Do you practice safe sun?

Do you use sunscreen daily or only when you know you will be basking in golden rays? Do you wear sunglasses all the time? How about a big hat, do you wear one to keep out of the sun?

There are so many reasons and studies, proof that the sun is harmful to you, but yet, we all want that golden tan! I, too, am guilty of this.  My heritage is Cajun and Cherokee, I am supposed to be this glorious golden bronze like pretty much the rest of my family. Am I? Of course not! I am the pasty, sickly looking girl with lighter hair, lighter eyes, and freckles that burns when I'm outside for 5 minutes. This is so not fair!

When I moved to Hawaii, my brother and I had a contest to see who could tan better (darker). This was so dumb, I'll admit it here and now. He gets bronze in 5 minutes where my skin will look like a boiled crawfish (or lobster to some of you who have no idea what a crawfish is). But, he challenged me and I had to go through with it. I did add a stipulation that it was whoever was darker OR whoever develops skin cancer first.... covering all my bases here because I just knew it would happen in Hawaii.  This lasted for months, and I did manage to burn on top of burn and look like I had a nice tan for a while! I was over it a few months in because when your skin burns so much you can barely sleep, yeah, it's over. Check please!

Now, I try to stay out of the sun as much as possible. I've also noticed that girls who are able to tan well, always had a nice tan even in Winter. I know it's due to them going to the tanning beds religiously, but I still envied them... until now! These lovely ladies have tanned since they were teens. And while now we are entering our 30's, I see that they have wrinkles. Yes, wrinkles. I'm assuming it's from the sun, because I have very few, and they only really show when I laugh. I mean, maybe it's their genes, but it seems like every girl I know to have tanned throughout teens and 20s now look in their 40's. Coincidence? Probably not.

So that makes me determined even more to practice safe sun. I recently bought one of the big white southern belle floppy hats, but of course, "If it doesn't move, monogram it!" so  I did, with hot pink thread! And I pretty coral colored baseball cap, monogrammed of course. I also use sunscreen if I know I'll be out for longer than 30 minutes.  Now, in the effort of getting rid of as many chemicals as I can due to the fact I am on Lipitor (bad high cholesterol genes from my parents), I am omitting all of the sunscreens I've always used! This makes it hard because, from I've found, the natural ones don't really protect that well. Also, I've read things about using some essential oils like carrot oil to protect you from the sun. I have yet to try those, but I certainly will and let you know how it goes!

The other thing I have working against me is a Vitamin D deficiency. Yeah, you heard right. Not only do I have to load up on vitamin d, I should be out in the sun more! This is a mess, my friends. It's get skin cancer by going out in the sun to help the vitamin d deficiency, or use chemical ridden sunscreens and hurt my liver even more because I'm on Lipitor. It's just a giant mess! And no matter which way I go, something is going to be worse because of it. My only hope is that I find an essential oil blend that will protect me from getting burnt, while still letting in a little sun to help the deficiency. Sounds like a plan, right?

What about you, what are some of the things you do to protect yourself from the sun? Or, do you think a little sunshine never hurt anyone?