Sunshine and SPF

Ah....sunshine.

Take pale caucasian skin that hasn't seen open air, let alone sunshine since, oh, mid September

and dump it in the Caribbean sun...

and you've got:

a.  very happy people who can feel the Vitamin D coursing in their blood

b.  a sudden boost in stock options at sunscreen manufacturers

c.  the constant question of "Mom!  Am I burning?  Am I burning Mom?  Mom, does my skin look pink?  Is my face getting burnt Mom?  Do I look like I'm sunburnt on my shoulders? Mom? Mom?  Where's the sunscreen?  Who has the sunscreen?  Should I use more sunscreen?"

I'm telling you!

The first day the skin goes into shock.

I had brought one can of spray 100 spf, two Elmer Glue style creams of 70 spf, ONE SPRAY CAN OF 50 (this becomes critical), one spray can of 30, two lotion bottles of 30.

I was busy unpacking our bags and putting everything away in the girls' room, which I am  happy to say we kept clean and orderly all week, while the boys sun screened up in their room which was mass havoc.

What of the above sunscreens do you think they used?

Hint...they all used the same one and they all got burnt.

I'll tell ya in a bit.

But first, a few pictures of day one...

Bring on the TAN!

This was where I thought to myself....

I could live here.

Right in this chair.

I have food, sunshine and warmth.

ps....I never got truly burnt.  I wore 30 spf from sun up to sun down, except for 70 on my face, and with the exception of my nose, I haven't peeled.

But my nose doesn't count.

It peels if you just look at it.

Chronically peeling nose...CPN...it's a medical condition.

Yes...we reapplied!

(Cheat...this was day two not day one)

But with being in and out of the water all the time....

ALL....

THE TIME!

The sunscreen they used didn't really work.

OF COURSE you were right.  They chose the SPRAY CAN 50 spf because it's EASY.  

Spray over the left shoulder, spray over the right...DONE!

WELL DONE that is......

Here we were for the next two days!:

SHADE WAS OUR FRIEND!

OK OK...Lily got burned.

I USED THE SPF 100 on her the first day, but I used the spray which is worthless for unseasoned skin, and what with being in the ocean and the pool from 9:00am until 6:00 pm....despite re-apps, nothing worked.

She looked fine until that first night, and then I knew we were in trouble.

It was bad.

I am still dealing with the guilt.

It wasn't until the last day again, when we felt like our skin was ready for more solar action.

We panicked and tried to soak up all we could before heading back to 

what we thought would be WINTER weather in MN.

Turns out...it's summer here in MN too.

But not this kind of summer!

Conclusions:

*SPF sprays of any kind fail as a base coat on skin that has no base tan.  They are only useful if you aren't going in the water and  you need a spot reapplied, and even then I wonder.

*Waterproof is just a nice thought on the bottle...it's not reality.

*When going on a week vacation with seven people, most of whom are large in size, plan on at least two lotion bottles per person at minimum.  I had SEVEN sunscreen items, and we ran out.

We had to buy a bottle of 50 lotion which at the resort cost $35.

And aloe gel was $20.

*We found out an hour after we bought and used it that there's a local market just down the beach.

Information.

It's key.

*Don't bring umbrellas to a tropical resort even if the forecast predicts rain ( I brought 7, and it never rained a drop)...use the space to pack more sunscreen.