For those who don't use sun screen

I'm very interested in the responses too!

We have always avoided sunscreen except for the really intense days (like when out skiing), but my son has developed an allergy to sunscreens and ends up with days of hives after exposure. Right now I am still letting him plan enough to tan and get moderate amounts of sun. I am keeping him in loose, light colored clothing when possible and trying not to spend a ton of time in direct sun during the "bad" hours. We are lucky to have a shady yard.

I just heard a snippet on the radio about moderate amounts of sun reducing your cancer risk. I have been meaning to look up more info online...

I definitely think you are fine! The burned skin is definitely what you want to avoid as well as chemical based sunscreens. No one in my family really ever uses sunscreen and the very fair skinned (not too many of us) use non-chemical based like dr. haushka.

Hats, t-shirt or other cover ups are much better choice. Tanning of the skin is a natural reaction to sunlight. Despite commercial belief, our bodies/health need regular sunlight exposure.

I dont know but I do know that sunscreen doesnt protect against UVA rays-which cause cancer.

I am not particularly educated about this but I tend to belive that the sunscreen companys are making an awful lot of money on the skin cancer epidemic. How can they be foolproof if they dont even protect the skin all that much?

Mabye they are trying to create an epidemic of shingles so they can sell meds for that. LOL

I honestly think tanning doesnt damage the skin but I could very well be wrong.

Jenny

The vitamin D is what keeps cancer at bay.

And as the other poster said sunscreen doesnt keep the dangerous rays from harming.

Tanning doesn't bother me but burning does. We have found that being out in the sun 15 minutes a day acclimates a person so they dont burn so easily.

My dh burns very easily and badly. We follow the 15 minutes a day and he doesn't burn anymore.

Good to know.

Vit D isn't absorbed from the sun if wearing sunscreen, right?

I think we're doing fine since my daughters play outside between sun and shade most of the day and haven't ever burned. I just wanted to make sure as they do have tans from this.

That's the way I look at it. My children & I are all tanned. We started gradually, didn't burn & now we never burn. Dd1 (the fairest of my Dc) will get a little pink under her eyes (cheeks) at the pool, so I do put a little zinc there, otherwise she's just tanned. Even 15 month old Ds's baby skin has a golden-brown tan without using sunblock, he's so cute!

I wore a different bathing suit one day this past week, one that exposed my lower back & was cut higher up on the thigh. Wouldn't ya know that those places that hadn't been exposed got burned - ouch! Everywhere else was perfectly fine, so that backs up my feeling of going gradually & working up to a nice tan.

Here's the study about Vit D that just came out:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...vitamin_d.html

It sounds like your 15-minutes-a-day number is a particularly good one!

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