Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 01, 2017

My secretary was a light skin black woman who stayed out of the sun since she didn’t want to darken too much.

A dark skin black guy I knew got sun burned and was quite embarrassed by it.

50% of mixed race friendships go away by puberty. A phenomenon worthy of study.

My dad had a story from when he was in the US Navy. The boat on which he served had a black guy with very dark skin that was known as quite the jokester. One day the chief found him on the fantail just lounging. The chief what he thought he was doing. The reply: “I’m gettin’ a suntan!”

Heard about a young black Marine who’s first assignment was Guam. Despite the training and warnings about the intense sun at that location, he spent his first day off at the beach – all day. He then spent a month in the hospital from a very bad sunburn.

One of my son’s teachers (elementary school) taught her students that black people don’t need sunscreen because they don’t burn. I facepalmed when he told me that. I let him know that no matter how dark someone’s skin is, they still need sunscreen to protect them from certain UV rays that can damage their skin. This same teacher also taught them that the earth rotates very very slowly. I told him if you consider 1000 miles per hour (near the equator) to be slow, then sure….

I would think sunblock would be even more important for people with dark skin tones. I’m crazy pale, so you can instantly tell if I’ve had even a tiny bit too much sun. But if you had a darker complexion, you might not know that you’ve gotten too much exposure until a lot of damage had been done.

Dark skin does appear to be an adaptation to high solar radiation, but it’s imperfect “protection” at best. It does better as heat protection, since it absorbs more infrared (heat) which appears to make sweat evaporate more rapidly.

Regardless, we now live too long not to use adequate protections from radiation exposure.

My husband once had a Sudanese co-worker with jet black skin. He came back from vacation once and jokingly asked my partner if he noticed how tanned he was from being out in the sun.

I’m so pale I worried about sunburn while watching the eclipse.

I tell my A&P students every semester about how everyone, regardless of their starting skin tone has the capacity to increase their melanin levels (pigment levels) via exposure to the sun. And then I also state than everyone, regardless of their skin tone should strongly consider using sunscreen to reduce their potential for developing skin cancers….. and then I show them photos of the various forms of skin cancer.

I had a black roommate when in college during the 60’s. (She was mahogany dark. I am a sallow-skinned Caucasian.) I still remember one conversation we had – not so much about skin color, but condition. She had dry skin which she called “pithy." She thought it was a condition unique to black-skinned people. When we compared arms, she discovered that light skin can be pithy, too. Those little dry flakes just aren’t as noticeable against lighter colored skin.

Best Frazz strip I’ve read in a long time.

I read that Casper-white skin burns in a minute, while Michael Jordan-dark skin takes 75.

Imagine being able to go from the whitest to the darkest of skin as an added protection against skin cancer?