It stems from many summers going to Lake Michigan for some beach time with my mom and sister. It also is harvested in the 14 summers spent camping on Lake Superior in Ontario at Pancake Bay. (Seriously, even if you are not the camping type, just suck it up and go camping there for a week sometime in your life and you will thank me. Most peaceful, gorgeous, and uncrowded beach on this earth.)
This is what happens. You go to the beach with your mom. You are determined to work on that nice suntan. It is a bit cloudy in the morning when you set up your spot on the beach so you say to each other, "I'm going to wait a bit and then I'll put my sunscreen on." Then about half an hour later, you say to each other, "Okay, we should probably put on some sunscreen." And by this, I mean you must bust out the SPF 4. Many of you may question this and ask yourselves, you mean they make SPF 4?
It doesn't end there, my friends. About an hour and a half later it is time to get out of the sun for some lunch. You admire how tan you are looking, but you clearly both agree that you could get a bit darker. So for safety's sake, you say to each other, "I think we should go back to the beach yet this afternoon, but maybe we should use SPF 8 this time." See how we did that? We were ratcheting up the SPF from 4 to 8. Brilliant plan!
Oh yes, this is true. This is exactly how it goes down every single time. And when you return from a late afternoon suntanning session on the beach, you tell each other, "No, you don't look red at all. You look tan." As you cook dinner, lounge around the campsite (or lounge around the house as it is after returning from a Lake Michigan outing) you don't think about your relaxation in the sun one bit.
Five hours later as you move in some strange position in a chair, it hits you. You have gone and burned your butt yet again. A quick look in the mirror confirms that this is true. There is a tell-tale line that separates bright white and deep red on each of your butt cheeks.
Well friends, I did it again. I was up on the roof deck the other day and I burned my butt. Inevitably, I spend the next three days recuperating from burning my butt by freaking out that I have developed melanoma. Then I start to google melanoma and look at gross pictures to confirm that yes, that is just a sunspot and not a cancerous growth. (Please don't google images of melanoma. It is gross. I have spared you by not posting a photo here. Now I warned you, so as you immediately go to google it, don't blame me.)
Anyone else have a similar issue or am I alone here?
P.S. I am sure some of you will be concerned for my health and think I am not taking this seriously. I can assure you in reality I do as I have known people that dealt with melanoma. I just had to write this P.S. as a little disclaimer for those that may freak out.
When I was little and we had a pool, I loved the SPF 4. I think I had 6 and 8, too, just in case, so that cracked me up that you said that same thing. Now I am an SPF 50 or higher and so are the kids. I don't want to deal with a sunburn on a very small child.
ReplyDeleteI've never burned my butt, but I've burned my knees a couple of times and it's ANNOYING. My poor husband gets burned somewhere practically every time we go outside, even with SPF 30. So delicate. :-)
ReplyDeleteI always use a higher SPF than you do...usually what happens is I miss a spot and get an odd red shaped blotch, better than burning all over but it looks funny! :)
ReplyDeleteI hate when that happens! When we had field day at school this past year, I decided to use the opportunity to get a little sun on my arms and shoulders. So when asked if I wanted to borrow someone's sunscreen, I very politely declined. "Nah, we won't be out that long. I need a little tan." No tan...just really red and then peeling :(
ReplyDeleteI gave myself a really bad burn two weeks ago...the entire backside of both thighs. Man alive, it hurt! Go for the 30 SPF and you can tan over a longer period of time and not burn. It's so hard to know though, cuz you never show the burn right away.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is that if I use SPF 15 or higher I will never tan. My skin isn't fair at all and I tan really well. It's only the butt that gets me and I think it is because it usually never sees the light of day! ;)
DeleteI can't say I've ever done that, burned my chest once by wearing a low cut top (that sucked really bad) but that's about it. I have vampire white skin so I always break out my toddler's SPF 50, lol!
ReplyDeleteLast year I burned my arms up near my shoulders. I was wearing a tshirt at the time and so I have a lovely farmer's tan that shows whenever I wear a tank top or summer dress. One year later and I still have noticeable tan lines from this burn! This year I've decided to avoid tanning/burning at all and wear sunblock spf 20 on my face and arms everyday. If I'm wearing a bathing suit, then spf 30 or higher.
ReplyDeleteyay Ontario! :)
ReplyDeletehaving been a lifeguard... I have burned EVERYWHERE. Be thankful it's your bum and not your scalp.... aaahhhhh. Nightmares.
Um, don't think I've ever had this issue. Haha. I always use max spf if I'm going to be in the sun for a long period of time. Even though I'm really white, practically transparent, I don't usually burn anyway...I just wear max spf because I don't want any more skin issues and I could care less about being tan. That lake looks so pretty. :)
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