Sunbed use... The new Smoking?

At the beginning of the year when I was on antibiotics for Lyme disease, the young doctor was telling me to be very careful of the sun while on the antibiotics. I said something like, it's Scotland, in winter - only way we're seeing a fireball in the sky is if someone drops a nuke :D.

She told me how she was brought up in NZ and wearing sun cream every day was a way of life and how nice it was not to have to do that while staying in Scotland. Silver clouds eh.

One last one - a friend was cutting down some weeds in his garden in the sun and he got fried, like badly fried but patchy and blistered. Turned out he had been cutting down some giant hogweed - if it's juices (sap?) gets on your skin and you're exposed to the sun you're in for a real bad day.
 
Mysterae_ said:
At the beginning of the year when I was on antibiotics for Lyme disease, the young doctor was telling me to be very careful of the sun while on the antibiotics. I said something like, it's Scotland, in winter - only way we're seeing a fireball in the sky is if someone drops a nuke :D.

She told me how she was brought up in NZ and wearing sun cream every day was a way of life and how nice it was not to have to do that while staying in Scotland. Silver clouds eh.

One last one - a friend was cutting down some weeds in his garden in the sun and he got fried, like badly fried but patchy and blistered. Turned out he had been cutting down some giant hogweed - if it's juices (sap?) gets on your skin and you're exposed to the sun you're in for a real bad day.
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IIRC if you get that sap into your eyes it can result in permanent eye damage.
 
I sun bed 8 minutes once a month as it clears up my skin really well and keeps me ever so slightly tanned which makes me stand out a bit when surrounded by pasty British people or goth/alt models. No tattoos either helps.
 
I’m naturally dark and just go even darker…

I went on hols with a friend, on the first day I had a dip in the pool and needed 40 winks to catch up on sleep.

Told them not to wake me up… as I laid on my chest so I could get my back done first.. as I always forget to do my back.

A few moments later… “dude… dude.. wake up…

“What’s up!?”

“You fell a sleep…”

“Uhhh.. I must have just dropped off, I’ve either ****** myself or it couldn’t be that long, as my shorts are still wet!”

“Yeah, I didn’t want you getting sunburnt”

“look at me… I don’t burn!”

I’m solar powered, so living in the north of England really doesn’t help. In summer I can get by on very little sleep but in winter I can barely drag myself out of bed.

The GPs diagnose me with a vitamin D deficiency a few years back, apparently every person in the UK ain’t getting enough vitamin D, the only natural source of vit D is sunlight. It effects people with darker skin more.

Having said that, I’ve never been on a sun bed. I rarely go topless in the UK but I do tend to wear shorts 3/4 of the year of different lengths.

I do have SAD lamps to wake me up gracefully and 30 minutes blast before I start work.
 
Same as me. Never burned as my skin is quite dark. My partner on the other hand can burn on a cloudy day. Then she gets annoyed at me for not reminding her to put sun protection! It's just one of those things that never crosses my mind. Like you, i just catch the sun really easily and get progressively darker until the end of summer.

Also need to take Vitamin D from October-April.
 
Those numbers don’t surprise me when you look at the type of content young people are consuming eg Tiktok, Instagram, Love Island, Kardashians, it’s hard to escape ‘perfection’.

I was chatting to someone yesterday who said their sisters daughter(who is pretty, educated, has a good job in management with a major insurer) is obsessed with ‘filler’ treatments, tanning, 20k steps per day and the gym, to the point it’s super unhealthy and the family don’t know what to do about it. It’s easy to see why they fall into it when that’s all you’re being bombarded with.

I done the sun bed thing for a few months when i was younger and dating and then again for a month or two when i was dating 5 or so years ago. Convenient as there was a tanning place next to the gym. The wake up call was having to go to the doctors and get a mole checked out, confessing that I’d been going. Put the fear in me, never again.

Oh, I also went on a couple of dates with a girl that had cancerous moles removed due to sun bed use and she still kept going! She was an accountant/finance director, you’d think some brains would be in there but they go out the door when vanity is involved.
 
Raymond Lin said:
In South/East Asia there is an unspoken class divide on those who do outdoor labourer work and those who do not because of this. If you are educated then you typically sit inside at a desk so having a tan is seen as something undesirable. Even the cosmetic industry reflects that, all the make up and more in the shades of making you whiter, rather than add colour to the skin.
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Checks out. It causes those countries to have the opposite issue of skin whitening, which is an atrociously damaging thing that comes from the top (look at the pale complexions of Bollywood actresses and K-pop artists). Also affects African nations.

Kind of ironic how lighter skinned people see beauty as being darker skinned, and darker skinned people see beauty as being lighter skinned.
 
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Never understood people that pay to irradiate themselves and turn into leathery old hags in middle age.

The secret to my youthful good looks is avoiding UV exposure, and shaving my head to hide the receding hairline :p
 
Bluebozzy said:
Checks out. It causes those countries to have the opposite issue of skin whitening, which is an atrociously damaging thing that comes from the top (look at the pale complexions of Bollywood actresses and K-pop artists). Also affects African nations.

Kind of ironic how lighter skinned people see beauty as being darker skinned, and darker skinned people see beauty as being lighter skinned.
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Simple case of people want what they don't have.
 
mid_gen said:
Never understood people that pay to irradiate themselves and turn into leathery old hags in middle age.

The secret to my youthful good looks is avoiding UV exposure, and shaving my head to hide the receding hairline :p
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Same here, never smoked, never really drank, never sunbathed, never took illegal drugs and people don't believe I'm 67.
I don't have a receding hairline but keep it at a number one because of psoriasis.
However some would say I've wasted my life.
 
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hurfdurf said:
I sun bed 8 minutes once a month as it clears up my skin really well and keeps me ever so slightly tanned which makes me stand out a bit when surrounded by pasty British people or goth/alt models. No tattoos either helps.
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My wife was prescribed sunbed usage for her skin (exczma) a few years back. She found it helped a lot.

That was at the local hospital under a health professional.

She hasn't used a sunbed since her course ended.
 
Just remembered about a series I recently watched because I enjoy watching operations etc.
It was Olivia Attwood The Price of Perfection but one episode was devoted to sunbeds.
There were young people on there who also jab themselves with supplements before going on the sunbed and they really exaggerate the tanning process.
They were asked if they knew what was in the jabs, they had no idea but they worked.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Same here, never smoked, never really drank, never sunbathed, never took illegal drugs and people don't believe I'm 67.
I don't have a receding hairline but keep it at a number one because of psoriasis.
However some would say I've wasted my life.
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I used to smoke. I used to drink (a lot), but only the occasional one now. As for illegal drugs....no comment :p The good ones are better for you than the legal ones anyway.

The main thing things that age you are UV exposure, and habitual alcohol consumption.
 
I naturally get exposed to the sun due to my hobbies.

But now I wear my wide brimmed hat (even though it is not fashionable!) and on my kayak or in the sea I'm in my rash vest or my wetsuit.

I have a fair few moles and didn't look after my skin particularly well when I was young (just being outside without cream on).

But now I'm super vigilant, and ever get a mole check yearly.
 
i went out in the sun yesterday for most of the day, i wasnt until i got back i had realised what i have put myself through. It hurts
 
I'll never forget when i went to Thorpe Park with a few friends. We were queuing for Nemesis and there was a significant part of the queue that had zero shade. I watched my friend turn to a crisp in front of my eyes :cry: It was the first time I ever saw how bad sunburn could be for some people. I always thought people made a bigger deal than it was about it but it looked awful lol. Literally looked like a squashie
 
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mid_gen said:
Never understood people that pay to irradiate themselves and turn into leathery old hags in middle age.

The secret to my youthful good looks is avoiding UV exposure, and shaving my head to hide the receding hairline :p
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Because they are young, they don't know the risks or think they'll be fine. These kids probably say 'I don't understand how people ever smoked or drank themselves silly every week'... but you did that ;)
 
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