A hit-home history of the wacked out ways we used to while away our sun-filled summer days -- and what we can do now to keep our skin as safe as can be
I grew up in NYC with a mom whose life quite literally revolved around the sun. A woman who, at the first sign of viable tanning rays, would fling open the windows of our 10th-floor apartment and splay herself on the floor for as long as the angle would position the sun to hit her face.
On summer mornings we'd be awakened bright and early to exaltations of "sun's out, beach day" and rush to get pool/ocean side by 10am to ensure maximum "prime exposure" time.
My mom, a Mary Tyler Moore look-alike, clad always in a super teeny French bikini, was "brown as a berry" from Memorial Day through Labor Day thanks to a special, homemade, proprietary blend of baby oil and iodine and dedication, lots of it. It takes work to build a tan, people.
Then, when I was 16, mom received a pre-melanoma biopsy result on a mole she'd had removed and all of a sudden our sun-worshipping ways came to a screeching halt. Gone were the bottles of baby oil, spring breaks to sunny destinations (I had to learn to ski for cripe's sake!) and days of pursuing the golden glow. The fear of cancer had cast a literal pall on our family. And, to this day, she and my dad won't spend a minute outdoors without wearing powerful protection and a hat and sunglasses.
This story, or some version of it, is what basically happened -- and continues to happen -- to the world as we became aware of the damage that the sun's harmful rays can inflict if we don't take the necessary precautions to protect ourselves.
Of course, not everyone has been "scared pale," tanning booths continue to increase in popularity despite some seriously scary warnings, folks still "lie out" and the young persist in thinking they're invincible.
But, we're making some serious strides. Here's a look back at some of the seriously wacky things we used to do during sunny days and expert tips on what we can do now to ensure we're doing the best we possibly can to protect our skin.
Shunning the Sun
Believe it or not, having tan skin used to be déclassé
-- a clear indication that you were poor. After all, farm hands and manual laborers worked outside in the sun, the "ladies who lunched" were most certainly not out in the fields perpetrating a tan. Pale skin equaled affluence.
In fact, as far back as Ancient Greece, people sought pale skin -- so much so that in 200 B.C. folks favored a white lead powder mask to give their faces the pallor they wanted -- never mind that it was it deadly.
Similarly, during the Italian Renaissance and the British Elizabethan era, women wore lead paint and then ceruse, a lethal mixture of vinegar and white lead, on their faces.
Today, pale is starting (ish) to come back into vogue. Editorial directors have tried to disseminate the Julianne Moore "white is beautiful" message but then Sofia Vergara or the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue girls come along in all their brown sun bunny glory and effectively suck the wind out of the "pale is pretty" sails.
"While you can't completely reverse the freckles and sun damage you have, you can prevent new damage from happening," says Dr. Heidi Waldorf. Wearing a good sunscreen and applying it properly and often enough is a good plan of attack and, as Waldorf suggests, "cleansing with a body wash that contains free-radical fighting antioxidants before applying your sunscreen" is a good idea.
