Sunscreen saga

Baking Boomers

I have to admit that when Fashion magazine’s beauty editor, Adriana Ermter,  called and asked me to write a story on sun exposure and aging, I was certain that the acting editor of  the magazine, my friend Bernadette Morra, had put her up to it. So reluctant was I to explore in detail, with the assistance of dermatologists and aestheticians, the effect of sun on the skin as we age, that I kept putting off writing the story. You see, I tend to worship the sun god Ra a little bit more than most people, and certainly more than I should continue to, given that I have already turned into a sun-dried version of my former peachy self–arguably through no real fault of my own.

As I confess in the story,  (currently on the newstands), I come from a line of committed sun-worshippers who never knew from sunscreen, only Solarcaine, so the damage is already done.

I must say that I am glad I did end up filing the story as several people over the last few days have mentioned that they  enjoyed and identified fully with it–and on the weekend, what did I read in the NYT, but a story about how SPF wasn’t even on the market till the mid ’80s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/fashion/16genb.html

So once again we have only the boomers–or maybe demographics– to blame.