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Comment by brightball | Hacker News Reader

I typically do the same thing. I only wear sunscreen if I am planning on being in direct sun for an extended period of time where I can't easily get back in the shade.

The more you're able to build up a base tan the less you need it to avoid a burn at least.

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I'm pretty light skinned and the burn pretty easily. I just put on sunscreen by default when going hiking/mountain biking. I'm really excited for the new sunscreens coming out here in the US that have those new to us ingredients that the Euro's have had forever.

Agreed completely. I also leverage sun shirts quite a bit.

I discovered sun shirts very recently, with a hood. It's so much nicer to slip it on than apply sun block, which I'm trying to reduce since I don't really want it in my blood stream [1]. Mine is white, so I usually end up a bit cooler than without!

[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2733085?gu...

Isn't tanning basically body's reaction to cellular damage? It reduces further damage but that's due to damage done?

(It's largely irrelevant to myself, I pretty much burn immediately and don't / can't really tan, but my wife and her family tan well).

30 years ago I was a lifeguard and got to experiment with this some. I can't tell you the biology specifically, but I have always tanned quickly. The less tan I am, the more easily I burn.

Always been that way for me at least.

The damage gets healed at sleep. Tanning reduces the need to heal.

Yes, tanning is downstream of the activity of the p53 tumor suppressor protein in response to UVB-induced damage: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EFiCGc3YwadZBzvZ3/contra-byr...

So we're just out here perpetuating myths on here now as well?

Correction - The less you need it to avoid a burn.

I'm a pale-skinned redhead, covered in freckles. For me there is no such thing as a "base tan".

I get can get sunburnt from as little as 30 minutes in the sun at times, and I almost always wear sunscreen in the summer for that reason.

(Biggest issue is wearing sandals and forgetting to cover my feet, or when jumping in the lake after sauna and not covering up again quickly enough.)

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