How we spent our summers 40 years ago

Were you a beach loving babe or a buffed bronzed bloke, back in the days of your youth?

Cast your mind back to those sunny Sydney summer days, when nothing was better than:

• Going to the beach after a hot day at school or work
• Putting the surfboard in the back of the “Sandman” and catching a few waves
• Playing sport with your friends, the less clothes (to keep cool!), the better
• Hanging out with friends around the pool, barbequing for a weekend lunch….

….but was that barbequing our lunch or our bodies?

Those were the summer days of the 60’s and 70’s, when sunscreen was that BIG white tube of zinc, used to protect the tip of our noses, and that was about all. It was sun tan cream rather than sun burn cream – oh the sweet smell of coconut tanning oil! We would sunbake endlessly under the hot summer sun, from dawn till dusk, and we thought our beautifully browned skin was very cool.

Are you regretting those days now?

While the memories may still bring a smile to our face, it’s everything else that’s brought to our face that can now be problematic!

The skin of those youthful summers has aged before its time. Sun spots, brown spots, wrinkles and even skin cancers, can wait decades before they appears, but when they do, it can be distressing. And sometimes it seems, no amount of warning will change the behaviour of our teenagers, who continue to bake their bodies today.