But I don't.
Summer after summer, I tend to think that I am from Native American or Latino descent, or something, and forget that my Scandinavian skin needs protection from the scorching rays of the sun.
Seriously. You'd think I'd get it. But it's like I have two personalities, a Native American chick who doesn't think she'll ever get sunburned and the realistic Swedish girl who recognizes that she'll burn to a crisp in one billionth of a second of sun exposure.
The Native American girl must be a very strong willed, persuasive gal 'cuz she always wins out with convincing me that sunscreen is for wimps and, by golly, I'll just be out there for an hour or two and psh, who needs sunscreen for that amount of time?
Which leaves the Swedish girl looking like a fool 'cuz she should know better than to go out in the sun with anything less than 425 SPF on during the hottest part of the day.
Sigh. You'd think that this pasty, burns easily skin is new to me and not 35 years old since, apparently, I don't really know how to take care of it.
Ugh. Sunscreen, Mama, sunscreen...
Summer after summer, I tend to think that I am from Native American or Latino descent, or something, and forget that my Scandinavian skin needs protection from the scorching rays of the sun.
Seriously. You'd think I'd get it. But it's like I have two personalities, a Native American chick who doesn't think she'll ever get sunburned and the realistic Swedish girl who recognizes that she'll burn to a crisp in one billionth of a second of sun exposure.
The Native American girl must be a very strong willed, persuasive gal 'cuz she always wins out with convincing me that sunscreen is for wimps and, by golly, I'll just be out there for an hour or two and psh, who needs sunscreen for that amount of time?
Which leaves the Swedish girl looking like a fool 'cuz she should know better than to go out in the sun with anything less than 425 SPF on during the hottest part of the day.
Sigh. You'd think that this pasty, burns easily skin is new to me and not 35 years old since, apparently, I don't really know how to take care of it.
Ugh. Sunscreen, Mama, sunscreen...
LOL...this made me laugh out loud, as I actually do have Native American in me, as well as Danish. When it comes to cheekbones, the Native American wins. When it comes to sensitive, easily-burning skin, the Danish wins every single time. I get it!!!
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I forget the sunscreen also. When I was a teenager, we used baby oil and iodine!
ReplyDeleteI'm a fair skinned redhead and a Florida native. My favorite sunscreen that only takes 2 minutes to apply is Neutrogena Fresh Cooling Spray in spf 30. With it on, you'd never know I set foot into the sunshine. Great for the health of my skin, not always so good when you want to be a color other than translucent. ;)
ReplyDeleteDOH! I am burned to a crisp as well! However, growing up, I NEVER had to wear sunscreen, as I had inherited my dad's beautifully tanning skin (he's German). However, as pregnancy progresses, the Norwegian in me had won over...and despite my REAPPLYING sunscreen every 70 minutes on Saturday, I am crispy.
ReplyDeleteAND THEN (!), I applied some pain killer spray, which apparently my pregnant skin is now ALLERGIC to....which ended up in a rash on top of the burn! I'm a hot mess.
Correction: I'm now blistery! And popping...and peeling. Gross. Just really gross.
I use spray-on sunscreen, easy to apply and reapply. I use either the Neutrogena Erin mentioned or Clinique.
ReplyDeleteMy teaspoon of Native American blood means that the hair on my legs grows back very slowly, but it grows slowly over my fair Irish skin. I got a burn on my upper chest running a camera atop a silver topped production truck on an overcast Labor Day in 1994. If you look close there is still a faint line from it today. It was painful enough that I learned my lesson well!
Yes, I'm familiar with that denial...and the aloe cream that follows.
ReplyDeleteI work for a Native American Tribe in the southwest and the tribal members, even full blooded ones, usually still insist on wearing sunscreen because even though they don't burn in the sun, they don't like to get too dark either.
ReplyDeleteSunscreen stinks and it feels grody. I never wear it. Aaannnddd then I burn to a crisp and spend the next three weeks complaining like its an Olympic event.
ReplyDelete