These days, social media has made bronzed skin a sign of beauty, creating a growing tanning culture amongst young adults. When pursuing the current beauty standards, it is easy to forget that the warm sun can actually harm your body in many ways, not just tan your skin. This widespread obsession with getting the “perfect” tan can come with a price if done without certain precautions.
Celebrities, influencers, and even regular people you see on the internet often promote this bronzed beauty standard, leading people to want that same desirable look. There are only a few ways some can achieve that, either from lying outside, tanning in a tanning bed, using fake tanning creams or mousses, spray tanning, or using things to enhance their tan while in the sun, such as tanning oils. Some of these are safer than others, or can be safe if done correctly, but for many, the fake alternatives are not as tempting as a real tan from the sun.
Tanning beds are one of the ways that you can get a natural-looking tan without the effort of lying out in the sun, but they are bad for your health in a variety of ways. Using tanning beds increases your risk of getting two different types of skin cancer: squamous cell carcinoma by 58 percent and basal cell carcinoma by 24 percent.
Additionally, using a tanning bed ages skin more rapidly, causing premature wrinkles, aging spots, loss of firmness, and leathery skin. These side effects are something that a person who doesn’t spend a lot of time in the sun would not get, making tanning beds easily the worst option for trying to fit the beauty standard.
The second most harmful option, next to tanning beds, is natural tanning in the sun, aggravated by the underuse of sunscreen and overuse of tanning oils. There is a myth that sunscreen takes away your ability to tan, but is blatantly false. Sunscreen helps to protect you from the sun’s harmful UV rays, but you can still increase melanin production through the sunscreen’s filter. Without wearing sunscreen, you expose yourself to the sun’s negative impacts on your skin, increasing your risk of premature aging and skin cancer, which is entirely not worth it.
Another myth is that tanning oil without sunscreen can make you tan without burning; wrong. If you choose to use tanning oil, you should always supplement with sunscreen. While oils can enhance your tan, it does not block the harmful rays like sunscreen does. If someone uses tanning oil alone, it lacks sufficient sun protection, leading to an increase in your chances of burning in the sun and multiplying any damage it could bring to your skin. Having a bad sunburn is a miserable experience, creating redness, irritation, itchiness, blistering, and peeling that can last for days on end. Even one terrible sunburn can double your chances of getting skin cancer, such as melanoma, later in life.
In the winter, tanning in the sun is no longer an option because of low UV, but most people still want a nice glowing tan without the expense of a spray tan or tanning bed, so they choose the cheapest option, which is self-tanner. This can come as a cream, mousse, or spray, and it is easily one of the safest options for your skin, though not always the best looking, since doing it by oneself usually leaves it patchy and uneven. Also, lower-quality tanners can give your skin an orange hue, and nobody wants to leave the house like that.
Spray tans are the next best option for maintaining bronzed skin in the winter and keeping it healthy. Done professionally, this method is more pricey than self-tanning, but worth it if you go to the right place. Many associate spray tans with being orange, but in reality, it’s up to users to pick a shade compatible with their skin tone. When done right, spray tans can be as flawless as a real one, without exposure to the harmful UV rays.
Ultimately, all of these are just ways to fit the current beauty standard, and truthfully, you shouldn’t have to change yourself to be confident. Taking care of our skin is the best way to ensure it stays vibrant for years to come, and you shouldn’t find the risks most of these options bring as worth it for other people to view you as pretty. Tanning culture may be ingrained in society, but it’s time to start redefining beauty standards to include healthy, well-protected skin.
