I discovered that the sun's UVB rays, which are the rays needed to make vitamin D, do not pass through glass. Bummer. So I can't open the shades and sun my legs to get Vit D. I also did a quick calculation: even if I remember to take the 2 tsp. of cod liver oil everyday, I only get, at the very most around 1000IU from my diet.
This might be good enough to prevent depression (which I sort of got last summer here) and preventing a deficiency but I don't think it's quite enough. So the rest is up to the sun. Now luckily, Arizona's winter sunshine is excellent. Quite possibly my favorite thing in the world. It's colder so you don't get burned without sunblock, and plenty of sunshine around. It just makes me so happy... literally. I can't even feel down when it's pleasantly cold and sunny.
The problem is with summer.
I wear a scarf. I have given up wearing sandals when walking around outside (it's too hot, the sun burns the hell out of your feet and the heat travels up most sandals from the boiling asphalt after a few minutes of walking - think summer, hot sand, bare feet and you'll get some idea). I also forgot my favorite sturdy walking pair in Lebanon. So that makes whatever sun exposure I get through my hands and face, all the more crucial.
Last year, I tackled the summer sun by applying liberal amounts of sunblock. So much that I didn't even get a tan on my face. I hate the sunblock. It makes me look "ghost white" like I'm sick and it's a pain in the ass to rub on every time I go out. This year I'm trying something else. I have this $11 natural and organic aloe vera 2 oz. jar of cream lying around (don't ask) and I decided, well, time to get my money's worth. So I started when going out, instead of using my $20 no-chemicals same hippie brand sunblock, I put some cream on my face, just like you would with a face cream. I don't put too much either because I don't want my face to look oily. I've been trying this for a week.
I figured, usually, burns are worse when your skin dries out. And I thought if I keep my skin hydrated, especially with an aloe cream since aloe vera is the remedy for sunburns, it should work out - in theory. And I'll get my vitamin D. Luckily, I'm fair skinned so I don't need as much sun to manufacture vitamin D, 10-minutes of noon sunlight exposure on 15% of a fair-skinned body gives you about 2000IU. Dark skinned people need up to six times as much sun.
Results?
Well, although we haven't really hit high summer, and it's only 30C these days, I have to say I'm impressed. So far I haven't been burned once, walking about twice at least per day for 10-15 min in noon-early afternoon sun, which is nothing short of miraculous. Even with sunblock, if I miss a spot or don't rub it well all over, I'll get slightly burned pink skin. My freckles, which had gotten a little bad over the winter especially on my nose and cheekbones (since I used nothing), have gone down when I started with the sunblock and have not gotten any worse since I stopped and started using the cream. What is happening though, is that I've been getting a tan. No burns, just a slow tan. This might not be ideal as I don't like the tan line from my scarf, but hey, since I wear a scarf out anyway it's not much of a problem. At least I no longer have to deal with hard to rub sunblocks, a ghost face and looking like crap all through summer. Not to mention putting the cream on takes a fraction of the time and is actually pleasant to do. Plus my face is looking way better. I already feel happier.
I miss sun tanning at the beach!
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