Fun in the Sun: 101
I learned some important lessons on my sojourn to Brazil – especially when it came to the sun.
Having grown up in a land locked area, Central New York, I was not one for going to the beach, ever! I spent my summers at the public swimming pool, so I am no stranger to sun bathing. Unfortunately the rules about the sun I grew up with do not apply in Brazil.
In New York you tan between 10 am and 2 pm. And for a dark completed Italian such as myself – trophy lotion (SPF 2) is perfect for getting that summer time glow.
Not the case when you are closer to the Equator. Brazilians in Rio do not head to the beach until 3 pm. And stay till around 6 or 7 pm. These are the best times to get what they consider “healthy sun”. Just a small footnote…there is no such thing as healthy sun – it is all bad for you.
Silly me, I didn’t heed the warnings. I mean, I couldn’t return from the tropics with out a tan, right. So I headed to the beach at 10 am, and applied some nice sun tan lotion, SPF 6. After a few hours in the sun, and a few dips in the ocean, I switched to sun block with SPF 15. I left at 3 pm (just as all the hot boys were arriving!). By this time I could no longer stand the sun and desperately needed to seek some shade.
My second mistake: Seeing as though it was winter in NYC when I left, my lips were dried out and cracked. I had been using my medicated ChapStick to help heal them. Little did I know that using lip balm was like rubbing lard on my lips.
Later that night I felt quite ill. I thought it could possibly be sun poisoning. I looked in the mirror and my forehead was bright red, and felt leathery to the touch. And my lips were all blistered. Not a pretty sight.
I still had 5 days left to my trip, and I could barely stand to be in the sun. I went to a few drugstores to purchase sun block and a lip balm with SPF. Both were insanely over priced and on principle (more like foolish pride) I refused to buy any.
So unfortunately here are the lessons I had to learn the hard way:
1)Sun yourself between 3-7pm. Allow the tan to gradually develop, instead of the fly fry approach.
2)Use of SPF 30 or higher is recommended. You can still get a tan, and not get burned in the process
3)ChapStick is bad; use a lip balm that contains SPF.
4)Bring supplies from home. It is cheaper and better to be prepared.
Having grown up in a land locked area, Central New York, I was not one for going to the beach, ever! I spent my summers at the public swimming pool, so I am no stranger to sun bathing. Unfortunately the rules about the sun I grew up with do not apply in Brazil.
In New York you tan between 10 am and 2 pm. And for a dark completed Italian such as myself – trophy lotion (SPF 2) is perfect for getting that summer time glow.
Not the case when you are closer to the Equator. Brazilians in Rio do not head to the beach until 3 pm. And stay till around 6 or 7 pm. These are the best times to get what they consider “healthy sun”. Just a small footnote…there is no such thing as healthy sun – it is all bad for you.
Silly me, I didn’t heed the warnings. I mean, I couldn’t return from the tropics with out a tan, right. So I headed to the beach at 10 am, and applied some nice sun tan lotion, SPF 6. After a few hours in the sun, and a few dips in the ocean, I switched to sun block with SPF 15. I left at 3 pm (just as all the hot boys were arriving!). By this time I could no longer stand the sun and desperately needed to seek some shade.
My second mistake: Seeing as though it was winter in NYC when I left, my lips were dried out and cracked. I had been using my medicated ChapStick to help heal them. Little did I know that using lip balm was like rubbing lard on my lips.
Later that night I felt quite ill. I thought it could possibly be sun poisoning. I looked in the mirror and my forehead was bright red, and felt leathery to the touch. And my lips were all blistered. Not a pretty sight.
I still had 5 days left to my trip, and I could barely stand to be in the sun. I went to a few drugstores to purchase sun block and a lip balm with SPF. Both were insanely over priced and on principle (more like foolish pride) I refused to buy any.
So unfortunately here are the lessons I had to learn the hard way:
1)Sun yourself between 3-7pm. Allow the tan to gradually develop, instead of the fly fry approach.
2)Use of SPF 30 or higher is recommended. You can still get a tan, and not get burned in the process
3)ChapStick is bad; use a lip balm that contains SPF.
4)Bring supplies from home. It is cheaper and better to be prepared.
1 Comments:
Ha... Well noted. Could be worse... Could have gone to a nude beach and forgotten sunscreen.
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