I love being outside. I hate the sun. I also hate sunscreen.
I feel like there’s a weird split between the reality of having this gross white goop on you all the time (most people don’t wear sunscreen all the time, right? Right??) and the reality of the sun basically wanting us all dead.
This sunburn calculator made by a dermatologist will show you how quickly you can actually get burned. Personally, today, I literally can’t stay outside for longer than 14-ish minutes (probably even shorter in my case) without any sunscreen before I’ve had too much sun.
Even on a somewhat cloudy day, I can’t stay out there for more than half an hour. I notice that I’m getting too much sun, too. I feel like my eyes are sunburned practically. I struggle to comprehend how skin like this even evolved. People practically shame me for “not going out enough” when they straight-up just have darker skin than me.
…And yet the idea of always putting sunscreen on is like, some kind of social faux pas on top of me really not wanting to. It smells, people notice that it smells, it feels gross, people notice that I’m even pastier than usual. It’s like wow, you care about skin care enough to deal with that and spend gobs of money sticking a shot glass of sunscreen on yourself every two hours? God forbid if I actually had lip balm of all things as a man, and wearing clothing that would actually keep the sun at bay a little bit, ahhhahahaha. No. /rant
TL;DR what do y’all do about the sun existing?
Edit: I got over myself and started buying decent sunscreen. And decent SPF lip balm because Jesus Christ my lips are somethin’ else. If people think it’s weird to not get skin cancer that’s their problem.
100%. There’s no need to use the thick, waterproof sport-grade sunscreen if you’re just running to grab the mail or drive into work. Cosmetic sunscreen is light and sinks in almost instantly.
I’ve considered it. It’s always in makeup isles. Women are always acting like men are encroaching on the last spaces they have to themselves.
Yeah, this. Plug in some values relevant to you into that calculator OP linked to, and see what happens by simply changing the SPF from 1 to just 10. It buys you quite some time!
I hate wearing sunscreen. Always have. Being a pale kid in Florida was unpleasant. I (now in my late 30s and having to take care of myself more) was recently recommended this face cream with SPF 20, and it’s a life changer. Water based, and I can’t even tell it’s there after a couple of minutes.
I’m sure there are cheaper products (this is the first one I’ve tried) that can achieve similar results. I’m sure it being water based is the key to not feeling awful to put on and wear.