My love / hate relationship with sunscreen

When I was a kid there was no such thing as sunscreen. My mum had skin that wasn’t especially bothered by the sun but my dad, fair-skinned and blonde, burned like a lobster. So do I.

Neither of my parents had a clue as to what to do to prevent sunburn and, in fairness, I don’t suppose anyone else in that day and age did either. I remember going to Crimson Lake on a camping trip, playing in the water with the other kids, coming out of the lake and riding the merry-go-round, one of those push affairs, with bars stretching from the centre to the outside of a circular wooden platform. You grabbed one of the bars, heaved, and when the platform began to move, you grabbed the next one and gave it another heave, so that the contraption gradually picked up speed. The next order of business was to grab a bar and jump on. If the timing was off you might get whacked in the teeth, and if you slowed down the rotation by much you were sure to be subjected to a series of raspberries from the other kids who were already safely aboard.

When we got tired of the merry-go-round, or were so dizzy that we couldn’t walk straight, back we went into the water. After a day of this I had a pretty serious burn on my back and shoulders. I’m not sure what Dad had been doing while I was enjoying the beach but he was pretty red also. Mum didn’t know what to do. I think she put cream on my back but that didn’t stop the sting and the incredible heat. She probably gave me aspirin and I remember her telling me later that I spent most of the night whimpering in my sleep.

I don’t think I felt much like playing with the other kids the next day. It hurt too much to move. I was so hot that I really wanted to go back into the lake to cool off. I don’t think Mum was thrilled with the idea but she compromised and let me go if I put on a hat and wore a T-shirt. That was fine with me. From then on I was a little more cautious, wore the T-shirt, and spent more time in the shade. Well, most of the time.

A while after we got home, when the heat had gone out of the burn and the pain had turned to an itch, I remember sitting downstairs with Dad in his office where it was cool, peeling sheets of blistered skin off each other’s backs. I didn’t find that the least bit weird. Peeling off the dead skin decreased the itch.

No endorsement for any of these

After that I didn’t spend a lot of time in the sun. I remember trying cacao butter on my skin at one point, not to tan as the baby-oil set hoped to do, but to prevent me from burning. I don’t think it worked although it may have done something to keep the skin a bit more moist.

By the time I was an adult there were sunscreens and I used them. I like the feel of my face when it is freshly scrubbed and feels just a little bit tight. To have to ruin that lovely clean feeling with a lotion or cream was cause for considerable whining, although the memory of the few bad burns I had had were enough to eventually shut me up and get me to apply the stuff.

Once I had a job and steady income, I became interested in various outdoor sports, snowshoeing in the winter, a bit of downhill skiing, hiking, cycling and canoeing in the summer. Putting sunscreen on was part of the ritual of getting ready for the day’s adventures so, while I didn’t like the sensation of it, I did look forward to the miles in the forest, on the roads or on the rivers that it heralded. I joked that there should be a sunscreen setting on the shower so you could just jump in and douse yourself.

I managed to avoid serious burns for a number of years until I got married. For our honeymoon we went to Radium Hotsprings. Of course we had to take advantage of the pool and they didn’t allow any lotions or creams in the pool. No problem. Just stay in for a few minutes and then get out, go into the shade or the air-conditioned hotel room.

As we were enjoying the pool, someone called to Richard. It was a person he knew from teaching so we went over, stood in the chest-deep water, and chatted, and chatted, and chatted. I was enjoying the conversation and didn’t realize until it was too late that I was starting to sport that old familiar lobster glow. I knew from experience that the redness and pain would continue to increase for several hours even after I got out of the sun.

We said our goodbyes, got out of the pool, and Richard went in search of Solarcaine. It has a chemical smell but it does help to dull the pain of a sunburn. That certainly dampened the romance of the honeymoon. The only way I could stand to be touched was with a hand applying Solarcaine to the burn. I felt miserable and was cross with myself. If I had only put on a T-shirt, the burn wouldn’t have been limited to my face and arms. If I had left Richard to chat and gotten out of the pool sooner. If, if, if. Luckily Richard is a forgiving sort and he did not try to trade me in for a less crispy model. That is the last time I had a severe burn.

I still don’t like sunscreen and I’ve found myself recently staying in because the only kind of sunscreen I have is the mineral variety i.e. zinc. There have been advances since the skiers used to slap it on their noses so they looked like someone had covered their noses with vanilla icing, but I still think it makes me look like a failed mime or a ghost. And, it gets everywhere! I noticed a white film on the driver’s door the other day when I got out of the car. My collars and hats are streaked with white. Plus, it gums up the razor when I shave my legs.

Today I had a serious talk with myself. The weather is nice, not too hot, not too smoky, and it is absolutely ridiculous to stay inside because you don’t want to put on sunscreen. I checked out the Canadian Dermatology website for recommended brands, slapped on the zinc and walked to the nearest drug store. I now have a tube of what, I hope, will still protect my skin but will be a little less nasty.

Thank you sunscreen for keeping the burning rays at bay. No thank you sunscreen for being just plain icky. I have a feeling this love / hate relationship is not about to resolve anytime soon.