Thread

1. nomel · 1790116546 · focus · HN ↗

   I don't know about this. I can feel where there are holes in my sunblock (which only block UV) which lets me know where to apply it, and the sensation is not one of heat of the sun, it's different. I'm not sure about the mechanism, but the presence of the sunblock stops the "UV" type sensation. This from the moment I put it on to long after the water component of the sunblock has evaporated. And, the type of sunblock doesn't matter (the drier waterproof kind or various lotion varieties). And, I do notice a difference between the different SPF, along with some "bad" sunblock that I just kept applying but couldn't make the feeling go away (it had apparently separated, and everyone that used it was burned).

   I think the "real" test would be to just shine a UV light in a dark room, to see if the source can be identified while blindfolded, or something.

   1. crazygringo · 1790123344 · focus · HN ↗

      Thank you -- I'm exactly the same. You're right, it doesn't feel like heat, it feels like... something else, I have no words for it.

      It usually goes together with bright direct sunlight in the summer, so I think most people don't learn to notice or distinguish it.

      But I find that it's on particular overcast days in the summer, when there is no direct sunlight, that you can feel it intensely without the accompanying sunlight/heat. It reminds me to put on sunblock. But it's not all overcast days -- it's strongest when there's a light cloudy "haze". In contrast, when it's thick clouds approaching thunderstorm, you obviously don't feel it at all.

      So it's that kind of thing that's hard to judge before you go outside, but as soon as you do, you get a clear "oh, I definitely need to go back in and put in sunblock" or "oh, this is fine, no sunblock needed today".

      The best way I can explain it is as kind of an "oppressive" feeling, almost like a kind of pressure on your skin. Like, you can describe heat that way too -- oppressive or like a kind of pressure -- but in this case, you're feeling those things when there is no heat.

      And when you are at the beach on a hot sunny day, I find it kind of magical how the sunblock removes the feeling entirely. It's still sunny and bright and hot, but you don't feel the oppressive/pressure feeling together with it.

      1. phonon · 1790125237 · focus · HN ↗

         "no words for it"

         Actinic?

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