Suntanning?

I actively avoid the sun.

I wear long sleeved swim shirts, swim capris, hats, and neck gaiters when we go to water parks or the beach.

I don’t tan, I just burn. Even the slightest burn leads to weeks of painful red peeling skin. Seriously, just last week I went to my nephew’s one hour football game. I wore 3/4 length sleeves and pants. The skin from the end of my sleeve to my wrist got so burned that it’s been peeling ever since. After ONE single hour outside.

I tried to tan once when I was in my 20s and my friend moved into an apartment with a cool pool. After one afternoon I had such a bad burn that I had to go to the hospital for sun poisoning. I have never been so sick in my entire life.

No sun for me 🙅🏻‍♀️

My mother died from melanoma. Though she never spent time in the sun it does happen.   Tanning greatly increases the risk. It was a horrible way to die, w/so much trauma and she had rock-like tumors over most of her body. You don't want to die from melanoma. Trust me. It's horrible. Please don't tan. Pale is in! It's cool to be pale. Both tanning beds and laying in the sun w/o protection are dangerous.

That's my PSA!

I don't tan. I would rather see old age.

As a kid my older sister would spend hours outside laying out to tan. I'd try to join her but I just wound up so bored. As an adult I realize how bad tanning is for you so I do somewhat try to avoid the sun. Any tan I get is from spending time outside gardening or horseback riding.

Melanoma survivor, 29 years next month. And I’ve had basal cell and squamous cell cancers, as well as many actinic keratosis (pre-cancers). I use SPF 30 on my face, throat, lower arms, and hands every single day, winter or summer. If I’m spending time doing something outdoors for a decent amount of time, I use SPF 50. While I don’t activity avoid the sun, I don’t “lay out.” Fair-skinned, freckle-faced redhead if that makes a difference.

I don't sit around "tanning", but do get a tan from regular activities such as baseball games, taking my boys to the pool, just being outside, etc. If I'm at a pool or lake I will sit in the sun, but I can only do that for so long before I get hot or bored. I do put on sunscreen so I don't burn.

I actively avoid the sun now. Being a part of the "baby oil & iodine" generation, and having sustained a couple of very bad sunburns in my youth, I am now in my mid-60s and dealing with the sun damage that caused. If I could have a do-over, I would have avoided the sun from the get-go. When I am out now, it's for short periods, rarely between 10 and 4, and always with a high SPF on.

I'm a total indoor kind of girl ... no tanning for me    

Same. I bought some SPF 70 sunscreen and DH calls it moon block. I don’t even try to get some color”. I’m a fair skinned red head with freckles. I’m never going to tan. 

I get some lovely tans during summer, I always have a nice watch mark, farmer tan from tshirts and marks from my standard Mary Jane summer shoes. It’s real cute. . I don’t try to tan, I wear sunscreen religiously but I still get color. Due to my job I spend a lot of time outside (pre-K teacher and we have summer camp) but I seek out the shade as much as I can.



I don’t know when sunscreen became a thing, but I am super serious about wearing it. I am super pale naturally, but I brown very easily and rarely burn. My dad’s side of the family is the same way. Because of the fact they don’t burn they don’t see the necessity of sun screening despite science, but I carry sunscreen in my purse and reapply regularly.

Even if I wasn’t concerned about skin cancer I could never be someone who just basks in the sun. I need to be reading or doing something besides just lying in the sun.

I learned my lesson when I was young. I had quite a few bad sunburns

I do not walk outside after 9am or before 7pm without scads of sunblock on.

I stay out of the sun as much as possible. If I know I’ll be outside for more than 20-30 minutes, I put on sunscreen and I always wear a hat. My hair isn’t nearly as thick as it used to be, and nothing sucks more than having a sunburned scalp.

I'm a sun avoider and always have been. No idea why I'm like this, as I grew up in the age of baby oil with iodine. I am fair in skin, hair and eyes, but I tan very easily. I don't remember ever having a sunburn, except for the one I got on my nose in the Army.

Living in So Cal my whole adult life, people often comment about my lack of a tan. I wear sunscreen religously. Dh and Ds have mountain biker tans. An interesting look to say the least.

I grew up in Hawaii (Navy brat)in the 1950-60's and my mom would put zinc oxide on our noses but other than that it was bare skin in the sun all day every day. No one knew any better. And coconut oil when I was in my early teens. I'm fair with blue eyes so I am careful now about sun screen/hat if I'm out in the sun during the peak hours.

I was a teen in the 1970's when laying out with baby oil slathered all over your body was the "in" thing. I tried to join my younger sister who was laying out on a towel one day doing this but got bored as heck within 5 minutes and went back inside-I'd rather read a book in my bedroom I thought then lay out there in the hot sun. How boring! My sister used to tease me for my white skin called me "Casper the Ghost" while she'd get as tan as she could. 

I avoided the sun whenever I could unless there was a pool or the ocean to swim in-then I was happy and stayed outdoors. I like being outdoors if there is a fun activity to do-especially swimming! In my later years as soon as sun screen and sun block came around I'd use it often and a lot of it. My skin is fair so it burns easily. But I've been very careful through the years, and still am. Sometimes the glare of my white legs gets to me but I keep telling myself "white skin is healthy skin, tanned skin is unhealthy skin." 

The same sister lives 4 months out of the year in Thailand and I think she still doesn't use sunscreen or block. She's 18 months younger than me but has a ton more wrinkles in her face. I can see the sun damage her skin has gone through and it reminds me to keep up my regimen. She's had spots of pre cancer removed.