Yesterday my 2 boys and I frolicked in the beaches of Laiya, Batangas in the small fishing village. We arrived around 7am and bought some freshly caught fish and squid by the fishermen. I had 2 raw fish and 1 raw squid for breakfast while my kids and the nannie had a cooked meat and rice breakfast probably with MSG… sigh. By 8am we hit the ocean water and bathed, frolicked and walked around fishing boats and swam with the fishermen’s children until 10am. Originally I wanted just 1 hour, but the boys wanted more time.
I forgot to bring any virgin coconut oil as our sunblock. I initially thought 1 hour of sun at 8-9am would be a good limit for myself. But we extended by another 1 hour. By evening at home I had realized this minor folly. I had sun burnt shoulders… painful, red all over. Good thing we had virgin coconut oil at home. I applied virgin coconut oil on my sun burnt skin. And I slept without a shirt on this evening which was more comfortable with this sun burn to let the virgin coconut oil do its job.
I woke up this morning with significantly less sun burn pain. Will probably put more virgin coconut oil later. My first impulse was to check on my 2 boys. They just woke up and I asked if they had any sunburn pain. They both said none. I checked their skin and no sun burn. Maybe they darkened a bit, but they were not redenned by 2 hours of sun exposure on the beach.
Why did I get sun burned but not my 2 boys?
Ethnic differences. I analyze my skin composition looks more light skinned Chinese on my mother’s side. I don’t get dark, I just redden and get sun burned. My children may have gotten Ilocano blood from their mother (my wife) which significantly protects them fron sun exposure, they are a little darker than me and their skin gets darker, like automatic sunglasses on sun exposure and get no sunburn. Come to think of it, I have never seen them get any sun burn.
We have stopped going to swimming pools when we found out that our children are allergic to swimming pool chlorine. They immediately come down with terrible colds and coughs after swimming in the pool.
Next time, I need to remember to bring some virgin coconut oil upon going to the beach. Never use commercial sun-block… they are poisonous… not edible… if it is not edible, don’t put it on your skin. Virgin coconut is very edible… it is not poisonous… and is effective on skin.
I’ve used coconut oil before and I found that it works quite well. I’ve also used another natural product called Maui Aui. Like virgin coconut oil, all the ingredients in the Maui Aui are all natural and edible.
Another good cure for sunburn that my raw-foodist friend Roger Haeske told me about is Dr Flanagan’s MegaHydrin, a powerful antioxidant. He said it’s actually so powerful that you can even take it after you’ve been in the sun for a few hours, and you know your skin would soon normally turn bright red — well, pop a couple of capsules, and you won’t even have a tan later on. I believe this is one of only 2 supplements Roger takes, the other being vitamin b12, and he only takes the MegaHydrin for sun overexposure emergencies, normally relying on the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables.
I’ve read similar things about astaxanthin, the most powerful fat-soluble antioxidant. According to customer reviews on iHerb, taking 4mg every 4 hours or so is about equivalent to spf4 sunblock. I actually also break a capsule and smear it over the delicate parts of my face when I’m about to tan for a while. Though it is bright red, so I look like an Indian ready for war 🙂