I have new found sympathy for White People

[HamdenRice]

because I went to the beach a few days ago and got sunburned. I'm a chocolate-complexioned African American, and therefore I rarely get sunburned. I think I've only experienced it about 3 times in my life, despite practically living at the beach as a kid, and having lived in Africa and frequently visited the Caribbean. I never use sunblock because a dermatologist once told me that there are hardly any reported cases of people my complexion getting skin cancer linked to sun exposure.

The last time I had sun burn was at least 10 years ago. The time before that was some time in the mid 1980s, I think.

How do you folks put up with it? How often have you been sunburned? It feels yucky and annoying.

[Deep13]

1. I managed to avoid a serious case of it so far this year.

It was worse when I lived back East and the beaches in RI were an hour away. My partial French ancestory makes me not quite as white as Conan O'Brien, so ordinary prudence is all I need. My wife who was born in England needs to be extremely careful. She gets burnt just thinking about the sun. Getting burnt means using a sunburn remedy to stop the pain which is made worse by contact. Getting in the shower with a sunburn is pretty frightening. Each water droplet creates its own zing of pain. Then comes the peeling.

I wonder if Black people have a lower incidence of cataracts than blue-eyed Europeans.

[HamdenRice]

3. I grew up near the Long Island beaches

and my mother was a fishing fanatic, so she would go to the piers at Robert Moses, and after we got bored watching her fish, we would head off to Robert Moses beach.

Funny thing is that 2 out of 3 times I've been sunburned, it was at Robert Moses -- including this time. Something about East Coast beaches on clear days, I guess.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Smart white people have always tried to avoid sunburns.

Long before everyone became aware of the skin cancer danger, sunburns were known to be nasty little buggers because of the feeling that you're on fire and later on all that ugly peeling skin.
Most white people have some melanin and can tan rather than burn if they're paying attention but I've had friends who had two states: pasty white skin, and lobster red. They avoided too much sun exposure.

Vinegar on a sunburn takes the sensation of heat away (old folk remedy) but one does smell like salad dressing after that treatment. :D

[dropkickpa]

5. I'm like your friends

Pasty white or lobster red. I wear sunblock year round now (30 in winter, the new 70 stuff in summer), so have managed to avoid getting sun poisoning for the last, oh, 7 years. Last time happens when I was outside all day working in the rain. I have gotten it about 20 times so far in my life, so am very paranoid about skin cancer, as my risk is really high.

[Rosemary2205]

31. You might ask a dermatologist but

I was told anything over 30spf is a waste of money by my dermatologist.

[dropkickpa]

41. These are the new ones

Their rating is actually accurate. My first samples were given to me by my derm.

[MiserableFailure]

55. If your skin is getting darker,

it means you are absorbing UV rays that although may not show visible sun damage like burning, are still aging your skin. If you don't want to age your skin prematurely, you should not be getting any suntan except that from a bottle or spray booth.

[Bullwinkle925]

4. Thankfully - I've had very few cases of sunburn . . .

I don't spend a hugh amount of time in the sun - esp. at peak hours. I'm sorry that you had to go through the 'underbelly of a lizard' experience.
How much time were you in the sun to get that *burn*? I've always wished my skin had darker tones to it - dammit.
:hi:

[HamdenRice]

12. It was about four hours at Robert Moses beach

perfectly clear day, no umbrella, in and out of the water. My friend, who is Puerto Rican, was trying to get her summer tan.

Btw, her skin color, like the skin color of many Puerto Rican friends, has an amazing "range." In the winter, she has the complexion of a European, maybe an Italian. By the end of the summer or after a trip to PR, we are almost the same complexion.

It's weird. Never knew people could change THAT much.

[rug]

6. Every time I went to Rockaway i wore a dashiki. No problem.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

9. delete

[Kajsa]

7. Two valuable items- a beach umbrella and

sunscreen with a SPF of 40+.

My ancestry is Swedish, so you know we burn very easily.

I grew up on Santa Monica beach back in the early 50's
when moderate income families could live on the beach.

Back then, I did get sunburned as did my big brother, as
public awareness of sun damage to the skin/ skin cancer
was very low. I remember kids slathering themselves in
baby oil, then frying in the sun like roasting chickens!

Now, in our 50's and 60's, we are paying the price for it.
I have to have " suspicious" bumps and moles removed
at least once a year.

I still go to the beach, but I always sit under the umbrella
and cover myself in sunscreen before I go out.
The same goes for everyone in my family.

[Nikia]

8. When I was a teen, I used to burn once a year

For some reason, I didn't really burn as a child despite spending a lot of time outside in the summer.
When I was a teenager, there was usually some event like a track meet where I would be without a lot less clothes than usual. My shoulders and arms got crispy although for some reason my legs did not.
By college, I learned about the virtues of sunscreen. When I went down south for spring break though, I spent an afternoon at the beach. I wore a relatively revealing bikini. Despite using sunscreen, I seemed to burn on the areas that had never been sun exposed.
I have not burned for several years now. I try to remember sunscreen and actively seek it out or shelter if I do and have been exposed around an hour or more to the sun.
I know that there is supposed to be directly correlation to skin color and sun burn. I have had some darker complected friends though that insist that they burn easily. One of my friends even told me that she thought that it was a racist myth that black people don't need sunscreen. My friends and I have lived in the North are entire lives though if that makes a difference.

[treestar]

10. Noxema helps

Once you have it, at least I have found, that Noxema cools the skin down and gives some relief.

It sucks to be of Irish descent. Must be always cloudy there so no sun defense evolved. In my next life I intend to be descended from a darker skinned group!

[jonnyblitz]

11. this is funny because I tell people who ask if getting tattooed hurts

that it feels like somebody rubbing a sunburn. it seemed like the last bunch of people who asked me about tattoo pain were African Americans and the rubbing the sunburn analogy was worthless to them because each told me they never get sunburned. :shrug:

I have turned maroon from sunburns in my youth. now i avoid lots of sun exposure because it fades tattoo ink.


it was cool seeing you in Brooklyn a few weeks back, btw. :hi:

[HamdenRice]

14. Hi -- didn't know the sun fades tattoos

That was fun! When's the next Brooklyn meetup?

[jonnyblitz]

17. oh hell yeah, sun and pool chlorine wreaks havoc on tattoo ink..

black ink turns a blah green.
I suppose a Brooklyn meetup can happen anytime. check with the usual suspects from Brooklyn. :P I personally would be more inspired to attend once this heat dies down a bit. bridge and tunnel folk like myself have to travel a bit to get there.

[supernova]

13. I got burnt yesterday by the pool

I was poolside from about 11:30 to 6pm. I did pretty good with my face and arms and legs aren't too bad, I remembered to use my sunscreen regularly. You have to reapply sunscreens about every 2 hours, or just after you come out of the water. But I FORGOT about my back! I look BBQd. Ouch. I'm pretty sure it will peel next week. :P

My little nephew had a sunblock stick, kinda like a mini deoderant, and I used that on my face at one point, since I could feel it stinging, even with my 30 face sunscreen. My face doesn't have a lot of sun on it. Good job for me!

I'm very fair; I burn then tan. I have to:

Wear sunblock, sunsreen.
Stay in the shade if available. I sat under the umbrella yesterday. Though you still get the reflected rays off the water.
Wear a shirt or coverup part of the time. I wore a T shirt yesterday.

Couple of relief suggestions:

If you are feverish (with chills even!) take some aspirin.

Vinegar compress, while stinky, can take the heat out. (I learned that from a summer visit to a college friend who lived in FL many moons ago.

Some people swear by plain Aloe too.

Moisterize. Mositerize. Mositerize.


Sidebar: I once worked for a woman who was African American and Cherokee. She was kinda cafe au lait colored. Halley Berry beautiful too. Grew up in OK. One day, she came back from a week at the beach and said "I"m sunburned! Fo the first time IN MY LIFE. " She was shocked and disturbed. :-)

Hope you feel better tomorrow. :hug:

[HamdenRice]

15. aspirin!

The thing I had forgotten was just how overall lousy it makes you feel. The burn, mostly on my shoulders and back, isn't really that bad. At first the next morning, I couldn't even figure out what it was. I thought I had irritated my skin by carrying a heavy back pack or something. Then it hit me, duh! you're sunburned.

But it was the overall yucky sick feeling that was more remarkable than the actual burn. No wonder they call it sun "poisoning."

[supernova]

18. Yeah, I'm feeling kinda wiped out

today. This is the first I've burned in at least 10 years. I try to avoid it if at all possible for the same reasons every other white person does. Plus, the sun ages you, can make you look older over time than you could look.

My niece and her hubby went to cancun last month. I didn't get to see them before they left, but I noticed she was quite tan yesterday. She told me she spent the month before cancun having tanning visits because she didn't want to get burnt down there, i.e. forgetting her sunblock regularly.

Sun poisoning is really severe and requires an emergency room visit. If you are just kinda out of it, and sensitive to touch, then you're just properly burned. Join the crowd. :P :-)

[Kali]

35. because it really is a form of radiation poisoning

also the same activities that "cause" sun burns also contribute to dehydration so be sure to keep the water intake going.

[JVS]

16. The guards don't allow me to go out into the sunlight

[S n o w b a l l]

19. Sunburns were an April ritual...

for the forthcoming summer of baby oil and iodine suntans. That's the way I grew up...laying out with my mother. My how things have changed. I think this is the first yr I haven't worried about a tan. It's really true about the age and wisdom thing. I feel fortunate that I escaped before the old leathery look.

:)

[Thirtieschild]

20. Redheads, with that pink complexion, have the worst time of all

Our daughter, a strawberry blonde, once forgot to put sun screen on her eyelids and ended up with burned eyelids. When he was a child our redheaded son came home from a Scout outing with huge watery blisters across his back and shoulders.

[suzbaby]

21. I have the whitest of white skin you ever did see.

It takes me about 15 minutes to start turning pink. Damn my Irish heritage. Wear sunblock. :)

My husband recently spent the entire day on a rafting trip and he neglected to get his ankles with sunblock. He's burned so bad, his skin is now looking bruised and kind of purple.

[KitchenWitch]

22. I am fish belly white and I have been burned more times than I can even remember

I have had a few burns that lead to blisters and sun poisoning. Not fun.

I slather on sunscreen all the time now.

[Ellen Forradalom]

23. At least I'm not as badly off as my mother and brother

Both of them turn bright red if they even think of going outside. My brother is a flaming carrottop and my mother simply very pale. Mom's ancestors are from Great Britain, The Land that Summer Forgot.

As for me, I inherited just enough hot Latina blood to turn a bit brown in the sun. Thanks, Argentine grandma!

However I still have to take care in the sun, especially early in the year: big hats, rash guards over the swimsuit, lightweight quickdry clothing, hang out in the shade, go to the beach late in the day, and, of course, sun block.

My strawberry-blond son tans like his dad but slathering him with sunblock in the morning is a summertime ritual.

[Darth_Kitten]

24. I'm pretty light complexioned, but I just try not to......

stay out in the sun for long periods. Haven't been to any beaches this summer, so I guess I'm lucky.

Several years ago I fell asleep in the sun at the beach, and when I got home...ouch. that hurt. :(

I would use sunscreen if I were you as well. I mean, you obviously did get burned. :hug:

[ikojo]

25. I was allergic to the sun when I was a kid

so I lived lathered in medicated lotion and wore large brimmed hats.

I think I've had two sunburns in my life and I got sick from them. Probably second degree burns but my mom didn't have the money to take me to the doctor. I remember suffering in pain for a few days. I also got a headache and vomited.

I have much respect for heat now.

[Karenina]

32. My skin is milk chocolate in colour BUT...

I'M ALLERGIC!!! People think it's funny. IT'S NOT FUNNY. Even reflected light will set it off. Went hiking in the Alps slathered in this 100% block white cream. :woohoo: Didn't get zapped. The next day we sat on the balcony IN THE SHADE playing bi-lingual Scrabble. I got zapped but good. Red, swollen, weeping skin for DAYS. I was MISERABLE.

I've arranged my life to STAY OUT OF THE SUN. COMPLETELY.

[HamdenRice]

44. I've met other "black" people with that problem

Apparently, is has nothing to do with racial heritage or even skin color, but genetics. I have met (and others have posted here) that there are black people who burn easily. I'm actually not that dark, but my skin has whatever some Africans evolved not to burn!

Good talking to you K!

[zanne]

26. I'm glad you posted that.

It's one of those questions I've always wanted to ask, but didn't out of fear of looking like a doofus. Some white people are so white they burn instead of tan. Looking pasty white on the beach is not at all pretty, so we try different lotions, etc. All I ever get is a very red nose.

[Evoman]

27. I'm very white....but I have good Latino genes.

Despite being as white as any white person, I tan VERY nicely. I can stay out in the sun for long periods of time and no burns. I've only gotten sunburns two times in my life, and the worst one was so mild that I barely even peel. I tan super quickly too and turn a nice colour.

I really can't complain.

[Ellen Forradalom]

42. I'm dating a Mediterranean boy

Turns a beautiful brown after a day in the sun. Damn him.

[krispos42]

28. I few times

It burns like a motherfucker. You skin becomes ultra-sensitive to heat and cool. And stretching and flexing, too. I've had sunburns where it hurt to wear a t-shirt...

You can blister up and peel like leper, too. Like in grade school, when you covered your hands in rubber cement to go gross out the other kids... except it's real!

Oh, and the pain... :-(


Usually this really bad stuff only happens on skin that's normally covered up, like your upper arms, chest, and back, and then you go out in the sun for a few hours without protection. Other skin, like on your face and lower arms and legs, usually is partially tan already. So you'll get some redness and sensitiveness for a couple of days, but not the 'mummify me in gauze and Solarcaine' kind of pain.

Solarcaine contains topical painkillers and skin moisturizers like aloe to minimize the effects of sunburn. Get some.

It even comes in an aerosol can, so you don't have to rub it in and watch your skin slough off!

A washrag soaked in vinegar can be used to suck the heat out of the sunburn. Just apply for a few minutes, then remove. Sounds weird, but it works great!

[Maine-ah]

29. I can't play in the sun.

Even with sunscreen I burn. Last time I burned, I was glowing in the dark, and was puking half the night. It sucked.

As I understand it, suntan or sunburn, both are considered to be "sun damaged skin"....anyone else hear of this?

[cwydro]

30. I am surprised

because I understood that blacks were just as at risk for skin cancer as whites. Also, my girlfriend some years ago (who was black) was VERY easily sunburned. She always covered up when we went to the beach, while I baked myself stupidly and happily.

I think the most at risk for melanoma is the red headed pale skin type with freckles, like my mom, who had it years ago. I am not a redhead but certainly a freckled white Brit. And I live in south Florida.

But I feel your pain. Sunburn is a bitch. I have had it very badly and mostly as a young person. Probably I am doomed, if you believe the literature.

Get some Aloe gel...you can find it at any CVS or drugstore type place. Hope you feel better. Noxzema is great too on a sunburn.

[HamdenRice]

43. I think it might be a political correctness thing

I would be the first to say that accusations of "political correctness" are bullshit -- in the sense that it isn't progressives who accuse people of not being politically correct, but right wingers who make up all manner of situations to accuse progressives of saying, 'that's not poltically correct.'

That said, the reality is that Africans and their descendants (African Americans, Afro Caribbeans) developed dark skin to avoid the dangers of strong sunlight, with Darwinian efficiency. Generally, if you are dark skinned, you don't burn, or at least, dont' burn often.

I had my first sun burn at the age of 26 -- after several months of New England winters -- and didn't even know what the hell it was at first. We burn in North America only if the sky is exceptionally cloudless and the sky is exceptionally clear.

[Kali]

33. ....

:rofl:

[LynneSin]

34. You know what's scary - you shouldn't be getting sunburn

but our ozone is so screwed up that people who I know who normally tan quite easily have to layer on the heavy-duty SPF.

You can thank the republican administration for that lovely burn

:cry:

ps - as a pasty white chick I don't go out in the sun with anything less than 50SPF on me and then if I can find shade I stay there.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

36. I went to an amusement park about a month ago ...

and I came back that night and noticed the tan lines wear my tanktop covered my upper body. I did'nt realize that I can tan because I am African-American as well but now I will use Sunblock the next time I go out for an extended time in the sun. I took it for granted ... silly but I did. I never understood why some people tanned. I remember asking my fiance and his family why they tanned when I was living in Germany because I seriously did not "get it".

[XemaSab]

37. Sunburns: the White Man's Burden

:hide:

[Kutjara]

38. I'm so white I'm actually pale blue.

If I step out in the sun, I burn to a crisp instantly, like some B-movie vampire. Not a pretty sight. My wife has a similar complexion and uses some godawful factor-five-billion sunblock that looks like mime paint. I just stay in my coffin until nightfall.

[Adsos Letter]

39. When I was about 12...

...my best friend and I went swimming at his parent's house...

Mid-July, roasting hot California day...

About 1:00 we went and laid down on our towels in their driveway and promoptly fell asleep...no shade, no sunscreen, just white bodies...it was about 1 1/2 hours before his mom noticed us lying out there...

I still have the blister scars on my shoulders, back, and back of my legs...40 years after the fact...

:D

[FloridaJudy]

40. I burn just walking by the tanning parlor

What I get for being half Irish and half Russian.

I use factor 80 sunscreen and a long-sleeve shirt whenever I step outdoors: people who sun-bathe like lizards in the Florida heat are freakin' nuts.

[Seashell Eyes]

45. It does suck

The only people whiter than me are albinos. What I do is play outside in the sun, come in at around 10:30am and go back out at around 4:00pm. The last time I got a sunburn was six years ago. I was at a pre-college summer program and we went to a beach in Massachusetts. I had only been there a week and didn't want to ask someone to put sunscreen on my back, so I tried squirting it on the wall of the bathroom and rubbing my back against it. It didn't work.

[MilesColtrane]

46. Get a big box of tea bags and dump them in a bath of room temperature water.

Get in the bath tub and soak in it.

The tannic acid in the tea stops the burning sensation and helps the skin heal.

[Orrex]

57. How much does that cost? It sounds pretty steep!

Get it? Steep! That's hysterical!

:rofl::rofl::rofl:


Of course, it only works if you're into tea-bagging.

[texanwitch]

47. Get some Aloe Vera After the Sun Gel.

Aloe Vera is also good for burns in general.

I haven't sunburned in years because I stay out of the sun during the day, and I wear a straw hat.

Hope you feel better soon.

[undeterred]

48. I rarely experience it because I protect my skin

but I remember the dumb teenage days when I would deliberately go to the beach for a burn. I don't really tan deeply. So its kind of dangerous. Now I just think its a waste of time to "work on your tan" but when I was a teen that was all I cared about. And when you get a bad burn- well I imagine thats what it feels like to be burned by chemicals or in a fire. Aint no fun at all.

[VenusRising]

49. I stay out of the sun as much as possible.

I had the worst sunburn of my life in '96. I was at a two day concert festival, and by the time the weekend was over, my eyes were swollen shut. It was the most unpleasant experience. I had tea bags on my eyes and wet washcloths on my face for 2 weeks. Never again.

I have pretty much become a vampire.

[Maru Kitteh]

50. This stuff is expensive but it is the ONLY thing that really works longer term

Noxema feels really, really good when you put it on, but pretty soon that fades away.
Same way with aloe vera gels.
Some home remedies can dry the crap out of your already insulted skin.



Available at any pharmacy.

My Irish hubby requires rescue every few years or so. Poor fella.

[pink-o]

51. I thought you felt sorry for us because we're so clueless and scared of you guys!

...like that cartoon from "Bowling for Columbime" with all the whiteys screaming in fear and locking themselves away from "those people" in their gated communities.

Oh...you're talking about SUNBURN!!!

My ancestry is Askenazi Jewish, and we are the colour of shirts soaked in clorox! I can't hardly believe we started out in the middle-east, lost the pigment but retained the Afro hair (Jew-fro???). So not fair.

I spent 5 years in England, with my Irish-American friend, after living in California in the 60s and 70s. I remember turning to said friend and saying: "Damn, these Limeys are whiter than we are!" Back in 74, when the ozone still covered the earth, you couldn't get a tan in England, even if you were out during the one of the 50 days it didn't rain at high noon!! So I saved my skin for a bit.

Until I got to Jamaica.

Spent a year there, and probably undid all the good from living in the frozen northland. And even tho I have only a few wrinkles, don't forget--the constant sunning also breaks down collegen and you get to watch your face move south.

That's why African Americans look younger than we do--all the melanin delays that collegen loss. All you young thangs using sunscreen regardless of you ethnicity, keep it up! The precautions are worth it!

[stuntcat]

52. I'm like AMAZED how stupid I was this weekend.

I was down in Florida for a get-together of my in-laws. I decided to get away so I walked up & down the beach for two hours. I'd put sunscreen on just my shoulders and my nose, totally underestimating the sun. Now my calves are bright pink and the tops of my feet are spotty red and swollen. I won't be able to wear shoes for a few days x(
This only happens to me once every few years, always because I was being dumb. I spend a lot of time walking and gardening but it's always my arms and my face getting sun, not the parts I fried yesterday. I might have some kind of "sun-poisoning" I was told, I was shaking earlier today and the tops of my feet really look diseased.

My husband's native American and he got burnt too, but not near as bad as I did.

[jobycom]

53. It's why we can't jump. We spend all our time inside to avoid sunburns.

Eight foot ceilings, you know.:)

[Laurier]

54. There must be more to it than that

I'm "white" with Italian and Irish background, but I tan easily and have only once been sunburnt (and that was when I was 14 or 15 years old). My partner is "black", and has had to resort to all manner of sunscreen products after having been sunburnt numerous times.

So, I'm thinking that there has to be more to it than simply black and white. Different tolerances to the sun for different reasons? I don't know.

[Orrex]

56. Compared to me, Orca's belly is chocolate-complexioned

My skin reflects light more perfectly than a polished mirror.
Someone once threw a snowball at me and couldn't tell if he'd hit me.
I've often had a milk moustache that no one could see.



I've been sunburned several times in my life, only twice really badly. But the annoying thing is that I hover at painful, cooked-lobster-red for a few days, then leap back to Oreo-middle-white in the space a few hour, without ever enjoying the rich, golden brown that one might otherwise think was the transitional phase.

[Pale Blue Dot]

58. Irish redhead here.

I burn if people take flash pictures of me. Welcome to the club. :-)