Do you wear sunscreen when you're working outside?

Not at all, that would really be something! Sorry for the confusion. And I looked for my frankincense oil last night and could not find it. Now you've reminded me, I'm going to check the milk room. I had a doe with mastitis recently, may have used it diluted on her udder.

In a previous post I mentioned that I use an extract from a controversial herb that is not illegal where I live. Thats the one I grow myself and make the extract.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Not at all, that would really be something! Sorry for the confusion. And I looked for my frankincense oil last night and could not find it. Now you've reminded me, I'm going to check the milk room. I had a doe with mastitis recently, may have used it diluted on her udder.

In a previous post I mentioned that I use an extract from a controversial herb that is not illegal where I live. Thats the one I grow myself and make the extract.

Don't know the total sourcing on this yet, the bottle is enroute, but.

http://www.amazon.com/Majestic-Pure-Frankincense-Essential-Therapeutic/dp/B00YQ93VPW?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_2&smid=AEWXAV3T5UC41

Hoping this will help me deal with a few skin issues as well. Thank you whoever suggested it.

Mullets can be extremely hazardous to your health, as well as those of passersby.

I don't use anything, and dot usually go out in the sun for that long during midday. If I were going to be out a lot I am told shea butter is a good mild sunscreen. It's also really good for skin. Good quality shea butter, that is. May still be available from the Shea Butter Project from women in Dagara land who use the money for education for the kids in the village.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
My sun protection strategy is:

Long sleeves.
Long pants.
Long hair (mullet)
Beard.
Wide hat.
Sunglasses.
Don't go into the field between 11 AM and 4 PM.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Mullets can be extremely hazardous to your health, as well as those of passersby.

?mullets?

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Mullets can be extremely hazardous to your health, as well as those of passersby.

?mullets?

Mullets-a hair style where the hair from behind the ears and back of head down to the neck is allowed to be long, usually touching shoulders if not longer, and the front and most of the top is short. Both sexes have worn variations of this style for many years. Usually quite offputting, there are many pictures of same on the internet if you search.

It would help shade the back of your neck, but it's an awful sweaty disgusting thing in the back of the neck area when it's hot out.

David Bowie could rock a mullet.

From what I hear, David Bowie could do a lot of things others can't do, but that wouldn't be top of my list of his accomplishments. It wouldn't even make the top ten.

And that coming from someone who doesn't know a thing whatsoever about his accomplishments. I've heard he was a singer, right?

Let's stick to permaculture principles here: observe, observe, observe.

In seriousness though, I guess it could be good for shading, but a straw hat is pretty close. I also usually wear shirts with a collar so i turn the collar up when I'm likely to have sun on my neck. I guess that's also a fashion faux-pas, but at least it's not a mullet.

Tyler Ludens wrote:David Bowie could rock a mullet.

OK, it's not the fish then, and they pose no particular sunburn risk to the wearer.

Annah Rachel wrote:If so, what do you wear?

Sunglass and hat . I use them at our construction site. Sometime I also use branded sunblock oils

I read an article years ago about how Vitamin C infused cream helped skin reduce wrinkles. So I took a base cream that I had been using and added Vitamin C powder to it. I found my skin reacted if I added too much so I ended up with a ratio of 1/8th teaspoon of powdered Vitamin C to 1 tablespoon of base cream.

To my surprise when I had this cream on where ever I had applied it, I didn't burn as quickly. In fact one application could last me for hours and hours. I still wear long sleeves and a hat when I am out in the sun but now I don't worry about it as much. I am very fair and previous to learning about the Vitamin C cream I burned within 15 minutes of being out in the sun.

I have experimented with numerous types of base cream with varying success as the Vitamin C makes some creams totally watery. I have settled on a combination of goat milk cream, coconut oil and bees wax cream that I get from the farmers market. You also need to only mix up small amounts because the Vitamin C degrades and the cream will turn very yellow. I think it looses its effectiveness when that happens. I keep mine in the fridge and it lasts a couple of weeks.

I have since read that the more vitamin C that you have in your system from what you have ingested the less sun sensitive your skin will be. I also learned that the more balanced your gut flora the more the microbes in your gut will produce Vitamin C for your body to use.

All very interesting and fun to know.

Yup, I wear sunscreen.

As one with red hair and pale skin, I am in the camp of covering up with hat, long sleeves, and pants. Sometimes use a shamag too.

I also flit from shade to shade as often as possible. I will plan my actions to maximize shade potential.

*edit to add, as for the creams etc, I tend to have some as possible back up just in case I need to spend long amounts of time in the sun. But I try to avoid using any unless I direly have to. I found early on covering tends to be more beneficial than sun screen since sun screen wears off at some point, sweets off, rubs off, and you just don't realize it. But a long sleeve shirt you know if it is covering your arm or not. You know if your hat is shading your face. For me I found covering just much easier to know yes I am protected.

Here is a recipe I just received from the prairie homestead tool box. I have no idea how it works, and think a person could sub frankincense essential oil we were discussing a few posts ago. PS, and FYI, when you see "therapeutic grade" on essential oils, it has no substantive meaning. There is no certification process, and officially, there is no such thing. It is just something the companies put on their lables to make it sound like it is higher quality. What to look for is a "organic" and "steam distilled" as opposed to solvent extracted, because the solvents are usually something awful.

Here is the recipe from the prairie homestead:

"HOMEMADE AFTER-SUN SPRAY RECIPE

You Will Need:

1/2 cup witch hazel
2 tablespoons pure aloe vera gel
10 drops of pure lavender essential oil
10 drops of pure peppermint essential oil
4 oz (or larger) spray bottle (like these)
Instructions:

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into spray bottle, shake well, and apply generously to skin that needs cooling. Be sure to avoid spraying around the eyes, as it will sting.

The spray feels a bit sticky at first, but gets better as it dries. I figure it was a toss up between sticky or crispy. I chose sticky.

Re-apply as often as needed. Even every half hour or so at first."

Like the others, I avoid afternoon sun and develop a base tan. I noticed no one mentioned the benefits of UV protection of hemp clothing. I've gotten burns through lightweight cotton clothing especially on long drives in the car. I'm planning to make more clothing and hats out of hemp for protection. Here's a link about the benefits of hemp. https://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/hemp-the-natural-sun-protection/

And, another thought, more about when we get bug bites or more sun than we wanted, a great skin tonic is rosewater. Someone posted it on the roses and permaculture thread, which jogged my memory.

I have tons of roses and we are just past peak season, but I'll have roses all summer. Gather rosepetals and put them in a pot, cover with water, you kind of have to push them under the water, and it does not matter if some or all of the petals are dried. Bring the water to the boil and turn it off, once it has cooled, strain it and that's your rosewater. It has a wonderful fragrance and is very soothing to the skin.

I think what ever it is in the rose petal that allows it to exist with that wonderful texture even in desert heat and sun and aridity is what gets on my skin and into it. It feels great. Give it a try, whether or not you got too much sun!

Necromancer here, but I would like to add calendula to the after-skin cream regimen, to help treat light burns.

Its warmed up like crazy this week, and even though ive been slathered in sunblock and covered up its just not quite enough. The calendula cream I was using to treat the guy's radiation burns is also quite effective against regular sun crisped skin. Cant do anything for the freckles and moles, but it is holding its own against the aloe gel I normally use.

I would actually like to find better sunblock. Which I wear all over my face, arms, and under my shirt. The best ones Ive used actually were 'baby ' formulated ones rated as spf 100. Expensive, and I have never found it in Canada, but I would buy it by the case if I could.

I read through all the threads relating to sun cream and most people dont seem to be too in favour. That being said, if anyone sees this and knows of something good that is at minimum SPF 50+, I would love the recommendations. :D

I don't care for sunblock it has a bunch of chemical names I can not pronounce in it and I don't know if they are worse than the sun.  I prefer my chemicals to have treated a UV shirt and hat that I don when out in the sun.  I do smush on the gooey sunblock if I go in the ocean because skin cancer sounds AWFUL.  

I'm photo phobic so I wear only long sleeves and pants. And a wide brimmed straw hat. I also wear welders gloves all year round when working outdoors. They have very long gauntlets like the US Calvary wore in the 19th century that you see in the cowboy movies. I tried very light cotton gloves with long gauntlets but they need a button to attach to your sleeves as they don't stay up on your arms. And I use SPF 50 sunblock; said to block 98% of UV rays.

Rarely do I use sunscreen.  In fact, the last time I remember using sunscreen was in the mid 90’s while backpacking in the desert. My property is pretty shaded.  When I am in the sun I wear a hat and long sleeved shirts.

I avoid excessively using sunscreen, but there are times where it's a necessity. Back in college, No-Ad was my go to brand to sunscreen while skiing. The combination of being ~10,000 feet in elevation and light reflecting off the snow was brutal in spring conditions. These days, when I'm out playing in the water, I'll wear a wide brimmed Tilley hat, a life jacket, and put a bit of sunscreen on my shoulders. That combination is usually enough to keep me sunburn-free.

Guess who is the expat (me)?
No sunscreen, straw hat, shorts, t-shirt all year long.
Usually flip flops but because of our earth moving job I wore sneakers,

I only use a mineral based sunblock when we are at a waterfront playing in the water all day. But even then, we are wearing long sleeved swim clothes.

For everyday normal life, I do not wear sunscreen. I do wear loose long sleeved shirts and loose long pants or skirts and try to stay out of the sun during the afternoon. Our property has quite a lot of thick shade throughout the day so I move around in it or go inside.

I really want a wide brimmed hat but my head is huge and I have not been able to find one that doesn't feel like it's squeezing my brains. After ten years of looking, I think it's time for me to learn how to make the hat I want!

My worst sunburn was with my brother climbing above treeline we looked like racoons with lips that swelled to the size of german sausages. So I do wear sunscreen sometimes when at high altitude and on naked gardening day, defimitely naked gardening day.

I hate the stuff, but I have to wear it along with a hat and long pants/sleeves. I burn too easily, and with progressive sun damage the burns are potentially a health hazard. So pass the "barbecue sauce" ...