What's the deal with people nowadays trying to avoid sun exposure?

Move to PNW. No worries about sun exposure.

There's the whole skin cancer thing.

Any study where they controlled for time spend outdoors? ie, if two groups spend the same amount of time outdoors and one avoids sun exposure, is there still a negative difference in life expectancy for the 'avoid' group?

1950s America:

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Aren't the dermatologists telling us so? 🤔

I knew it. Total scam from Big Dermatology. Follow the money, if you can see it past the 70 SPF block.

The whole skin cancer thing and premature aging of skin. If you want to look like an old baseball mitt go for it. At altitude you can get sunburned in less than 15 minutes.

That doesn't mean you should aim for zero sun exposure. You should try to get regular sun exposure, just not too much at once. You don't need to worry about being in the sun for your hour run every day, for example; maybe wear sun screen if it's intense .

Hollywood seems to disagree.

A reasonable level of tan in fact evens out skin tone (obscures acne, facial hair, scars, expression lines, etc.), making you look younger.

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Aiming for zero sun exposure is a zero-sum game

The reason is BIG Dermo hates U.V.'s and photons. They recommend zero sun exposure. It's like Satan's face is on the U.V.'s and photons. It's more than a little crazy.

Hollywood actors wear makeup to look tan.

Vampires

Then how come pale people/sun avoiders look like sh!t? If you want to look like you have the flu all the time or just got out of a coma then go for it.

They don't want to get a tanning membership.

Photoageing.

Look at Rafael Nadal's skin at his Roland Garros presentation the other day. You see photoageing in most tennis players - even by 23/24 they often look weather - but Rafa famously didn't wear sunscreen. Equally, look at the skin of Australians vs British people. It's insane, even by 27/28.

It's definitely overkill, though. And a lot of people do look healthier with a tan.

As for your examples of actors.

1) Hollywood's been using make up / fake tan for decades now. There's also a lot of peptide use.

2) It'll vary depending on skin type. If you're skin type 3 and can naturally get a slight tan with moderate sun exposure then you're going to be tanned. For me to get a real tan I have to spend insane amounts of time in the sun whereas my dad can sit outside for 15 minutes per day in the English spring / summer sun and have a decent tan.

3) Actors will have dermatologists doing things to off-set sun damage.

The funny thing is though, I still see a lot of younger people smoking. That destroys your skin, too.

Just wear sunscreen. Christ, it's like in every skin care discussion written in the last 20 years. It's obvious.

You don't need to avoid sun, you don't need to get burned, you need to endure skin damage or premature aging.

You just need to take some simple precautions.

What about people that avoid talking face-to-face with women? Overexpose their liver to alcohol? Spend most of their free time indoors watching YouTube, cam girls, and 💩 posting on LRC?

Ideally you'd be blocking sun from hitting areas with the most significant existing skin damage, and from areas that are crucial to your appearance of youth and self-image.

I spent my mid 20s covering up and wearing sunscreen like a freak. I developed low Vitamin D as a result. Now, I make sure to get some sun, but I also want to look young, so I avoid sun on my face and put on sunscreen if I'm getting substantial sun exposure for more than 10-15 minutes.