Don't be stupid.

I don't have any new exciting stories to regale you with (I know, you're surprised. Because I am usually SO EXCITING but alas, not this week). I just wanted to share something I'm investigating that is based on a facebook comment a friend's father (I think) made. So this post is pretty much entirely a Chemistry Fun Fact. You're welcome.

The conversation stemmed from a discussion about how bad fake baking is for you (fake baking, fake tanning, laying in tanning beds, voluntarily giving yourself skin cancer, whatever you prefer to call it). Seriously kids, studies have proved fake baking increases your chances of getting skin cancer by 75%. That's huge. That's like saying "Why yes, I would like a side of cancer with my tanning lotion" every time you go. So one friend suggested spray tanning instead, which I have done before. And I looked HILARIOUS. Seriously, gingers aren't meant to be tan, I even have photographic proof, but now that I looked at it, the picture doesn't really do justice how absurd I looked. Embrace your inner pale, my fellow gingers, cause trust me, you look totes ridic.

Also, downside of spray tanning, that shit gets on EVERYTHING. Your sheets, your clothes, it rubs off on everything. I think I recall it washing out...mostly. So consider yourself warned.

But someone joked that spray tanning probably has crap in it that causes cancer. Which I have no idea if that's true, but it might be, because goodness knows everything causes cancer anymore. Which as Tanner (my fiance) pointed out once, is simply because humans live so much longer than we used to, and cancer cells are cells that have gone rogue essentially. Meaning they've mutated themselves in to something bad, which requires time. We used to live to say...30ish. Now most of us see our 80's. So that's a partial explanation. Along with all the chemicals and crap that are all around us nowadays. And other reasons I am sure, I am no expert.

Anywho, someone else then commented that they are concerned about the nanoparticles used in sunscreen. I've heard about people being concerned about this before also. The main component of suncreen that protects you from the sun is zinc oxide or titanium oxide, because they create free radicals which I think I have explained in a previous blog entry (ha, learning!) but basically they block UV rays. That's the take home message. Sunscreen didn't use to always rub on to be clear either, because of how big the zinc oxide or what have you particles were. But if you shrink them down to nanosize (super eensy weensy, like 100,000 x smaller than a human hair) they rub on clear as well as are better absorbed by your skin, and provide better protection.

So a concern, which could be legitimate, is whether or not these nanoparticles are harmful for us. I did some googling, because Lord Google doth know all. Not really, but it's hella useful, and I read some reviews of studies, nothing too in depth because that'd be like real research, and doing research is for losers.

Ahem.

So I read a few things that talk about studies that have been done. In one of which they used a different metal and they tested it on mice. That...doesn't sound particularly accurate to me. In others they had trouble determining whether it was the nanoparticles that actually made it through to living cells or if it was soluble zinc ions (there is a difference) so that's a major deficiency in that study, since the question is: is the zinc oxide nano particle getting through to live tissue or not? Most studies that have focused on this have determined that the nanoparticles do not make it through to living cells, meaning they sit on all those dead skin cells that sit on the surface of our skin, which is our first layer of protection. This means you wash them off, or sweat them off, or they just wear off.

Another study, which amused me, studied the effect of the particles in the colon. Think about how they have to get to the colon....yeah you'd have to EAT YOUR SUNSCREEN. So don't stick sunscreen up your nose, or in your mouth, and if you use it on your lips don't lick it off (I know, "but it's so tasty!" you say, do try and resist). It also said the quantity you'd have to eat is 2 grams in order to reach toxic levels in your colon. That's a lot of sunscreen. That's like...taking a shot of sunscreen. I feel ill thinking about that. You don't eat other things you apply to your skin, like make up or lotions or nail polish remover, or even things you use in your mouth, like toothpaste, for similar reasons, they're bad for your insides.

So basically, don't be stupid and eat your sunscreen. And if you have a paste eating child, keep them away from your sunscreen. Use your sunscreen properly, and you should be fine. Yay for being pale! Power to the pale people! Everyone hug a ginger!