Once I saw a mom slathering sunblock on her kid at 5:30 in the evening, and when she was done, she sprayed her all over with bug spray.
When I was a kid, tanning was big. No one used sunscreen or sunblock.
I don’t remember my mother ever smearing me with any kind of sunscreen (although I could be wrong). But she was the kind of mom who opened the door, booted me out of the house, and told me not to come home until it got dark. :)
In those days people used tanning oil, and baby oil, and would you believe it, cooking oil. (!) FYI I do not condone the use of any of these. I think you need some degree of SPF.
My mom used Bain de Soleil. It was an orange gel in a wrinkly metal tube. I loved smell of that stuff. I also loved Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil, so when I saw a bottle of it at the drugstore last summer I had to buy it.
The bottle I have has an SPF of four, which, in my books, is perfect for everyday use. Don’t get me wrong, I use stronger stuff on my face (at least SPF 30) but if I’m going to be mostly indoors – only flitting outside to walk the kids to/from school or to walk the dog, the lower SPF suits me fine.
The number associated with SPF (which stands for sun protection factor) signifies the number of times longer you can be in the sun without burning if you use the product as directed. So if I normally burn after 30 minutes in full sun, a factor of four means that I can be in the sun for two hours without getting a sunburn. And during the workweek I’m rarely out in the sun for that long. So why coat myself with 30 when I don’t need to?
I’ve read that spray sunscreens are missing an ingredient (and I’m totally blanking on what it is right now) that give regular lotions that gooey spreadable lotion-like texture. This ingredient apparently isn’t very good for you.
I spray my arms with my SPF4, and if I’m wearing shorts or a skirt I’ll give my legs a spritz too. Hawaiian Tropic can be greasy if you use too much but I love the sheen. The fact that I smell like a tropical holiday all day long is just a bonus.
