Tis the season to slather on tanning lotion and roast in the sun. And whether or not you buy the notion of global warming, you definitely need to protect yourself against the sun.

That is, unless you're already dark complected, then you're safe. And if you wear waterproof sunscreen, you only have to apply it once a day. If you're shopping for sunscreen, get the highest sun protection factor (SPF) level you come across. But if you already have some in the medicine cabinet, you're still good for this year.

Those are the myths we tend to buy as fact, but there is an inconvenient truth to all of these (see what we did there? It's an Al Gore joke!) There is a learning curve to being safe in the sun.

With that in mind, we offer up the five most common sunscreen myths.