29 People Who Probably Had A Worse Summer

“15 minutes in the sun… Irish skin at its finest… ”

“One day at the beach, I got worn out after playing in the water for a few hours and proceeded to take a nap… for two hours. When I woke up, my whole body was burnt except for where my iPod and headphone string were sitting on my stomach…”

“Absolutely no filter on this photo. This was taken in 2008, back when I thought going tanning twice in one day was a cool and sexy idea. I’m grimacing because it actually hurt to smile. You could have fried an egg on my face.”

“I used spray sunscreen and somehow missed a STRAIGHT line down my entire leg. I was very patriotic for the Fourth of July.”

“Never let your roommate who hates sunscreen help you put on yours.”

“Football games and statement necklaces are not a good combo.”

“I worked for a professional sports team throughout summer and had to set up the field and venue for a game. It was bright and sunny. Over six hours later it hit me that I was wearing a tank top and hadn’t put on sunscreen. This was the aftermath.”

“I burned the shape of North America and South America onto my chest, burned right behind my knees, and burned my upper lip so bad I had permanent duck face for a week.”

“I went to a summer program at a college and one Saturday we went to Six Flags. It was 93 degrees out so I wore a spaghetti strap top, which later proved to be a huge mistake. I put on sunscreen when we got to the park, but forgot to reapply. We had been issued these lanyards with our ID cards and we were supposed to wear them at all times — so when I burned, it left an impression on my skin. My nickname was ‘lanyard’ for the rest of the program.”

“I moved from Alaska to Arizona for school and went on a 6-mile hike, but somehow didn’t even think to put any sunscreen on…”

“I took a cemetery tour in New Orleans that was supposed to be an hour long, but it turned out our tour guide was a true cemetery fanatic, so the tour lasted closer to two hours in direct sunlight. The pain was unreal, but the best part was that the fun tan lines from my purse strap sitting across my chest lasted all summer.”

“I was laying on my stomach at the beach for 30 MINUTES and was left with almost a week of pain and terrible peeling. I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy. I couldn’t sit down or walk comfortably for days! The only position that felt comfortable was just being on my stomach, so I spent a lot of time on the floor.”

“I went to a polo match. I wanted to look classy. So I wore a button down shirt and I also wore SPF 55. It didn’t work.”

“I was playing for an outdoor wedding where the bride was 45 minutes late. Now, the bride was also my cousin so I proceeded to go to the reception and get blasted. It wasn’t until 4 in the morning when I realized I was in pain, just before I got on my redeye flight back home. My scalp and ears were also bright red.”

“While paddle boarding, he asked me to help him put on sunscreen… which was very difficult to do while balancing on the board. I did a terrible job.”

“Last summer I got a burn-tan that looked just like Neapolitan ice cream.”

“I decided to wear a cute top with lace on the shoulders to an outdoor work outing. Not my smartest move.”

“My coconut and palm allergy means I can only use one kind of sunblock that’s beeswax-based and apparently not waterproof when tubing down a river. I was in bed for four days unable to walk. But my hella dry knees didn’t burn at least.”

“Kids, let your parents apply your sunscreen for you when you are in 5th grade. Because when you rush and put it on yourself, you’ll end up with half a music note on your face and half your face completely burnt.”

“I got stuck in traffic in a convertible. I had a permanent necklace and seatbelt burn by the time I got to the beach!”

“I thought it was too overcast to get a sunburn, so didn’t even worry about the sunscreen. My friends affectionately referred to this burn as ‘the bib.’”

“I went camping with my friends and they told me they’d put sunscreen on my back for me. They ended up cutting out a happy face from a granola bar box and placing it on my lower back. I had a smiley face tramp stamp for weeks.”

“As someone who starts burning within 15 minutes, I immediately knew that the day I forgot to wear sunscreen to the beach would be the worst day of my life. Four hours later, this is what I looked like. And three months later, you can still see it. Epic fail.”

“This picture was taken a week after the initial sunburn. I went tubing for four hours after using spray sunscreen. Needless to say, I missed a few spots. The kids at camp asked if I had a skin disease. At least it was a conversation starter?”

“When I was 16, I went to Spain with my high school one summer. I skimped out on the sunscreen when we went to the beach so I could get ‘some color.’ Clearly, I got A LOT of color, and not the kind I was hoping for. I was in agonizing pain the rest of the trip. I definitely learned my lesson. Now I ALWAYS wear sunscreen to the beach and reapply it throughout the day!”

“I am super super pale and I was in Costa Rica earlier this summer. I was a lot closer to the equator than in Arizona where I live, so I burned even worse than I usually do. I still have this swimsuit tan line months later.”

“Going straight to Florida beaches in March is dangerous. Listen to your mother and put on sunscreen! Also be thankful for good friends.”

“Back when ‘yolo’ was all of the rage, someone wrote the phrase in Sharpie on my back before a long day out in the sun. Needless to say, you may only live once, but you can sunburn many, MANY times.”

“Being ginger and Irish, the sun isn’t something I’ve seen a lot of. Then I moved to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina a few years ago and quickly discovered I needed to carry my own sunscreen instead of using my friends communal ‘tan accelerator.’ My back turned purple and started seeping!”