3 ms·

I wonder about the effects of breathing sunscreen. In affluent, white, suburban United States it is very common to see the religious application of sunblock to

by rsync 8y ago

I wonder about the effects of breathing sunscreen. In affluent, white, suburban United States it is very common to see the religious application of sunblock to children in the specific form of aerosol spray delivery. Every day at the park stand still for a big cloud of aerosolized sunblock all over your face and arms, etc. Speaking more generally, my wife and I often discuss this or that terrible practice of health or habit or child-rearing from our own parents' generation and I am always inclined to extrapolate forward: "what are we doing right now that our kids are going to look back on with horror and amazement?" For a long time the sunblock regime has been near the top of the list ...

jws 8y ago
In the 90s we used to use purple sunscreen on the kids which then turned clear after exposure to air. It made it easy to get a complete, uniform coating. I never see that for sale anymore, just waiting for the news why.
- copperx 8y ago
  That sounds terrific. I always anxious about not applying sunscreen completely.
ryall 8y ago
Had a long conversation with a skin cancer specialist about the harmful effects of sunscreen. While he agreed that there can be some nasty chemicals found in sunscreen he ended the discussion with the parting words "At the end of the day it's the people that _don't_ use sunscreen that we see here in the clinic, not the people that do"
- pomber 8y ago
  Is it a skin cancer clinic? Maybe the people that _do_ use sunscreen go to another clinic (where they don't ask about sunscreen usage)
- oska 8y ago
  > "At the end of the day it's the people that _don't_ use sunscreen that we see here in the clinic, not the people that do" I'm guessing you're quoting this somewhat ironically but that's really bad logic on the doctor's part.
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
I think if you read most can instructions, and go by the American academy if dermatology, you aren’t suppose to spray directly on you, but rather spray on your hand and rub in. Obviously few people do this, but I hate the cloud method. Breathing in chemicals and microbeads of titanium oxide or whatever right into your lungs does seem like something we won’t be doing in the future.

by rsync 8y ago

jws 8y ago

In the 90s we used to use purple sunscreen on the kids which then turned clear after exposure to air. It made it easy to get a complete, uniform coating. I never see that for sale anymore, just waiting for the news why.

copperx 8y ago
That sounds terrific. I always anxious about not applying sunscreen completely.

ryall 8y ago

Had a long conversation with a skin cancer specialist about the harmful effects of sunscreen. While he agreed that there can be some nasty chemicals found in sunscreen he ended the discussion with the parting words "At the end of the day it's the people that _don't_ use sunscreen that we see here in the clinic, not the people that do"

pomber 8y ago
Is it a skin cancer clinic? Maybe the people that _do_ use sunscreen go to another clinic (where they don't ask about sunscreen usage)
oska 8y ago
> "At the end of the day it's the people that _don't_ use sunscreen that we see here in the clinic, not the people that do" I'm guessing you're quoting this somewhat ironically but that's really bad logic on the doctor's part.

SlowRobotAhead 8y ago

I think if you read most can instructions, and go by the American academy if dermatology, you aren’t suppose to spray directly on you, but rather spray on your hand and rub in. Obviously few people do this, but I hate the cloud method. Breathing in chemicals and microbeads of titanium oxide or whatever right into your lungs does seem like something we won’t be doing in the future.