coconut oil as sunscreen?!?!?! - Page 3

[mambera]

Originally Posted by tanyam926 

I am more willing to believe that our diets (like a pp mentioned) have more to do w/the rising skin cancer rates and our body's inability to handle the sun, than the theory that the sun is bad.

I just can't fig out why humans would be put on the earth w/sun, have to work and live in sun exposure when it would be so bad for us. What did people do thousands of yrs ago?

You mean back when there weren't huge holes in the ozone layer caused by CFCs?

Well, if they lived somewhere very sunny, they evolved dark skin as protection.  That's not much use to people of Irish extraction who are now living in Australia.

[aja-belly]

Originally Posted by vignes 

I dont understand this. I have learned that the tan colour is a result of increased production of the pigment melanin, which is the body`s reaction to protect cells from the UV rays - since melanin absorbs (some of) the UV.

Please explain what you mean when you write a tan is a burn :-)

this is from skincancer.org

 

Quote:

Doesn't the melanin acquired through tanning actually protect my skin?

Darker skin does offer greater protection than light skin against sunburn and skin cancer. However, that applies only to people with naturally darker skin. Tanning, like sunburns, attacks the skin's DNA, producing genetic defects that may cause skin cancer. 

[MsFortune]

Your friend could not be more wrong.  Coconut oil magnifies sun rays.  Any color (tan or burn) is sun damage and potentially cancer causing.

I'm wary of chemical sunscreens too.  But we KNOW that sunburns cause cancer, and quite often.  I've had skin cancer.  It's really common.  So I prefer the possible theoretical risk of weird chemicals over the risk of cancer.

Also, your skin does not typically absorb things very well.  So something that is topical will mostly not be absorbed.  My concern, especially with little kids, is that they will ingest the chemicals.  So I don't do sunblock on their hands because they always end up in their mouths!

Mostly I try to either avoid the sun, or keep them covered up.  I have a full suit and hat from Coolibar (covers feet to hands like a wetsuit) that my toddler wears and I will get a similar one for my baby soon.  Yeah, my family makes fun of me.  So what.