I’ve always felt sunscreen never lives up to its promise.

It’s tedious to apply thoroughly. It loses effectiveness with water, sweat, etc — inevitable when outside.

It would work best in indoor conditions but then wouldn’t be needed…

I suppose I could sun bathe on a cool winter day … but that just isn’t fun.

grumpy-de-sre 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

As an aussie kid I bought into the whole sunscreen hype, but after more than half a dozen failures/partial failures. I've pretty much given up on the stuff (excluding areas that are difficult to protect fully with coverings, neck/face/etc).

Long sleeve thick cotton shirts, long pants, and a good wide brimmed hat are easily ten times more effective in practice. My old hard as a tack, shearer grandfather used to swear by black picnic umbrellas (great option if you are spending time working in a fixed location).

Of course you can't swim that well in long sleeved clothes hence the popularity of sunscreen. I'm totally against Aussie beaches at this point though, yes they are nice and all but the radiation dose is just nuts.

Would love to see something like the Apple Watch include UV dosimeter functionality.

	▲	jijijijij 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		> [Smart] watch include UV dosimeter functionality This is actually a fucking great idea! I presume, the location and orientation variation at the wrist probably makes for a good baseline exposure measure. Quite honestly, either direction would be super useful data. Would be nice to get a warning/notification for too much, or too little sun exposure. Long term pooled population data would be invaluable, too. Also, while we're at it, please throw in an actual dosimeter, x-ray/particle detector too. Not that useful now, but very, very cool, and who knows, if we have to fight giant cockroaches and stuff in the days to come.

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hilbert42 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"I’ve always felt sunscreen never lives up to its promise."

I agree with that for the same reasons. Nevertheless, I'll still use sunscreen when I have to. In Australia there are times when it's hard to avoid the sun but I avoid it at every opportunity.

If at the end of a day I feel my skin the slightest bit sore from exposure I know I've not been proactive enough.

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McAlpine5892 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sunscreen is, overall, a terrible experience. Five or six years ago I started getting into sun-protective clothing after running into issues with vitiligo. Clothing is vastly superior from every angle.

1. It’s easy to apply. Slip a sun hoodie over the head - protected.

2. Because it’s so easy to apply it always goes on when needed.

3. It’s impossible to miss spots or under-apply in certain areas. If fabric covers the skin, you’re solid.

4. This is subjective but it’s more comfortable. On a sunny 90F day with a high UV, direct sun on skin feels like sticking your hand on a hot skillet.

My fun fact for all this is that the Bedouins wear black robes in the desert heat. Not white. It’s counterintuitively cooler for the wearer [0]. Sunscreen is a great modern invention with its use cases, but humans have been wearing clothing for eons to ward off the sun for a reason. The only real downside is that you may look a bit silly when everyone else is lathered in sunscreen wearing very little clothing.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/283373a0.pdf

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richardw 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In Australia here. I tend to go morning or 3pm. Crowds reduce, UV is lower, sun goes down 8pm in summer (so 3-8 is 5 hours). Anything near midday is silly.

	▲	burnt-resistor 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Hill country TX where 8 month out of the year are 35 C daily and way too much humidity. Agreed, partially. There are times one has to do things when it's blazing hot. On sunscreens, we're still missing: - amiloxate - bemotrizinol - bisdisulizole disodium - bisoctrizole - drometrizole trisiloxane - tris-biphenyl triazine While continuing to allow: - 4-MBC (enzacamene) - avobenzone - oxybenzone - homosalate - octinoxate - octocrylene In the US, buying a safe(r) (for humans and reefs) sunscreen requires a medical and a marine biology degree unless you're willing to slather yourself in white pastes like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. One major barrier is the law demands animal testing prior to approval. Meanwhile, there are still millions of Americans (mostly men) who routinely venture outdoors for work and projects without sufficient protection and accumulate enough exposure that leads to preventable skin cancer. And I had my fair share of sunburns as an active kid.

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therealdrag0 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe it’s inconvenient, but for me the promise is sun protection, and for that it for sure works.

Spray goes on easier, not only does spray cover area, but it spreads easier than cream too, but anything is better than nothing. But I have drifted towards preferring long sleeves, hats, and even a sun umbrella so I don’t have to get greased up.