I am a red head. I have the whole “ginger” thing going on, strawberry hair, blue eyes, pale skin, freckles, the works. As a redhead I’ve been subject to leprechaun jokes, pasty skin jokes, jokes referencing the fact that I apparently have no soul. These are always on the rotation when poking fun. I am sure other redheads can relate.
So part of being a blessed redhead is having the cursed pale skin. I would love to tan or make any incremental progress toward a shade other than ghost pale. However, my fair skin seems to constantly fall victim to the sun’s destructive UV rays. I could easily burn by just sitting outside for only 10 minutes in direct sunlight. Because of this, I have come to be quite partial about the sun and the beach in particular.
In fact, I cannot remember the last time I went to the beach and didn’t burn. Despite my heady efforts to apply and reapply sunscreen my poor skin can’t handle the sun. I have been burned so severely that I even came down with sun poisoning on more than one occasion.
For those that don’t know, sun poisoning occurs when intensive prolonged sun exposure burns your skin to a bright, crisp red glow. The resulting side effects include flu like symptoms such as fever, chills, aches, nausea, headache and worst of all, skin peeling and blistering. If you’re feeling particularly brave feel free to google images of sun poisoning. It is extremely uncomfortable and takes more or less than a week to heal.
Suffering from sun poisoning is so painful, you won't want to be in your own skin. Every twitch and wiggle hurts. Got seared on your back? Forget hugs, even the softest hands will enflame your burn. Got scorched on the back of your legs? Sitting down will never feel more uncomfortable. Standing won’t be so great either. Truthfully, there’s no comfortable position to be in once your skin has been burnt crispy.
Aloe will become your best friend. That gooey elixir will cool and heal the smoldering damage to your skin. Drinking excessive amounts of water will be key to a speedy recovery. However, there isn’t really any magic cure to stop all the aches and pains in their tracks.
All that us fair skinned beauties can really do to prevent a sun burn is to cover up. It won’t be until hours after you’ve escaped the harmful sun rays that you’ll notice the burn setting in so it’s crucial to confront the problem before going outside in the first place. I learned the hard way that skin is delicate and needs to be protected. When you have fairer skin you are at a much higher risk to come down with sun poisoning.
Love your skin and love yourself by taking preventative measures to keep yourself healthy and safe from the extremes of the sun. And to my fellow redheads, lets just except that we will never tan and love the body we were blessed with.
