The sun REALLY ages you!

[jcm]

Wow. I'm 38 and of course was a sun-worshipper in my college years. But lately I've been with people my age who camp a lot in the summer - and get tan and don't avoid the sun - and I'm just struck by the ageing in their face! It's totally possible I don't see my own. It's made me very glad I found a great aesthetician and have been avoiding the sun.

Jen

 

[chikaygo]

I've actually read that most wrinkling occurs from sun damage. After all, if you look at the areas of your body that aren't regularly exposed to the sun..they don't become leathery and the skin doesn't thin and sag nearly as much. Even with all the plastic surgery these days, you can usually tell a woman's age by her hands..cause it's often most neglected, even by those who use sunscreen regularly.

My aunt and my mom are four years apart, my mom being older..and both are in their 50's. My aunt has tanned her whole life, and continues to do so to this day, my mom only tanned once or twice in her life. You can see a huge difference in their faces, even though my mom is actually older! My aunt has very deep lines by her eyes and around her mouth. However, if you stand about 2 - 3 feet away from my mom..you see almost no lines at all, and close up, mostly just fine lines. It's insane the difference between them..and being that their genes and lifestyles are similar except for the tanning, it's obvious what the culprit is. I'm 28, and just barely starting to see fine lines...i'm hoping that 10+ years of daily sunscreen use will keep those lines away!

Kay

 

[Alana_as]

I have pretty fair skin and I NEVER tan...I think that tan/dark skin is very attractive...naturally...however, I was not born with that gene, tehee!

BUT...as I see people both older and younger than me (i'm 26) it apalls me how damaging the sun can be and how icky it can make peoples skin.

Just today, when I got out of the car to walk to my work, my forearms had a light pink huge and they felt like they were on fire! for MAYBE 30 seconds were they exposed to the sun today....

All I have to say, I don't care HOW WHITE I am...I'll be the most wrinkle and cancer free gal!

 

[RapidBreath]

Alana- Me neither, I got the insides of a native but the skin of a Welch girl I always notice the sun exposure on other people. I have a cousin with blond eyelashes and I burn just like her. I was born blond but turned dark in my teens but I still have these red highlights.

When I was a kid I had a terrible sunburn but we put lots of vit. E and aloe on it and I look normal even though I had burned most of my shoulders/face/chest. The worst part was the vinegar my mother insisted on putting on me. Oh, the blisters were terrible. Some of the skin had turned black. I don't know how it really happened, I do wonder if there wasn't a combination of factors: sun and a chemical burn. I even burned my eyes, I had floaters for years but for some reason I healed. Most people can't tell that I ever had a burn, but maybe its like having a peal where the skin underneath is new.

 

[kathryn]

I remember when I was a kid and saw the wife of a doctor my parents worked for up close for the first time: she was probably around 60, but looked 90. It was the winter, so she didn't have much of a tan (which she always had in the summer), and she looked like a white prune.

 

[jcm]

HA! White prune - that sounds attractive!

 

[AYLE09]

Not gonna lie here- total sun worshipper! I most DEFINETELY spend way too much time in the sun.... but I just love it! I'm careful when it comes to sunscreen application (especially on my face) but I know that all of the exposure will catch up to me eventually.

 

[mlmccauley]

I love the look of a great tan but I avoid the sun as well. I try to get my color from a self-tanner - until of course we find out that it is bad for us too.

Maria

 

[NY25]

I worked with a woman who was a big time tanner. One day she was wearing a lowish-cut shirt and I couldn't help but notice the skin on her decolletage. She was seated, and her LV bag was sitting beside her and her skin looked just like her handbag. She wasn't even 40. It actually looked awful and I couldn't help but wonder, what is she going to look like in her 50s, 60s and beyond. yikes!

 

[pjlippert]

Oh my gosh, does it ever age you!! There is a gal at the pool who tans for hours each day and I swear she looks almost dark purple!! she's probably only in her late 30's but her skin looks like she's about 70!! Same with the other sun-worshippers, their skin just kinda hangs there all wrinkly and leathery- yuck!! .

We're up at about 8000feet so the air is REALLY thin. You can get tanned/burned in no time even with SPF 50. I limit our pool days to 1-2 a week for no more than an hour- less if it's crazy hot & sunny.... and NEVER at the peak sun, preferably when it's cloudy even though I know that still causes sun damage.

You can TOTALLY spot the sun-worshippers as the Seasons go on- they just look horrible!

Pam

 

[jcm]

I just wish I could take back the damage I did years ago. It's taken a lot of facials to reduce the splotchiness on my face. In early college I used to sit all day - on the lake - no sunscreen - to burn because it always turned into a awesome tan. After a bit of peeling. Stupid stupid. Trying to teach my kids otherwise. Although my mom warned me but youth ...

Jen

 

[JeanneMarie]

I just wish I could take back the damage I did years ago. It's taken a lot of facials to reduce the splotchiness on my face. In early college I used to sit all day - on the lake - no sunscreen - to burn because it always turned into a awesome tan. After a bit of peeling. Stupid stupid. Trying to teach my kids otherwise. Although my mom warned me but youth ...

Jen

I was a "super tanner" in my youth as well. Somehow I had the presence of mind to always protect my face. I used to have a tanned body and a white face, so I'd wear a self tanner on my face. Thank goodness I at least did that.

I always thought a tan looked so pretty too. Why do we (did we) think that way? Now when I see someone with a tan I think, "Oh, why in the world is she doing that?" What I now think is lovely are young girls who don't tan and have that beautiful white skin. I wish I had thought that way years ago.

Who in the world decided that a tan was desireable??

 

[exer_cited]

I have very white, freckly skin and did my fair share of burning when I was younger.

Now everytime I even get the notion in my head that I want a tan, which is virtually impossible anyway, I think of Magda from the movie There's Something About Mary...

Works every time!!!

 

[hstarnes]

So, so true. My sister is an aesthetician and is always on me about wearing my sunscreen daily, especially on my face, which I never bothered with before. But now it just doesn't make sense to me to watch my health in regards to diet and exercise but disregard skin care. Especially after learning about free radicals caused by sun overexposure! It's hard for someone who enjoys being out in the sun, though!

 

[pjlippert]

OMG Magda!! TOTALLY the vision that should flash in front of ANYBODY thinking of tanning!

Back in the day I used to be called TANOREXIC because I refused/couldn't seem to get a decent tan in my 20's and 30's! Good thing since I fried my body in my teens!! Remember those delicious coconut scented oils that I'm sure were -10 on the SPF ten scale!!

Thank GOD my sister and I are blessed with great skin genetics- I don't intend on abusing that - especially now that I'm in my 40's!! In fact, I'm gonna go and buy a really cute big floppy sun hat before I go out again!

Pam

 

[jthornton202264]

I just wish I could take back the damage I did years ago. It's taken a lot of facials to reduce the splotchiness on my face. In early college I used to sit all day - on the lake - no sunscreen - to burn because it always turned into a awesome tan. After a bit of peeling. Stupid stupid. Trying to teach my kids otherwise. Although my mom warned me but youth ...

Jen

I, too, used to tan heavily when I was teenager (which was in the early 80's). I was fair skinned, but if I stayed out long enough each time, I did develop a pretty nice tan (my best friend and I used to lay out for hours!). I wish to goodness I could turn back time and NOT do all the sunbathing! I'm now 45 and for the past 4 or 5 years I've had sun spots, blotchy skin, etc. on my arms and face. The good thing is that I'm not all "wrinkly". I guess that was because I started working in an office at the age of 19 and quit laying out in the sun. I've pretty much avoided the sun since that time. But unfortunately, I did the main damage when I was out sunbathing during my teenage years. I have a friend who is only 2 years older than me and she is an avid sunbather (has been her whole life). I swear she looks to be in her late 50's/early 60's. Anyhow -- I stick with the self tanners and hopefully we'll be able to continue that until they find out that this is unsafe for us (just like one of the previous posters mentioned above). It's just a matter of time before THAT will probably happen!

Julie

 

[SirenSongWoman]

I avoided the sun my whole life so my skin always felt great, but I was the only one who loved my alabaster glow. When I wore shorts people would joke about my fluorescent legs and being forced to wear sunglasses from their blinding light. I was finally forced to look into airbrush "tanning," and I've never looked back. It is kind of a hassle and taking care of it takes some getting used to but it's fairly cheap and looks great so it's worth it. I love wearing a white dress now .

Sometimes I think the only thing that MIGHT work on sun addicts (the threat of cancer sure doesn't) is to just say "Honey, your skin looks like sh*t." They don't care about their health so maybe if you attack their vanity? I know I'm not brave enough to do it. But my airbrusher has the most beautiful business cards and half of them disappeared when I taped them up in the locker room at work. Maybe I got through to someone...

 

[mabdoo]

One of my grandmothers is a sunworshipper and she has looked really old since she was in her forties. Her skin has such deep wrinkles, even in her cheeks. My other grandmother never went in the sun and had the softest most beautiful skin ever. She hardly had any wrinkles. We really can learn a lot from our elders.

 

[buckeyegirl]

Boy, can I relate!! I remember WANTING to be out from 10-2 pm and loading up in baby oil. I sometimes wonder how I lived thru those teenage years what with all the stupidity and moronic things (drinking and driving, too) I still have younger friends that bake in the sun and think that getting burnt is cool. Several coworkers go to tanning beds on a regular basis. Nothing I say will deter them. It's sad really.

DH and I are heading to our yearly "adults only" weekend with several couples where we rent an entire B&B with a pool. I've already bought two really cute big floppy hats - they look adorable!

Thank goodness for high quality self-tanners these days - it's easy to fake it, look good, and be safe.
Heidi

 

[jcm]

I never even thought to look into spray tan. I have no idea the cost or how long it lasts? I do like the fake stuff. I just use on my arms and legs so I don't glow in the dark!