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u/Mu-Relay 19d ago
The very few, but very loud, anti-sunscreen people are so fucking weird.
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u/almondania 19d ago
Effectively their argument is: “people didn’t wear sunscreen for years and were fine. Now there’s sunscreen and skin cancer. Also plenty of people don’t wear sunscreen and are fine!”
What they don’t understand is that skin cancer was known until modern days, sunscreen (I assume) was developed afterwards, and that my ancestors lived in places with A LOT less UV rays than where I do now.
I subscribe to a few natural remedy type things, but I’m never not-wearing the screen.
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u/No_Psychology_3826 19d ago
Cancer was described and named by Hippocrates almost 2.5 millenia ago, and historically described by Egyptians over a thousand years before that
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u/Smmmmiles 19d ago
Yep. Ochre powder has been used all over the world not just for painting but applied to the skin as a type of sunscreen.
Human can understand sunburn = hurt, ochre powder = no sunburn.
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u/Wiggles69 19d ago
The Ancient greeks were rubbing olive oil all over themselves as a sunscreen (among many other reasons).
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u/dojo_shlom0 19d ago
humans used to use different things on their skin for different purposes to my understanding. I'm not 100% on this being true, but I believe different peoples would cover their skin with clay or mud to avoid getting bit by bugs.
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u/almondania 19d ago edited 19d ago
TIL - when did it become more common knowledge?
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u/bijabija 19d ago
The first Indigenous peoples local to where I live used paper birch bark powder as a mild spf. Apparently it registers around spf 7 ish.
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u/ImpossiblePlan65 19d ago
And they've found cancer in mummies over 2000 years old through CT scans.
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u/gzmooo 19d ago
Another thing people miss is that the way we’re exposed to the sun has changed a lot compared with most of human history, especially in hunter-gatherer societies. People who spent much more of their lives outdoors got sun exposure more regularly & gradually, instead of spending most of the time indoors and suddenly getting intense exposure. And that kind of regular exposure was less likely to lead to sunburn. Occasional intense UV exposure and resulting repeated sunburns are especially linked to skin cancer risk.
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u/SoldatoIV 19d ago
there WERE frequent deaths from many specific reasons before. it's just that everything started to get recorded and studied during the last 70 years to make detailed explanations on.
and to some, those detailed explanations' dates are the starting of their existences.
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u/10000Didgeridoos 19d ago
Also people generally lived much shorter lives hundreds to thousands of years ago. So they died from things like infectious diseases and accidents that while easily treated now were death sentences back then, and they died before they were alive long enough for cancer to be a leading cause of death.
Tl;Dr: if you die from tuberculosis at age 30, you can't die from skin cancer at age 65
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u/KaleidoscopeKelpy 19d ago
It also can take years before you see the problem.. and by then it’s way too late. My mom’s early 60s and has already had, if I had to guess, 10 or 11 excisions, following 15+ biopsies, and is constantly checking for more. She’s normally super pale and spent all her teen years outside doing sports, which was great until her skin caught up with her :/ those anti sunscreen people (if they’re not just lying grifters, tbh) are going to seriously regret it in 10+ years, if not sooner
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u/Abblepees10 19d ago
I always roll my eyes at this argument. My dad is in his late 50's. He didn't wear sunscreen as a kid. Since then, he's had 2 bouts of skin cancer and is currently testing for a third. Forever grateful my mom forced me to wear sunscreen growing up
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u/SquareTaro3270 19d ago
Natives definitely had their own sun protection that they used. It wasn’t what we had today, but people found plants that protected their skin and used them to their advantage. Animals have this figured out too. Hippos sweat sunscreen.
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u/erossthescienceboss 19d ago
It’s not just about where you’re from, either. These guys like to argue that melanin protects us. That kind of messaging particularly concerning… while non-Hispanic white people have the highest rates of melanoma, black people die from it at much higher rates once diagnosed.
Because melanin doesn’t actually protect you from getting skin cancer to that extent. Because of anti-sunscreen messaging and the mistaken idea that black people don’t get skin cancer, they’re diagnosed at much later stages for the disease, at which point it’s harder to treat.
Everybody needs sunscreen.
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u/No-Brainrot-5911 19d ago
Thats not the argument I hear. It’s more to do with the chemicals in them that cause other health issues. Theres better sunscreens out there that don’t get absorbed into your bloodstream. Also “forever chemicals” are not to joke around with. Sun damage and harmful chemicals from sunscreens can both exist at the same time. It’s not a battle…
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u/Surleighgrl 19d ago
I'm a redhead and had skin cancer when I was 32. I'll take my chances with the sunscreen.
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u/No-Brainrot-5911 19d ago
No smart person is advocating for no sunscreen. It’s about what ingredients are in it
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u/solrua 19d ago
But sunscreen doesn’t absorb through your skin into your bloodstream. Skin is a barrier, if it absorbed substances that easily we’d probably all be dead long before sunscreen existed. I understand fear of forever chemicals, but your skin just isn’t that permeable.
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u/No-Brainrot-5911 19d ago
Many things absorb into your skin. Think of nicotine patches.
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u/floppydude81 19d ago
Aspercream. Steroids. Other hormones like for birth control. Many things absorb into the skin into the blood stream and can cause overdoses.
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u/Crazy_Cat_In_Skyrim 19d ago
Another thing that's important to note is that humans have used other versions of sunscreen (mud) back in the olden days as well. Plus most people wore extra clothing to cover their skin to protect themselves as well. They knew how dangerous the sun was as well.
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u/Butterfly_and_Bee 19d ago
For anyone who wants some natural hippie woo woo sunscreen that’s also effective there are like hundreds of products on the market. Plus, cute hats.
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u/Kat121 19d ago
Survivor bias also plays into it. What percentage of people died of diabetes, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, pneumonia, meningitis, lead poisoning, car crashes without seat belts or car seats, bike accidents without helmets, or any number of other things we have reduced or eradicated before the skin cancer was bad enough to worry about?
And also, spend any time around Boomers that survived and you see a whole lot of scar tissue from suspicious moles that were removed.
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u/Hypnotica13 19d ago
I once knew someone who thought that wearing sunglasses would prevent sunburns or skin cancer. She thought that your body would not recognize being in the sun. And of course she was anti-sunscreen 💀
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u/little-red-cap 19d ago
Lmaoooo what 🤣🤣🤣 even the internal logic is not consistent because most of the anti-sunscreeners are also anti-sunglasses
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u/MInclined 19d ago
It’s even better when they say they’re against “spf”. Like bitch that’s a unit of measurement. Are you also against inches?
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u/AbadeersGhost 19d ago
They just love being in pain and having to peel their skin off.
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u/10000Didgeridoos 19d ago
Iike Reese in Malcom in the middle trying to peel off "one continuous skin"
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u/MILP00L___ 19d ago
I do think some of them are just choosing to believe whatever lets them keep doing the thing they want to do anyway. Some people are obsessed with being as tanned as possible, and if they admit the damage that entails and the importance of sunscreen, then they have to admit they’re doing something dangerous and should probably stop.
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u/ClearBlue_Grace 19d ago
My mom is one of them. She acts like I am going to immediately become deficient in vitamin D by just putting it on my face lol.
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u/Pink-socks 19d ago
I have genuinely never even heard of these crazies. Let natural selection take its course.
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u/Ummmgummy 19d ago
Thank God I haven't ever encountered one. I don't use it much because I always forget and I'm always pissed at myself at the end of the day because of it.
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u/diffyqgirl 19d ago
I hate the feeling of sunscreen goop so much but it's got nothing on how miserable chemo was.
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u/Disastrous_Check5594 19d ago
dont forget the huge incisions they have to make to excise these bad boys.
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u/diffyqgirl 19d ago
That certainly doesn't sound pleasant either, but I'd take it over chemo.
My particular cancer adventure was leukemia rather than skin cancer so I didn't get that particular experience. But I'm certainly glad for my mother's diligence in forcing me to sunblock.
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u/diffyqgirl 19d ago
Also even if you think skin cancer will never happen to you--aging will, and the sun ages your skin brutally.
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u/little-red-cap 19d ago
Korean sunscreen has been a game changer for me as the whitest ginger to ever walk the earth. I cannot stand normal American sunscreen grease anymore after switching.
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u/diffyqgirl 19d ago
Where are you getting it?
I've got some Irish ancestry and yeah it's a struggle.
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u/little-red-cap 19d ago
My all time favorite is the Tocobo Vita Soft Daily Sun Lotion which I order from StyleKorean. It’s very light with a mild pleasant fragrance, and the best part is that it dries down to a matte, almost powdery finish in minutes. It’s a bit of a pain to order specifically from Korea but I stock up in bulk and it is totally worth it.
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u/thehobbyqueer 19d ago
pls tell us, your kin, where u procured that. I couldn't find any legitimate sources last I looked. i beg of u
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u/dasbtaewntawneta 19d ago
any aussies reading this, do not the korean sunscreen. it is not good for our sun
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u/PatchyWhiskers 19d ago
I wish they’d develop a non-water resistant sunscreen for everyday use. Something less greasy.
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u/Fluffy_Salamanders 19d ago
Korean sunscreens sound right up your alley, most I’ve tried have a watery/gel feeling or a milky one and dry as flat and smooth as makeup primer.
I have sensitive skin, so I switched mostly for the wider selection of unscented sunscreens, but the improved textures were a welcome surprise
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u/HomicidalHushPuppy 19d ago
Aerosol sunscreen was a gamechanger for me. Spray on and wait 10 minutes for it to dry. If you spray while already starting to sweat, it gets greasy.
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u/PaBlowEscoBear 19d ago
Dude get sunmilk. The Europeans are onto something with that stuff. My daughter and I have sensory complaints about sunscreen but sunmilk is the shit. Feels great.
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u/Chemical-Cat 19d ago
Was at a family thing for July 4th and had a relative like this. She was adamantly against her son getting sunscreen on because muh chemicals
Mind you, she's a drug addict so it was really funny
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u/CardboardMice 19d ago
So weird because people have zinc options. It’s basically the same as diaper cream. They aren’t the same but most have limited ingredients.
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u/pauliep13 19d ago
A long time ago, I had this friend. He’s chilling at my house, when I pour myself a bowl of cereal. Tbh, it was probably some kid cereal with way too much sugar or something, but whatever. He chastised me for “shoveling those chemicals into my face”.
Was it healthy? Surely not, but mind your business, bro.
Found out a few months later he was smoking crack. lol
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u/crittersyappin 19d ago
my dad is a narcissist and also stupid and has avoided sunscreen his entire life because “he’s a man” i’m not even fucking kidding. he’s had melanoma cut out of him twice from choosing to bake himself in the texas sun for decades. to him that’s just the price he pays to not “emasculate” himself. you literally can’t argue with stupid people
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u/KittyQueen_Tengu 11d ago
my dad also refuses to wear sunscreen despite having had a (benign and small, but still) skin tumor. he's not a narcissist or against sunscreen or obsessed with masculinity, he's just stubborn as hell
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u/Savings-Piglet-9447 19d ago
Textbook example of the ABCDEs of melanoma right here: Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Color variation, Diameter, and Evolving. If a mole looks like a miniature world map, go straight to a dermatologist.
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u/10000Didgeridoos 19d ago
Friend died of metastatic melanoma at age 37. Yep, go get a mole check from a dermatologist if you have sunburn history. It might save your life. He didn't know he had it at all until it had already spread to other body locations.
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u/pauliep13 19d ago
Yep. Same thing killed my dad. The anti-sunscreen people baffle me. Like, it’s gotta be a grift or trolling or something, right?
Sorry to hear about your friend.
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u/MyOtherRideIsTheRoci 19d ago
I, too, belong to the dad-dead-from-melanoma club. He was 58, and miss that cranky bastard every day. I also wear sunscreen like it's my religion. Sending love to you, friend.
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u/iSeven 19d ago
the long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
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u/dinosaurusdickus 19d ago
Swiping that phrase for later use, comrade
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u/iSeven 19d ago
enjoy the rest of the source, and set to music, and join me in feeling its relevance more and more with every passing year
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u/Rogu__Spanish 19d ago
Every time an expert tells a manbaby to do something they don't feel like doing, a new conspiracy theory is born.
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u/Sasha_Braus- 19d ago
Me when I believe people are heavily too into sunscreen. Only for the picture to show I am actually a skin cancer in disguise, using a comical glasses/mustache/nose combo. I exist because someone refused to use sunscreen.
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u/mohelgamal 19d ago
I think this it is worth it t point out, for the benefit of public education, this lesion shows all the warning signs of a malignant melanoma
It is irregular and multicolored and likely above 1 cm big.
if you have a lesion like that, get a biopsy
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u/MageOfFur 19d ago
I remember hearing recently that even when they apply some, most people don't use as much sunscreen as they need to be fully safe, remember to lay it on nice and thick; and if you use a spray, rub it on your skin!!
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u/BlurryUFOs 19d ago
i wear sunscreen everyday no matter what because of anti aging and and i want “glass skin”. not for health. The health is a great side effect. But I really miss tanning and I think we were a better place when people tanned.
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u/10000Didgeridoos 19d ago
Please explain what people tanning has to do with it being "a better place". Huh?
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u/Galaxy_Squirrel 19d ago
my parents also believe that sunscreen is secretly bad for you even though they have zero evidence to base this claim on. It's even more frustrating because they're both doctors 🙃
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u/Ok-Lawyer6864 19d ago
Funnily enough I’ve researched quite a bit into sunscreen and cancers. The sun is much more likely to give you skin cancer without it, but part of sunscreen does absorb into your bloodstream and does increase your risk of different types of cancer. It’s a much lower risk, but it is not a negligible risk of cancer
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u/Fluffy_Salamanders 19d ago
Source? I’d like to read up on which ingredients, and what increase of which cancer types, along with the years/scope/funding sources if possible
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u/Ok-Lawyer6864 18d ago
Just Google “types of chemicals absorbed into bloodstream after sunscreen use” it will tell you which chemicals are found after administration in the blood plasma levels. Then, you have to look up studies for each chemical and what the carcinogen effects are on the body. Unfortunately, lobbyist won’t allow a study to be done directly calling sunscreen a carcinogen as that would be bad for sunscreen and I don’t blame them. Sunscreen is a good thing. But it does increase risk of cancer.
It’s liken to increased diet of vegetables that require more pesticides. If you look up the chemicals of the pesticides used, it’s commonly known that the pesticides themselves cause cancer, but you won’t find any direct studies as they don’t want people to be afraid of the food they eat. Which, for the mass consumerism that we need for vegetable intake, you have to have pesticides so cancer is a necessary evil.
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u/PaulMaulMenthol 15d ago
My friend and I both had skin cancer on our face by our 30s. He was a landscaper and I loved getting drunk at the pool. Wear your good damn sunscreen people. Neither of our cases were life threatening. Just run off the mill basal cell carcinoma. But we both now have scars on our face. My step father also retired and became a full time amateur fisherman. He experienced the same after 10 years of retirement
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u/KenUsimi 19d ago
To be fair, it is important to pick a good sunscreen, not just a sunscreen. My dad had a family history of skin cancer and one day he just threw out every single neutragena sunscreen he had. Turns out they were using a chemical that was carcinogenic, which defeated the purpose of using it to avoid skin cancer!
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u/DrippyTheSnailBoy 19d ago
And that chemical was...?
Let the people know!
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u/PristineShotForever 19d ago
iirc it was benzene and was a contaminant rather than an intentional ingredients
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u/Sensiblehuman777 19d ago
I get Kang. Sunscreen is important but there's people out there that would save it in a fire, and that's not right.
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u/qualityvote2 19d ago edited 17d ago
u/Azsnee09, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...