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I never lose mine, had a good one since when I had my first summer in Oz, now I work outside a lot and get my daily dose of vitamin naturally... When I'm out on the tractor, I keep a towel across my legs to stop getting burned when my shorts creep up.

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Thats the same for me. After 8 years in the Oman I find it very easy to top up my tan without getting burned.

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My suntan story is from many moons ago ,when I was a teenager and a group of us drove from Nottingham for a mid-summer camping holiday to Newquay .

I'm not a bit interested in fishing but one of my pals , (unfortunately) , fancied a shark fishing trip , so three of us drove over to Mevagissey and got on one of the small open , fishing-boat trips from the harbour . It was a typical Cornish blustery overcast day when we set out to the open sea and I had my mac on ( just in case ! ) .

On the way out the skipper threw a multi-hook line over the side , as did a few others . Must have found a shoal as there was a fish on nearly every hook . Fine no problem .

Then , after what seemed hours , the skipper cut the engine and first thing he did was get some of the now dead mackeral , chucked 'em in a bucket and began pounding 'em with a big stick . Then he threw in the mangled fish bits into the briny to attract some lovable sharks .

Together with that and the rocking of the boat as we drifted , I started to feel a bit unwell....in fact while the others were casting their fishing lines for Jaws , I was hanging over the pointy bit of the boat , puking for all I was worth .

After what seemed an interminable time and after not one shark had even put in an appearance , thankfully, the skipper started the engines and we set off back for dry land . Unable to puke any more , I laid down , still wedged somewhere in the pointy bit at the front and nodded off .

As soon as I nodded off , clouds must have cleared and a full blazing sun decided to come out ! ....... so I'm in the front , full face to the sun , no suntan lotion, with a sea spray wafting over me (still wearing my mac !).

Next I knew , someones prodding me because we are harbour side . I couldn't open my eyes . The combination of the sea salt and the blazing sun had made the skin on my face as tight as could be . The others all went into hysterics as my face was lobster red .

Next morning , (after a lousy night and still groggy from the trip with face still blistered) and just to add insult to injury , the keen fisherman in our group , said "who wants a mackerel for breakfast" and chucked 2 of them into a frying pan.....that started me off all over again !

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As a teenager I had bad eczema on my elbows and backs of my hands.

In 1970 I got real bad sunburn sunbathing on Croyde Bay beach.

The eczema disappeared and never returned.

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Amazing what a bit of sun will do....

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As a teenager I had bad eczema on my elbows and backs of my hands.

In 1970 I got real bad sunburn sunbathing on Croyde Bay beach.

The eczema disappeared and never returned.

Hi micktome

I know Croyde Bay very well we went there every year for holidays as children, we stayed at the caravan and camping site calle Ruda. I took my wife and children there a few time in recent years and the place has changed so much over the years. I remeber a a child all there was was a house at the entrance with a small shop and an old barn where the bar and evening entertainment was held

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I'm the opposite of ChrisB - I used to burn very easily, but now I seem to get a tan, no problem! Seems a little exposure lots of times does it for me - either that, or as my sister claims, I am part gypsy!

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When we were teenagers in the 60s and had no idea of the dangers of too much sun bathing,we would cut little hearts and stars and different shapes out of paper and stick them on our arms,legs,back and chest and after a sun bathing session we would be left with little white shapes where the paper had been.

:tanning:

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The first time I went to the Mediterranean, as a teenager, I ended up with blisters that looked like jellyfish on my shoulders. And I do know that I put sunscreen on, it was just that we're not used to such intense sun in the UK.

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111950-al-039-the-suntan-man-039-baldwin

We only deal with the real thing down here in Oz...Even considering bringing back the Gold Coast beach spray

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gold-coast-considering-reintroducing-on-beach-spray-tan-facilities/story-e6freon6-1226455115292

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As a married couple we were lucky enough to go to Spain a fair bit for our holidays, leave the uk all white and pasty, hit the poolside area or the beach and be like a lobster in a few days !

We used to accept the burning and peeling skin as a right of passage that we had "been to the sun" !

I also scuba dived in the Med around Malta and the Islands and no wet suits needed in those areas in summer. Often got very burnt around back and shoulders and face.While I was diving my wife was sunning.

In later years here in oz again I had a permanent tan on arms and legs, but then I suddenly became one of the skin cancer statistics !

Had more pieces cut out than I care to remember now, and had one brush with a Melonoma in between my shoulder blades where the sun used to burn me most.

My wife had a very nasty lesion on her upper lip, where they had to remove part of her lip to get rid of it !

We both now have the scars of too much sun damage.

Now I never go out without a hat and am a firm believer in the dangers of over exposure to the sun, especially here in oz where we have an abundance of it daily.

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Yes Banjo, if you didn't get back from your fortnight in Spain with peeling skin then folks didn't think you'd had a good time, lol. We know a fella who lives on the Gold Coast and he's had a lot of skin cancer ops. My husband works in the Caribbean quite a lot and although he definitely isn't a sun-worshipper he is not careful when out in the sun. He was at hospital the other day getting a mole checked and has to go in to have it cut out in a couple of weeks time, only cautionary though because it's not cancerous.

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I worry so much about the silly sun bathing i did from my teens right up untill my 40s i am constantly looking for any signs of skin problems,there was no one to warn me of the dangers and i am just the kind they say are most at danger,fair skin,(blonde hair once) If only the dangers were more advertised we would have been more careful,I can only hope i am fortunate enough to get away with out problems.

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Arizona is the number 2 place in the world for skin cancer, which makes you think twice about laying in the sun! Lots of my friends here keep getting the cancers taken off their face, arms, legs etc. I am fair skinned which is a bugger when you are dark haired, so burn very easily. I limit my sun exposure, but in my teens, a tan was the thing to have. You looked 'healthy' with a bit of colour. I remember being in Tunisia and buying oil and lemon juice and slathering it on, and all it did was fry me. I've only ever had 1 really bad burn, and that was from an overcast day, I blistered like heck across my shoulders.

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Thats the big problem, I think we all feel and look better with a bit of a tan and some sun is essential for good health etc.but to lie on a sunbed or deliberately lie out in it makes me cringe now.

We can always tell the european holiday makers here, they lie around in it or walk around shirtless to show off where they have been when they return home !

Nothing changes I suppose as we did it too but are now living with the consequences.

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After three plastic surgery operations, to remove skin cancers, I stay out of the Sun, and wear a hat & sun screen at all times, even in Winter in Australia, anyone over 30 with a suntan just looks a bit "Dirty"

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The flies and sweat bees put me off taking my shirt off, itch, itch, itch....and sweat bees sting if disturbed..

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One of the Dentists that I do work for just started his Chemo for his melanoma $125.000 per treatment .

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The wife and I were just talking about skin cancers the other day, she was born and raised near St Louis, and as kids they were out in the hot sun all day during the summer when they weren't at school.

Skin cancer was so rare that she said she never heard of anyone who succumbed to it.

So whats changed??? Other than everyone seems to be slapping stuff on themselves that contain chemicals we cannot pronounce the names of...

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