If you do anything at all make sure you go to a skin doctor and get checked for melanoma every year. It is something you don’t want to have to battle with.
Andy
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I just had my annual dermatology checkup last week.
Why do I do it?
I’ve had quite a bit of sun exposure… and I have a niece (not a blood relative) who died of melanoma at the age of 32… after a couple years of treatments. It keeps the risk in mind…
Rob
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
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Also switch immediately from any commercial soap or body wash or hair shampoo with chemicals. The chemicals do alter your DNA. They can from the skin also get into your blood stream.
Go to non commercial soap bars that are chemical free.
It is not just the sun that alters the DNA of your skin. All commercial soaps do not have to list the chemicals if they are under 1% of the bar content. There can be over 50 chemicals in a bar of soap. The lathering, the melting, the smell and all the features in a cheap bar of soap to manufacture come from the chemicals promoting the actions. Better chemical free soap even lasts longer.
This goes for dish soap and washing detergents. Go to biodegradable products minimally.
Do not use a body wash. Body wash does not come as a liquid without chemicals. I use my bar soap as a shampoo. Your scalp will thank you.
The principle of why these chemicals add to your cancer risk is easy to spell out. We test chemical by chemical to see if it is a carcinogen. Many seemingly are not. But when there are 50 chemicals acting as agents in your soap you are in fact asking for synergies that may well be extremely carcinogenic.
If you have had skin cancer recurring following this advice you possibly will see your recurrency rate cut in half.
For sun screen look for Blue Lizard at Walmart or online. It is mineral based. It is effective. It is inexpensive. It is a very good block. Wonderful to put on.
This advice is equally good for people you know with psoriasis or eczema. It can cut the amount of the skin problems down considerably.
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I’ve enjoyed Buffett’s music for hours on end. May he rest in music.
The Captain
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Since everything is made from chemicals, could you be more specific? What types/classes of chemicals? Any recommended brands as alternatives?
DB2
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I just changed dermatologist. Every time I went this lady would not let me go without freezing and freezing and freezing. Then there were biopsies and Mhos surgeries and red light treatments and follow-ups. I finally took the boss’s suggestion and changed to another dermatologist who is with the same group but closer to home. Don’t have to drive downtown anymore and she’s at a hospital about a mile away.
This time around after a full body scan she gave me three shot of freon on the scalp. Done deal. Only one that noticed anything was the barber next day when I got a haircut.
Warning! I’m not a doctor. I play golf three times a week and marshal at a golf course one morning a week so I do have sun exposure. We play early in the morning while it’s still dark and play the first 5 holes with flashlights. I’m not trying to discourage trips to the doctor’s office it’s just that in my case I felt it was overkill.
Regards,
ImAGolfer (retired 2003)
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Probably why you didn’t invite me. In order to play with flashlights you have to have some idea of where the ball went. I adhere to the “spray and pray” school of the sport.
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Does the light reach all the way from the tee across the fairway to the green so you can aim for the hole???
A couple of years ago we tried the glow in the dark golf balls but quickly abandoned them because you lose a good 40-50 yards. As an old phart every yard is valuable.
I play with a guy that is deaf and claims he can’t see even though he’s had cataract surgery. I have to hold the light on the ball while he painstakingly grips and re-grips and says 43 Hail Mary’s and asks where’s the flag, etc, etc, etc. All the while I’m trying to keep the light on the ball while watching half the golf course back up behind us. Then we have to find his ball, keep the light on the ball, repeat, repeat and repeat as necessary. By this time I’m just about done and my game is shot and we haven’t gotten off the first hole. He’s so slow that I usually don’t wait for him to drag himself over to my ball and hold a light. I usually go ahead and hit (there’s got to be a green up there somewhere).
Oh, yea, two people playing. Two balls. I’ve identified mine. Why does it take him another couple of minutes to identify his ball? Can’t conclude let’s see two players two balls the other guy identified his ball this second ball must belong to someone that played last night I guess.
To answer your question the light reaches about 150 yards so you can identify the color of the flag and position (red-100, white-150 and blue-200). We bought them at Home Depot a couple years ago. Brand name is Defiant and cost about $20.
I guess all the wasted time (in my opinion) getting my partner set up with the light and all must pay dividends since he’s a 16 and I’m a 23. No wonder the difference since every thing has been pristine for one of us.
But that’s golf.
Regards,
ImAGolfer
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Only one response … I’m so glad I’m not a golfer. 
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Now I understand why you love golf so much: you make it sound like so much fun.
Pete
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I’m a high handicap golfer but stay up with play and count every stroke. I play with a group of guys that are fun to play with. They don’t take it too seriously so that I feel like I can compete with my handicap, and we enjoy cocktails / beers while we wait for all of the foursomes to return so that we can divvy up the ($10/man) prize money. I’ve been on the winning team a few times.
'38Packard
→ golf can be fun!!!
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I am a hopeless duffer at golf, but I did once have a fabulous time playing golf at an ancient back-of-the-sheep-meadow course near Ullapool, Scotland. It was dribbling rain with occassional gusts of wind.
I could see how/why they invented it, and playing there it was much more fun than I had imagined possible.
david fb
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Hey Packard. Like you I’m a high handicapper as well. We play every shot down. My playing partner is there (sometimes) to watch. You wouldn’t believe some of the places I’ve had to hit from (ever use a putter from behind a tree?). I’ve never seen the need to go to the course to eat. Don’t get me wrong I love beer but at the time we play I’m just not a beer for breakfast guy. I carry two 16 oz bottles of cold water and refill them at the water stations. Oh, yea, we play for $3. That $3 has been back and forth a bunch over the years just wish it would wind up in my pocket more often.
Fairways & Greens,
ImAGolfer
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Anything that is not actually soap but props up cheap crappy soap to act like soap. I thought I was clear. Soap is soap.
The lowest cost excellent bar of soap is the Good Bar at Whole Foods.
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I’m a chemist by training. Soap is a generic term for a class of chemicals called surfactants. Lots of different kinds of soap, in other words.
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I am not trying to claim any expertise on what is added to soap but those 50 or more chemicals are not good in combinations for us. There are synergies yet to be proven but there are visible outcomes in many people.
Well, in the world of skincare products and chemistry, soap has a specific meaning…saponified fatty acid. Dove, Dial etc are detergent bars/liquid, not soap.
Both are available in most supermarkets these days (as opposed to specialty stores, craft fairs etc) Saponifying agent is usually sodium hydroxide (lye) or occasionally potassium hydroxide (potash) I’ve made my own but usually purchase mine. I think Dr Bronner is the most likely brand you’ll find on the supermarket shelves and one of the few brands outside of the “fair trade” brands I’ve seen that uses potash.
Are they “better” or less likely to cause skin cancer? I seriously doubt it. No matter what the individual ingredients do in large enough quantities over extended periods. I’m reasonably sure that most folk are like me when bathing (no matter if the lathering agent is a bar of artisan manufactured saponified fatty acid or a cheap detergent bar)…I rinse myself well afterwards. Skin contact time probably well under one minute once, sometimes twice a day. Except for my hands. Over a career of close to 4 decades At The Orifice, I’ve habitually washed my hands with chemically laden detergent/soap for much longer periods and oftentimes multiple times an hour every working day. That adds up to quite a lot of contact. I’ve had one squamous and one basal cell carcinoma removed over the past 15 years. Neither were on my hands.
I suspect the commercially available washing/laundry products have darn near zero impact on the incidence of skin cancers in comparison to sun exposure
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Mexican golf joke:
’
Three Mexican were kind of bored and were discussing what to do.
Mex1: “Let’s plat golf.”
Mex2: “What is golf?”
Mex1: “It’s a game gringos play with a stick, a ball and a hole.”
Mex2: “OK, I bring the stick,.”
Mex1: “I bring the ball.”
Mex3: “I don’t want to play.”
The Captain
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Well a dermatologist in Ireland and much of western Europe seeing someone for a problem will immediately ask what soap is being used. In the US the dermatologists will sell you a crappy cream soap for a larger premium.
I have helped two people that I was able to follow up on reduce their constantly recurring skin cancer rates by 50% in the switch away from commercial soap or detergent if you like.
In my own case my psoriasis was cut by 95% in the switch away from commercial soap.
You have not gone into what the chemicals are beyond the saponification process. It is a major mess. If you list the chemicals you will see people here dumping their chem bars immediately. It is dumb to even touch these chemicals. You would not want to eat them. If they were in a jar with a full label on them and no soap you would not dip your finger in.