I love being outside. I hate the sun. I also hate sunscreen.
I feel like there’s a weird split between the reality of having this gross white goop on you all the time (most people don’t wear sunscreen all the time, right? Right??) and the reality of the sun basically wanting us all dead.
This sunburn calculator made by a dermatologist will show you how quickly you can actually get burned. Personally, today, I literally can’t stay outside for longer than 14-ish minutes (probably even shorter in my case) without any sunscreen before I’ve had too much sun.
Even on a somewhat cloudy day, I can’t stay out there for more than half an hour. I notice that I’m getting too much sun, too. I feel like my eyes are sunburned practically. I struggle to comprehend how skin like this even evolved. People practically shame me for “not going out enough” when they straight-up just have darker skin than me.
…And yet the idea of always putting sunscreen on is like, some kind of social faux pas on top of me really not wanting to. It smells, people notice that it smells, it feels gross, people notice that I’m even pastier than usual. It’s like wow, you care about skin care enough to deal with that and spend gobs of money sticking a shot glass of sunscreen on yourself every two hours? God forbid if I actually had lip balm of all things as a man, and wearing clothing that would actually keep the sun at bay a little bit, ahhhahahaha. No. /rant
TL;DR what do y’all do about the sun existing?
Edit: I got over myself and started buying decent sunscreen. And decent SPF lip balm because Jesus Christ my lips are somethin’ else. If people think it’s weird to not get skin cancer that’s their problem.
For body protection, I wear a white UPF zip-front overshirt (a hoodie without the hood?) and even though I use facial sunscreen I still use a sun hat for extra protection.
On my face and neck, I use sunscreens from Japan or Korea. I’m in the US, where sunscreen companies haven’t yet purchased FDA approval for modern filters, so the best stuff comes from overseas. I’ve not shopped for any Asian body sunscreen yet because I prefer the overshirt, so I can only infodump about my favorite facial sunscreens.
Many Asian facial sunscreens are more “indoor sunscreen” (great for when you’re sitting in sunny rooms or a car, but don’t hold up to sweaty outdoor activity) so finding good reviews is important.
Biore Athlizm is my favorite for playing outside, and has such staying power that I need an oil cleanser to remove it. It feels a little sticky but my face sweats a lot so I put up with it.
For everyday, might-do-errands use, I like Suncut UV Perfect Gel, which has very low fragrance and dries down to a barely noticeable texture in about 10-15 minutes.
As for where to get, I like Yesstyle (one big store) and Dokodemo (many vendors one platform, like eBay if it were all shops and no bidding’s). Stylevana has good prices but takes a couple months to ship.