Do you use sunscreen?

[GLC1968]

I'm going to come clean here - I only use sunscreen as a last resort. I would prefer not to put all the chemicals/oils on my skin and frankly, I don't believe that it is as beneficial as we have been lead to believe.

When I am outside in the summer (on the farm), I wear a big brimmed hat, long sleeves and jeans or long pants. At work, I'm inside all day. In the winter, I don't even think about sunscreen since the sun rarely shines when I'm outside. Plus, I happen to be olive skinned. I actually DO worry about vit D levels. 10 minutes of direct sun on the face and hands per day is exceedingly hard to come by in some climates, you know.

I only wear sunscreen on the bike which is pretty much the only athletic activity I'd do ALL day or during mid-day. For that, I look for sweat proof and I slather it on. I really only wear it to prevent burns though - I don't think it does diddly for preventing premature aging or skin cancer when I STILL get super dark no matter how much I put on, how high the SPF or how fresh it is. I do appreciate its ability to prevent severe pain though, so I use it when that is a concern.

[michelem]

Here's a good resource regarding sunscreen safety:

http://www.ewg.org/cosmetics/report/sunscreen09

I probably err on the side of overkill (zinc/titanium sunscreen, sun protective (UPF 30) long sleeve jerseys, and long tights for running and cycling -- even in 100 degree weather. Etc. I as diagnosed with VERY LOW vitamin d levels due to all my "covering up" and now take 1000-2000 IU of vitamin d supplements each day. It's amazing at how correcting this deficiency has alleviated 99% of my joint/bone pain.

I've seen the devastation of skin cancer on my husband (he's undergone multiple surgeries and wears the scars to prove it). I used to not worry about it, due to being olive-complected and growing up when SPF 2 "suntan oil" was all the rage. But, I'm hoping better late than never . . .

[abejita]

I am a sunscreen junkie. I am very fair and burn if I just think of the sun. Living in Texas doesn't help any. There has been a lot of controversy as to the sun stability of many US brands of sunscreen as well as their ability to block UVA rays.

I us La Roche-Posey Anthelios XL. It has mexoryl which is the only sunscreen that is proven to be photo stable as well as an excellent uva and uvb block. In the rest of the world, this sunscreen is considered the gold standard. Unfortunately, in the US we are behind the curve and the only product that is approved by the FDA with mexoryl has an spf of 15. For years, I had my canadian friend ship spf 50+ sunscreen to me, but now it is pretty easy to find on the internet. I bought my last batch on amazon.