English is not my mother tongue, but I will try to be as clear as I can.
You do not have to use sunscreen, because you can successfully protect yourself with clothes, hats, or being indoors, but if you do not want to use it, please do not make your decision based on the fact that sunscreens are harmful. Since it is not true.
There is an idea that the sun breaks down sunscreens into free radicals and only make things worse, provoking skin cancer. Both chemical and mineral sunscreens
do produce free radicals when they absorb a certain amount of sun radiation. And these free radicals are thought to harm the surrounding cells. But the fact is that the researches were not conducted on humans, but on cell cultures, and there is a very big difference between cell cultures and humans!
Human subject researches shew that using sunscreen slows down skin aging and reduces the chance of developing skin cancer. That is, the amount of harm that free radicals
theoretically cause is incomparably small compared to the amount of benefit that sunscreens bring to you.
Moreover, free radicals are produced only in the uppermost, horny layer of the skin, so they cannot cause severe harm, because they almost do not affect living cells.
Source:
https://www.tga.gov.au/literature-review-safety-titanium-dioxide-and-zinc-oxide-nanoparticles-sunscreensAnyway, you know better what to do.
Posted by Seajatt
Yeah, I mean I'm not dermatologist and reddit is hardly the best source of info, but the common message I saw was that sunscreen was bad. *shrugs*
Gonna try out the mineral stuff jazzy suggested and get some of those upf shirts.
I don't want to look like belt leather by the time I'm 45.