Growing up in Barbados, I never wore sunscreen. It was something tourists wore so they wouldn’t burn. My mom would put some on my face when we would spend our summers on the beach, 6-7 hours a day, but other than that I didn’t wear it. I would turn golden brown and there was no doubt that I was local.

Now, after living in Canada for almost 45 years, I’m far more susceptible to burning and I need sunscreen. But I love the feel of the sun without a layer of slime on me. What I do is I always spend 20 to 40 minutes with no sunscreen on when I first get out in the sun. I literally sunbathe. Then, before I feel a burn, I put a nice high level sunscreen on. Sometimes it’s the little joys in life that mean a lot.

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