So, what's the incidence of skin cancer in France?

[mint]

I ask from a genuine desire to know, having been out this afternoon to buy some sunscreen and still reeling from shock at the prices.

So, where do you buy your sunscreen, what make do you favour and what do you think is a reasonable price to pay for, say 150ml?

[idun]

Used to pay lots for Roc from my local pharmacie, although these days I would probably see if any of the parapharmacies that the big supermarchés have would sell it cheaper. Roc is good in spite of the price, that is all I can say.

No idea of the figures for skin cancer in France. If there are many with it, it wouldn't surprise me. When I first moved to France everyone I knew used to simply sun bathe and everyone would be very very dark skinned..... and then there would be me, lilly white! Over the years, well, I remained lilly white, but those that used to go mahogany would only go a golden instead. My skin is damaged on my face, mainly on the skin between my eyes and ears on both sides, I reckon from driving or being a passenger with the window open.  I can use slap to cover these marks, but I have to keep my eye on them.

[Patf]

Here's a link - but it probably won't be clickable, sorry!

http://www.wcrf.org/cancer_statistics/cancer_frequency.php

France second to Denmark, which is strange.

I have fair freckled skin and stay out of the sun, usually covered up. But I had a small mole on my forearm which was getting bigger. Our doctor took a sample, sent it off, and it was pre- cancerous (I think). Anyway I had to have it removed at  the specialist cancer hospital in Toulouse.

TG it hasn't returned. But taught me that you need to be careful about such things.

I was very worried at the time because I had seen a severe case on a french lady who had a large hole in her leg from a removed skin cancer.

[mint]

I was so taken aback by the prices of sunscreen that I couldn't help but wonder what sales were like and how many people did use these products

Having done so much walking in full sun this summer, I wanted to buy a tube of something with high protection.  I don't see any of my regular French walking companions use sunscreen.

I usually put some on just before a walk and sometimes, but not always, sort of midway through a walk.

I feel a bit resentful that these things should cost so much.  I gritted my teeth and spent the money but I thought of people I know who would be put off by the price.

And you are right, Pat, the incidence of skin cancer in Europe (well, southern Europe) is actually comparatively high.

   

[Clark Kent II]

[quote user="mint"]

I feel a bit resentful that these things should cost so much.  I gritted my teeth and spent the money but I thought of people I know who would be put off by the price.
 
[/quote]

I haven't bothered to look at these products in French shops since I acquired my supply in a supermarket in England. A Which? report, about a month ago, made a Co-op brand - at about £3 - its best buy. The report advised people to avoid a well-known brand costing about four times as much.

I suspect that people are not particularly rational when buying sunscreens. They are pretty much a commodity product with little difference in effectiveness between the cheapest and most expensive brands. If it says on the bottle that it is factor 30, then its selling price is immaterial. Pay more than the minimum and you buying a fashion item, buying the brand rather than the product.

[Théière]

It's also worth considering about the staining of pool liners or a product could cost a lot more than you expect. Reimann P20 is a complete ban at ours, known to stain pool liners badly and also sheets and towels.

Ambre solaire dry mist (50% off at boots) is deemed pool liner safe at the moment. It's not greasy formulation should suit people like me who hate creams running into their eyes, but yet to give this a go.

[mint]

CK, I know it only too well.  Last year, I bought a tube of Lidl's own (Cien) but this year I couldn't find any in either Lidl or Aldi (my supermarkets of choice).

No good going to Leclerc of course as they don't do own brand anything and, together with Intermarché, is one of the most expensive of our 5 supermarkets.

And we all know about prices in pharmacies, don't we?

I paid reluctantly but I justified it by buying none of anybody's moisturisers and I didn't want skin cancer or to look like a dried up old prune.

Shouldn't be so expensive for an essential product..............the poor have enough to contend with without skin cancer on top?

[mint]

[quote user="Théière"]It's also worth considering about the staining of pool liners or a product could cost a lot more than you expect. Reimann P20 is a complete ban at ours, known to stain pool liners badly and also sheets and towels.

Ambre solaire dry mist (50% off at boots) is deemed pool liner safe at the moment. It's not greasy formulation should suit people like me who hate creams running into their eyes, but yet to give this a go.

[/quote]

No worries, Teapot, I wouldn't be staining yours or anbody else's pool liner as I have decided that swimming is not for me.

It's the smell of these products that I don't like at all!

What is in the stuff that gives it that distinctive smell?  I always feel a bit whiffy when exchanging the customary bises with people as nobody else seems to smell of sunscreen the way I do?

Not as bad as BO, I suppose?[:-))]

[woolybanana]

Brought up in RSA, we never went in the sun without a tea shirt and a hat as well as a good basting. As a result, I still don't.

This threaddie got me thinking about climate change and skin problems; I reckon the Arabs have got the answer as they wear a full covering dishdash or thin burka in summer. In fact the thought of some of the more mature ladies on this forum going for their daily walks across France in full burkas quite tickles my fancy!

[idun]

Well if I was in a blue burkha like the poor ladies in Afghanistan, then I reckon that people'd think a blue whale had hit land[Www]

But me in a burkha, well, anyone who tried to get me to wear one would be in a bit of a state, coz I would not be so clothed without a very good fight.

I do cover up, have done for years. I know that 'skin' needs some proper sunshine on it to get the old vitamin D, so I make sure that my skin gets some sunshine, but I haven't even been a little golden in years and years, well, since I was in my teens, so a long long time ago!

[Gardengirl]

As teenagers my friends and I in NE England used to lie in the sun for hours on end at the seaside after rubbing in olive oil - very expensive in those tiny bottles you bought in the chemist!  [:'(]

I wonder if you might fancy trying what I use, Mint - sun protection and lots of other things from the range by Green People - organic, reasonably-priced I think, and they've posted things out to me in France when I've run out:

http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKEAjwpIefBRCuir7wy-f1kCwSJADXBi2aQjVwYlYPovbrtFJUBDVrHK92WrR_pQxOrk4fY0cvexoCN6fw_wcB

Apparently UK Amazon also stocks their products at a reduced

price, though Green People do some useful offers sometimes - I had BOGOFF

recently on some of the products I use.

[Pommier]

I was going to say Lidl as their sun creams aren't overly expensive - have you asked in the shop?

Otherwise, have a look at Ebay or Amazon.

[woolybanana]

Gardengirl, was there ever enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil?

[Gardengirl]

[:D] [:D]

[mint]

Thanks, guys, I'm OK for this year now.  Bought a large 200 ml bottle.

Only 4 more weeks of summer walks and then la rentrée and back to la gym.  Sometimes I don't know how I don't collapse in a melted heap.  But, no, there I go swinging my batons but I am then good for nothing for the rest of the day.

All the additional "randos en fete" will also be over as most villages have had their fete by now.  I quite like the nocturnal randos for which no sunscreen is required [:)]

[idun]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Gardengirl, was there ever enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil?[/quote]

Yes, there was enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil. I never understood those that put pure Olive Oil BP on their skin, if the sun creams were smelly, then I found that worse.

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="idun"][quote user="woolybanana"]Gardengirl, was there ever enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil?[/quote]

Yes, there was enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil. I never understood those that put pure Olive Oil BP on their skin, if the sun creams were smelly, then I found that worse.

[/quote]

If there were suncreams around in the 50s and 60s we were never aware of them, Idun. Anyway, a little bottle of olive oil from the chemist didn't cost much for impecunious teenagers. We spent many sunny Sundays down by Seaburn beach taking the sun and sea air and gossiping.

[Théière]

[quote user="gardengirl "][quote user="idun"][quote user="woolybanana"]Gardengirl, was there ever enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil?[/quote]

Yes, there was enough sun in the NE to need sun cream or oil. I never understood those that put pure Olive Oil BP on their skin, if the sun creams were smelly, then I found that worse.

[/quote]

If there were suncreams around in the 50s and 60s we were never aware of them, Idun. Anyway, a little bottle of olive oil from the chemist didn't cost much for impecunious teenagers. We spent many sunny Sundays down by Seaburn beach taking the sun and sea air and gossiping.

[/quote]

Of course there was, Calamine lotion! [:D]

I do love the green products adverts, not saying they don't work and I like the approach but "Earth minerals" where else would they come from and that still encompasses everything on the periodic table [;-)]

[Patf]

Is there any evidence that using sun protection cream prevents skin cancer? I thought it was just to avoid sunburn.

[mint]

Wouldn't you know, now that I have armed myself with a large bottle of sunscreen (at great expense, I might add) when I woke up this morning, it was piddling down and there was so much mist that I had to have the car lights on.

So, I had to re-pack my rucksack with rain hat, impér, brolly, small towel, change of clothes (for the lunch afterwards), having removed the said sunscreen, sunglasses and wide-brimmed sun-hat.

Pat, I have read that Australians have one of the highest incidence of skin cancer and I must admit I'd just assumed that it could be because of their outdoor life and being in the sun.

In any case, I don't think that orangey-mahoganey look with skin the texture of dried prunes is too attractive, do you?

[Patf]

No, I've never wanted to look prune-brown, and have always covered up in the sun, because of my fair skin. Except for the times I've been swimming in the sea, but often it wasn't sunny.

My point is that in spite of that, I got this cancerous mole.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="Patf"]Is there any evidence that using sun protection cream prevents skin cancer? I thought it was just to avoid sunburn.
[/quote]The evidence suggests that using sun protection cream reduces the risk of getting skin cancer. As Mint says there seems to be higher incidence in countries like Australia.

[Pommier]

I read recently that if someone sunburns badly enough to blister 3 times before they're 20 they massively increase the risk of later contracting skin cancer.

[mint]

Certainly, when we were young, it was considered "fashionable" to sport a tan, especially in winter.  Showed you'd been somewhere warm and possibly exotic for your holidays.

And now there are people who use sun-beds to achieve a tan!

You'd think they'd know better these days, wouldn't you?

I can't remember blisters but I must have been burnt several times, certainly enough for the skin to peel off in strips afterwards[:-))]

[mint]

deleted, double post

it's either not appearing or it's doubling [:-))]