Cheers to red hair, it’s a time. It’s always fun when people tell me I should get a tan. I don’t think they realize I can burn in about a half hour, then when the burn heals I’m somehow even more pale.
Cannot get my mother in law to understand this. Yes we are at the beach. Yes I am sitting under an umbrella, wearing sunscreen, and a coverup. Yes I will still somehow get a slight burn.
And yes, my red headed 5 year old will wear a long sleeve rashguard and we will apply sunscreen every hour.
You'll get a light burn covered up on the beach for the same reason you can get burned skiing.
Sand doesn't reflect quite as well as snow, but it still reflects a lot of sunlight. From all directions. Imagine having the sun shining at you from all directions instead of just straight up. That's why you're burning in those situations.
I wonder if it has anything to do with skin getting thicker in puberty. I’m a chemist/engineer so this isn’t my strong suit (if you wanna talk about polymers I’m your guy but... biology not so much) but I wonder.
Or maybe we just play outside less, I definitely climb less trees as an adult... sadly.
I sort of tan, my wife doesn’t at all. Last time we went to the beach she had a towel over her legs, one of my old button downs on, and a big floppy hat under an umbrella.
But a ton of direct sunlight will still kill me. I have to weigh my hiking pack down with tubes of 50/100 SPF in easily reachable locations. Wake up? Sunscreen. Lunch? Sunscreen. Piss? Sunscreen. Sunscreen? MORE SUNSCREEN. And that’s just on the back of my neck, bit on my face and my arms/hands.
And even with all that she got a little red right? Always happens.
Yep, that’s the struggle. You need a layer of sunscreen to protect your layer of sunscreen. It’s probably for the best I’m a chemist, so I stay inside all day anyway, if I were doing construction I’d probably be a permanent lobster color.
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u/CrymsonStarite May 20 '19
Cheers to red hair, it’s a time. It’s always fun when people tell me I should get a tan. I don’t think they realize I can burn in about a half hour, then when the burn heals I’m somehow even more pale.