Half Italian, Half Irish

by Angela
(Houston, TX, USA)

I am half Italian, half Irish, I am redheaded and very light skinned with blue eyes. Sound like a sunburn waiting to happen.

Both my parents and sister are darker skinned and it was tough because I was always the one to get burned at the beach or water park.

Sun protection was not important to them, because they tanned so easily. When I was in my teen I tanned in tanning bed often trying to get darker.

I realize now that I will have to be extra careful in the future to protect myself and my kids from the damage that I did to my own skin. I wear at least spf15 daily! And when in direct contact with the sun I wear spf30.

I have been told that going higher than that is really useless and truly when trying spf50 or spf75, I don't really notice much of a difference, if any.

I know that our skin is more sensitive then we think and needs to be protected and moisturized daily. Sun protection whether it be a hat, shirt or sunscreen we have to use it.

I can recall a time of being 10 or so, while we were on vacation in California and it was 104 degrees outside. I'm from Houston and used to the humid air making it feel just dreadful in the summers.

In LA the air is much drier and you don't realize how hot it is. We went to the beach and only applied sun protection once. We were out there for hours too.

I was so burnt I was sick, vomiting, running fever, blisters on my back. Talk about a lesson learned for some. For me, I just kept going back out to the pool and beach like nothing ever happened.