For people like me (pale, irish, and doesn't tan) going to the beach can be scary. The bright sun beats down upon my glowing white body. Every time I go to the beach, I hope for a nice tan- just enough color to make me look human. But every time I leave, I end up looking like a bottle of ketchup exploded on my body. After hundreds of sunburns, I've identified the five stages everyone goes through when getting a sunburn:
1. Preparation.
You’re going to the beach, or planning to spend an entire day outside. You know you burn easily so you make sure to put on sunscreen and bring a bottle with you to reapply. You find a great sunscreen: SPF 30 or higher, and with full UVA//UVB protection. You apply it before you leave and you think you’re set for a while... right?
2. Pre-burn.
Well, you jump right into the water, all of that glorious SPF protection washing right off of you. You stay in the water for a while longer- swimming, playing or just riding the waves. You get out and towel off- all of the sunscreen is wiped off of you. But you were only in the water for 30 minutes, you should be fine! Wrong. you lay down in the sun with a book and a nice cold drink and you stay there for the next two hours. You think about reapplying sunscreen, but not every where, only on the places you THINK you’ll burn.
3. Denial.
Four hours later, you leave the beach for dinner. Your friends tell you you’re a little pink and are probably getting sunburn. That can’t be true, you wore sunscreen! You were careful, but not careful enough. You don’t believe you’re getting sunburn and stay out a bit longer, and don’t make any attempt to cover up the burnt areas. You continue throughout the rest of the day until it’s time to go home.
4. Acceptance.
You get home and start to get changed, and that's when you see it, or rather feel it. The pure burning torture of sunburn. Skin so red it looks like a tomato, and hot enough to cook an egg. It's a burning, seething pain that you know will be around for a while. You jump into action, covering your skin in Aloe Vera gel and hoping for the best: a sunburn that fades quickly into a beautiful tan.
5. Pain.
The worst part of any sunburn: the pain. It’s a pain so bad that it prevents you from proceeding with your normal life, you NEED to sit down and take care of the burn. If you get sunburn as badly as I do, the sun burn is all over your body. You can’t even sit down and tend to the burns because it hurts too badly to sit. You can’t lie down on your stomach either, because you’re sunburnt there too. It takes you 10 minutes to find a comfortable position, and when you find it, you CAN’T move. Going to bed that night is rough, every position you put yourself into hurts. The sunburn causes an agonizing pain that spreads throughout your entire body, and every inch you move will remind you of the terrible pain.
So next time you go to the beach, or spend a day outdoors, make sure to reapply your sunscreen ALL over your body! For other skin care tips, check out my article about summer skincare.
