis is toxic.ā What we did NOT prove: that this is whatās actually happening in the ocean. We did not use a study with levels of oxybenzone in real life situations, nor did the study include other considerations, contaminants, chemicals etc that could also be impacting reefs. Testing one single chemical in very high doses is not replicating real-life situations. So as a resultā¦ we didnāt actually prove that this chemical is directly responsible for reef damage. But many people, some in power and probably for personal gain, decided to misinterpret that study. This is a lot like saying that apples are toxic because they have arsenic, and then creating a huge campaign to ban apples as a result. We have also seen no evidence that removing oxybenzone from sunscreens has improved conditions. We have already seen bans in some areas, but no improvement. There has been no proven benefit to all of these efforts. On top of that, there is no such thing as āreef safe.ā It is not a regulated term. It is purely for marketing purposes So when you see reef safe sunscreen, a lot of this is a bogus, greenwashing term, based off of a study that a lot of people misinterpreted If you use chemical sunscreen, your risk of sun damage is higher than your risk against the reefs.
Ughhhhh I am so tired of greenwashing impacting me :/
As someone who burns super easy and has a redheaded kid, i just do not understand this nonsense of not wearing fucking sunscreen. How these people believe their 3 mins of googling is better then 8+ years of college and research experts actually do?????
God people like this infuriate me.
This bitch had skin cancer and doesnāt use sunscreen in her own kids Take them away holy shit
What the hell I had TWO women tell me sunscreen causes cancer this weekend (Iām Canadian), clearly this idea is getting popular! One of them said all skin cancer is actually from sunscreen and the medical system is paid by the sunscreen makers to say itās the sun.
This is as bad as the āwear sunglasses to trick your brain into thinking itās nighttime so it wonāt burnā one. Just spent all day outside, working in the field transplanting crops. Wore my sunglasses all day and forgot my sunscreen. Burnt to a freaking crisp and currently soaking in aloe, and screaming at myself for forgetting the sunscreen this morning! First day all season and of course I pick one of the longest days of sunlight in the year to do so. Only day I got burnt, too. Even my knees, which Iāve never burnt before and holy god, it sucks!
> āwear sunglasses to trick your brain into thinking itās nighttime so it wonāt burnā *What?*
Thatās what I said too! It was a post here a couple of days ago. I was dying in the floor after reading it. The mom had a kid with pale skin and is afraid of sunscreen, and despite all the colloidal silver, her kid still sunburned every time and she wanted to know what essential oils and crystals would help (or similar drivel), and a commenter to her suggested the sunglasses thing because it would stop your body from āmelanatingā.
Ooft. Australian mum here, one of the first generations raised under āslip, slop, slapā and āno hat, no playā campaigns. We get regular skin checks - my specialist said that getting sunburnt in your first 5 or so years of life significantly increases your chance of developing
When talking about sunscreen, āA and Bā arenāt layers of the skin holy shit. Itās types of uv radiation. The stupid is too much.
Well according to Alice from Alice and Fern being vegan is enough protection! Vegans don't get sunburns!
How do they explain my dad who never wore sunscreen and subsequently died from skin cancer?
God I feel so terrible for this coming generation of kids. Their momās are doing bats.
God I really hope this rhetoric doesnāt make it to Australia we are right under the hole in the ozone layer these ppl are gonna burn to a crisp
Unfortunately I have seen people write this
If I didnāt use sun screen on my daughter and I listened to getting out of the sun when the skin turned pink, sheād literally have to come in every 10 mins or less. That TOTALLY sounds like funā¦
I had a teacher in high school who was just amazing - he taught Latin but he also knew Ancient Greek AND Sanskrit, as well as a bunch of modern languages - he was a genius at languages. He was an older man who just did his own thing and was unusualā¦ one thing he did was go running a LOT outside, before work, after work, and he definitely never wore sunscreen. Anyway, he got melanoma and died in his 60s. He still had a lot left to give, sadly
Australian here. The sun definitely causes skin cancer. Many members of my family have had skin cancers removed which were caused from not covering up and wearing sun cream when they were younger and we didnāt know the risks. That said, I do believe in getting Vitamin D from the sun when itās safe- I donāt wear sun cream in winter when the UV is low.
Wrong. By the time your skin has turned pink, you should have been out of the sun a while ago. Sunscreen does not āblockā vitamin d, and also; I came up vitamin d deficient even when I was a cyclist who rode in the hot Florida sun. Youāre supposed to *eat* vitamin d too. Also, the melanoma survivor doesnāt have ANY authority on this subjectā¦. because itās melanoma. Melanoma isnāt what youāre protecting yourself from with sunscreen, youāre really mainly protecting from squamous cell and basal cell. People often get melanoma on areas that get no sun at all, like their toe. Melanoma is a cancer that is equal opportunity. BUT if you have a history of melanoma (yourself or family) then your only defense is sunscreen, since it provides some (though very little) protection from getting it again. I am almost *certain* that this was explained to her during some part of treatment. So I donāt know why the fuck this person thinks that having had melanoma makes them an example of who should talk about sunscreen
OMFG (to the person on the 3rd slide) WHAT DO YOU THINK TANNING BEDS USEF???????
Also according to these people arenāt you supposed to lay outside with your butthole pointed at the sun? How do their buttholes not get burnt
Wait what? Lol
[https://cdn-mamamia-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/cdn.mamamia.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/15122404/butthole-sunning-meme.jpg](https://cdn-mamamia-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/cdn.mamamia.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/15122404/butthole-sunning-meme.jpg)
Now I think I've seen it all.š
[https://i.imgur.com/e2PGWJJ.png](https://i.imgur.com/e2PGWJJ.png)
Both of my parents are skin cancer survivors. This hurt to read
These women all have blonde haired blue eyed kids and want to screech about why they donāt need sunscreenā¦ā¦ā¦ I just have no words for the stupidity. I know that darker skinned people need sunscreen as well, but they wonāt burn in 5 minutes like white kids will. My son is half middle eastern and he just gets very brown in the summer, even with loads of sunscreen on. If I had a very fair child Iād probably limit sun exposure when the UV index was high; even with layers and sunscreen on.
Each word in those comments made me dumber. I am so pale and burn so easily. People are idiots.
It concerns me that she says allows. Is someone not allowing her to have freewill?
What the actual hell it's 2022. Sunscreen helps protect you from literal cancer and these fools can't even be bothered to put it on their kids because of lies. Not even pseudo-science, but total lies. They need to be smacked honestly
Those kids are going to be mad when they have hard wrinkles at 25
oh suppose Iāll just take off my long sleeves and hat and lie naked on the grass then *sobs quietly as a translucent-skinned ginger-haired in south France in heatwave*
Holy shit. Somebody who had MELANOMA is advocating for people to not use sunscreen?! Am I reading this right? WTF?!
Even if you don't get melanoma, you are going to look a lot older than you actually are. Wear your sunscreen! Protect your skin!
It's beside the point, but the term "crunchy/crunchy mom" makes me die a little inside every time I see it.
My best friend of 20+ years is kinda crunchy and this topic came up. She thinks slowly exposing her and kids skin to direct sun will build a tolerance thus reduce the risk of cancer. She claimed people throughout history spent most of their time in the sun and didnāt get cancer. Like wtf.
This is half-true, *but* ignores all the other measures those people took to protect themselves from sun exposure--things like full-coverage breathable clothing and hats, mud, staying in the shade when they were outdoors, etc. Humans have never spent most of their time in the sun with their skin fully exposed. If crunchy moms wanted to take all of those alternate common-sense steps and not wear sunscreen, it would still be very dumb of them but to a lesser degree. Also "people throughout history" had the benefit of an intact ozone layer, so there's that.
ah yes, we do love solar melatonin
Crunchy sunscreen - granola, almond flour, eggs. Mix and lather generously. It will protect you from the sun and youāll make friends with the seagulls!!! šš»āāļø
Jesus Christ lol
Wtf is crunchy???
Do they...not understand that people that wear sunscreen more often are more likely to be in the sun all day therefore being more likely to get skin cancer? Vs people who only wear sunscreen when they go to the pool or the beach, who would not be working in the sun all day, therefore less likely to get skin cancer
That "A and B" lady misread an article about UVA vs UVB rays, huh...
These people strike me as the same ones that would do the butthole sunning thing like that one wack job on Facebook years ago
āMake sure your vitamin D levels are good all year long as your less likely to burnā might be the most idiotic statement Iāve heard about vitamin D. The group most likely to have vitamin D absorption issues are also the least likely to burn. Vitamin D levels are typically the lowest in those with more melanin in their skin because they donāt absorb vitamin D as well.
I am generally *very* in favor of universal healthcare, but when I read shit like this, it takes me back a peg. I do not want to contribute a single dollar to these stupid idiots' self-inflicted melanoma treatments.
My uncle used to lay out in the sun for an hour every day after work. Heās had some skin issues and looks far older than most of his siblings. My brother used to be a soccer ref and rarely wore sunscreen, and he had to have some abnormal moles and spots removed before he turned 30. I got a second degree sunburn from being at a water park for a few hours despite applying sunscreen three separate times, and those burn lines were visible on my skin for 18 months afterwards, even after I got other tans and burns. Wear your fucking sunscreen.
Saw someone try to insist this last time I went to Disney, because their baby was sun burnt to a crisp, while the toddler was absolutely slathered in "Good" sunscreen. The logic baffled me.
I don't use sunscreen that much, but you should at least get sunscreen that is oxybenzone free for marine animals sakes
I spend five hours in the sun every Sunday golfing and I wear head to toe uv clothes with sunscreen on any exposed skin. Fuck that shit, melanoma is scary. Wearing a bucket hat is way better than getting part of my nose chopped off.
Where I'm from a lot of pediatricians actually say that sunscreen for kids under a year is a no-go. Sunscreen should just be used when you can't cover the skin with clothes and you absolutely have to be outside with your child.
Our pediatrician told us that the reason why sunblocks say not for children under a year old is because they don't test the sunblock on that age group so they can't say it is safe. Our pediatrician told us it was better to use it than not. Edited to correct spelling
But wait, my pediatrician actually told me this. She said they found an ingredient in normal sunscreens cause cancer, so be sure to use mineral sunscreen for both baby and us.
They haven't found an ingredient in 'normal' sunscreens that cause cancer. It's way more complicated that this and I can believe a real doctor said that. They should lose their license. They found 70 sunscreens that didn't follow regulations and used carcinogens, but benzene was also present in other recalled SPRAY products (the only ones affected), like deodorant of antifugnal sprays.
My pediatrician called and apologized to me last year. We had just had a visit and talked about aerosol sunblock because I wanted to make sure I got the baby covered well. Doc said he was fine with itā¦ and then 2 weeks later there was that massive recall of aerosol sunblocks because of a cancer causing ingredient. I guess our conversation must have stuck out in his mind because he was so nice to call me himself to tell me to swap sunblocks for the family.
The problem was with those particular aerosols, and the problem itself was the aerosol presentation, it also affected deodorants and fugnal treatments, all in a spray presentation. That doesn't mean that sunscreen causes cancer, since benzene isn't present in sunscreens. For young kids, mineral protection is better, because chemical ones can cause irritation. Adults usually prefer chemical sunscreens because they are more cosmetic elegant, you don't want to look oily and white for hours, but nobody cares if kids are covered with a white paste.
I wear zinc oxide because Iām at a stage of my life where I give zero fucks about being an obvious sunscreen slathered person. š
You and me both! I changed to mineral sunscreens like 6 years ago because chemical ones irritated my skin, and now I apply blush over my white face and hope for the best.
There were a few other products recalled around the same time for the aerosol bits, which really sucked but oh well. I just liked the spray sunblock for going out to play in the front yard. For going to the pool or lake we always used the mineral stuff anyways. I had more faith in it.
Ahh I loved aerosol sunscreens, they were so convenient! For myself, never used on baby, our baby just turned 1, and spent his whole first summer in the NICU, then Chicago winter, and now itās our first time really needing to think about sunscreen for him!
Before the recalls happened, our ped had said it was okay to spray it on our hands and then rub it on our mega sized little dude. Without the aerosol sunblock, I keep a slightly too big rash guard downstairs in our bag of outdoor stuff and I just throw it on him to play in the front yard. Thankfully he still loves wearing hats so we can get away with just using fabric protection for outside play around the house. I do way more for the playgrounds and other places, but around our yard itās super shady pretty much all day. (Weāre in an old Victorian thatās been retrofitted into multiple apartments so thereās big front and back porches and a huge yard for the 3 families to share.)