Head Like A Beetroot

[DaveH]

Yep agree - just no good for hayfever.

At the moment we are fighting a losing battle against weeds in our garden and they are the only thing that seem to be flourishing.

I don't think, in arable land, you can get rid of weeds, all you can do is keep them in check.

We have just invested in a petrol pwered strimmer for this very purpose.

Cuts the weeds down to size very quickly.

[RichardB]

Just stopped raining here and it is brightening up a bit, but I rxpect there will be further showers.

Got me a freshly shaved bonce, number 3; deffo will be hiding from the sun now. Especially with the rapidly developing hair-free zone up top. Nose and ear hairs no problem, prolific even !

[DaveH]

Got me a freshly shaved bonce, number 3; deffo will be hiding from the sun now. Especially with the rapidly developing hair-free zone up top. Nose and ear hairs no problem, prolific even !

Having already got a well developed hair free zone up top I can tell you that the only way to keep the sun off is a hat.

As the engineer I.K. Brunel once said "If you want to get ahead get a hat"

I usually wear a cloth cap in keeping with my old northern image, but in hot weather these are too dark, thick and heavy for comfort so I also have a white cap similar to the ones golfers wear.

As for the rest of your unprotected skin, a high factor sun screen is a must. I use P20, it's quite expensive but it is not a barrier cream so it soaks into your skin and dries completely and only requires one application per day. Having said that, you can "sweat it out" which will then permenantly stain your clothes.

Important thing is not to get burnt.

Skin cancer is on the rise and is still difficult to treat with low success rates. I have lost a couple of friends to malignant melonoma. One of them had fallen asleep on a beach on holiday in Spain and slept through the height of the mid-day sun, the cancer developed shortly after she recovered from the obvious sunburn. The other one used to spend his summers picking potatoes on fields in Lincolnshire without his shirt on. He died in his early 40's having developed a large carcenoma on his chest which was attributed to exposure to the sun.

Take care in the sun.

[RichardB]

Having already got a well developed hair free zone up top I can tell you that the only way to keep the sun off is a hat.

As the engineer I.K. Brunel once said "If you want to get ahead get a hat"

I usually wear a cloth cap in keeping with my old northern image, but in hot weather these are too dark, thick and heavy for comfort so I also have a white cap similar to the ones golfers wear.

As for the rest of your unprotected skin, a high factor sun screen is a must. I use P20, it's quite expensive but it is not a barrier cream so it soaks into your skin and dries completely and only requires one application per day. Having said that, you can "sweat it out" which will then permenantly stain your clothes.

Important thing is not to get burnt.

Skin cancer is on the rise and is still difficult to treat with low success rates. I have lost a couple of friends to malignant melonoma. One of them had fallen asleep on a beach on holiday in Spain and slept through the height of the mid-day sun, the cancer developed shortly after she recovered from the obvious sunburn. The other one used to spend his summers picking potatoes on fields in Lincolnshire without his shirt on. He died in his early 40's having developed a large carcenoma on his chest which was attributed to exposure to the sun.

Take care in the sun.

Good advice.

I wear a wide brimmed hat, waxed, like a Barbour jacket for the head, I wear long sleeved shirts (not thin white cotton things - big thick horse-hair affairs, longs trews and I'm the first to hide under the enormous umbrella whilst sitting out chilling.

When I need sun screen, I opt for Factor 40 or above; I've been known to suggest a good layer of gloss-paint.

Take care, however you deal with it - but deal with suncare as Dave said.

[DaveH]

Good advice.

Take care, however you deal with it - but deal with suncare as Dave said.

A recent report in the news says that skin cancers have increased by a certain percentage (forgot the number) over the last 40 years and in men more than women.

They put this increase down to more of us taking foreign holidays to hot sunny countries and lounging in the sun.

However, - be warned, - it does not have to be hot or even particularly sunny for the ultraviolet levels (uv) to be high and even in Britain uv levels can be high enough to cause skin damage, so stay protected.

It can never understand women who go to a sun tan shop to lie on top of a source of high level uv for half an hour, - how dangerous is that!

Sun tanning all comes down to vanity and what a strange mad world that is.

I once watched a TV documentary in the late 1970's which was in 2 parts.

In the first part "white" women were suffering, and dying, from skin cancer because they had spent massive amounts of time on sun beds.

WHY?

Because they thought that they looked better with a tan, - darker skin looks better

In the second part "black" women were suffering burns and poisoning because they had washed regularly with a banned "mercurial" soap which whitens the skin.

WHY?

Because they thought that they looked better with a whiter skin, - lighter skin looks better

I know we think that women are never satisfied but to risk your life to achieve a non-existant "ideal" skin colour is sheer madness.