We all know how harmful the sun can be, and the damage that solariums can cause – but when the weather gets hot the temptation of a bronzed body can be tempting for many people.
I’m not here to make judgement, but this week I really want to discuss your experiences and thoughts in regards to tanning. I love the feeling of a tan but I always choose to fake it! I use sunscreen and wear sunglasses and a hat (especially when out and about with my children – being a good role model) and I would never, ever jump inside a solarium.
The problem with fake tan is that you can get streaks and after a week or so you need to reapply so the effort isn’t always worth it, but for me it’s a spray tan or pale skin because skin cancer is REAL and it DOES happen.
This week, I want to know about your tanning habits! Are you happy being pale or are you naturally darker and don’t need to worry? Do your rules go out the window when you are at the beach on a hot summers day – do you sunbake?
If you use a solarium do you worry about the risks, and have you noticed any damage to your skin? Or do you DIY tan or go to the salon regularly? What are your favourite tanning products?
Any thoughts you have on anything tan related I’d love to hear it and our favourite answer of the week will win an Innoxa Invigorate gift set which has an RRP of $24.95 (but valued at $39.80).
For your chance to win, leave your comment below. The winner will be contacted by email so make sure your address is current. Competition closes 29nd November 2011 Midnight AEST. Australian residents only. Check back next Wednesday for a new weekly discussion.
Beauty and Lace is an online magazine for women. We hope you enjoyed this article!
I am very blase about a tan. I don’t fake it, I definitely wouldn’t solarium and I don’t really sunbake either.
But I am not so good with sunscreen either. I kind of just take my skin colour as it happens really.
My mum actually works for a skin specialist and the amount of people with skin cancer is just getting worse and worse. I do love a sunbake, however I am much more careful about it these days. I only go in the sun before 11.00am and after 2.00pm and make sure I am wearing SPF30+. I have pigmentation on my face and uneven skin tone so I aways make sure I am wearing a big brimmed hat and sunnies as well as sunscreen. Other than that, I love a great fake tan.
Fake it all the way! I got one 2 days ago and loves being tanned!
Why is everyone so obsessed about having a tan? Sunbaking in the hot sun or solariums cooking yourself for tanned skin that could become skin cancer,moles,freckles,wrinkles and skin damaged and aging quickly,you should be happy with your own skin.
I have always hated sunbaking and would never consider using a solarium. I don’t wear sunscreen, except on my face, for short periods out in the sun as I am very conscious of getting sufficient vitamin D.
I say fake it and have fun looking like you’ve just has an excellent overseas holiday. Don’t use the solarium because they can cause just as much cancer as our beatuiful sun and that is no way to live with a dreaded disease. Tan in a can is the way to go I say.
I would never use a solarium ,I have used fake tans and once sunbaked regularly but don’t any more it’s too scary
I knew a couple of people that lost their life to skin cancer .
but I do love to have bronze skin so fake tans my only option
I have olive skin which tans really easily I end up with tanned arms and legs just from everyday sun exposure even using sunscreen. This looks really odd when I wear anything but my work uniform so I use self tanner on the unexposed areas to even the look.
I am naturally olive although a light olive. I love self tanning products because you can go darker without the risk of nasty skin cancers and skin damage. I would never use a solarium and always slip, slop, slap before going in the sun. I would rather be lighter and happy in the skin i’m in rather than cause unnecessary damage to my skin.
I don’t get why people still sun bake! It’s a wide known fact how dangerous it is, especially here in Australia! Personally I can’t think of anything worse! its hard enough to get my energy levels up, and lying in the sun just makes me so sleepy, its no wonder so many people fall a sleep in the sun and then wake up completely fried! There’s no excuse in this day and age, if you want a tan, fake it! You can control your shade and it’s so much quicker to do anyway! Spend that extra time saved with your family and kids. 🙂
i have never used a fake tan and i went to a sun lounge twice when i was younger but i didnt like it and i was asked if i was on the pill and did i have any big moles both of which i said yes to and so they said that it would be better to think harder about using a tanning salon. And i would love to try a fake tan but i have never used one and am afraid of wasting my money on some incase i cant get it on right. I would love to try fake tan but as i have said i am afraid of getting it all wrong and end up with streaks and line or going orange. And i have had 2 suspisious moles removed and my Father has had many removed so the worry about skin cancer is real and frightening.
Must admit I am a lizard when it comes to summer…Any chance I get I am in the sun (to a point mind you…!)
Lucky for me I am naturally olive and it doesn’t take much to achieve a tan quickly, so I’ve never been to a solarium. But I have tried self tans during winter (when i tend to go a yellowish colour) and can’t say I’m a big fan of the orange knees and elbows…!!
However, I must say i am now very concerned about the effects of ageing and of cancer now that I am in my thirties. Oh woe for getting old!!!! we don’t think about it all when we’re young because old age is so far off… then all of a sudden BAM! I’m in my thirties, old and freaking out about all those years using COCONUT OIL as a teenager!!
So, now that I am old(er) and thinking of starting a family, I am conscious of the sun and it’s harmful effects and I want so much to teach my own kids to be sun-smart because they are our future’s society.
I would never waste my money,time or health in a solarium….prefer to wear a tanned sunscreen and take the natural sun as it comes
The best thing about tanned legs (I’ll take mine fake thank you) is the ability to cover those unsightly bruises, spider veins and cat scratches (God love him).
As a child i can remember being sunburnt almost yearly. All the skin would peel off my back and nose. It was a yearly event. In those days no one would look at my parents and declear that they should be charged with child neglect. Loads of kids were sunburnt. It was summer and thats just part of what happened when you had holidays.
Once i became a teen we tried not to get sunburnt but no great fuss was made if you did end up burnt.
Then by the time i was in my 20’s we had the message hammered nome a bit more. Slip. slop. slap. But having a tan looked good so i opted for the safe option of going to the solarium. I won something like 30 free visits so i used to go twice a week while my daughter was in kindy and then when my husband was on a weeks holiday i went every day. One day the operator made a mistake and i was in for double the time i was supposed to be. I was a little sore that night as i burnt but gee i looked great and people kept commenting on my tan.
As time has gone on we have found that solariums are not as safe as we thought and i cant beleive i ever used one.
18mths ago my eldest daughter had a blemish removed from her back. It turned out that it was precancerous and the Doc told her that she had had it removed just in time as it was starting to turn. Thats such a scary thought.
Now I dont have a tan and I dont want one. I protect my skin and i figure no tan is far sexier then skin cancer.
I grew up in the 70s and clearly remember those ads for Reef Oil, featuring bronzed Aussies in bikinis. Meanwhile, I was the lobster huddling in my dad’s T-shirt.
I’m pale as a spud and that won’t change. Fake tanning, as you said Anna, isn’t foolproof or long lasting, both things I need (particularly foolproof!). So I’ll like the way I am and hope I won’t develop skin cancers from the inadequate sunblock of my youth.
It takes all colours to make rainbows!
I am definitely wary of the sun because I am in my teens and already have sun spots on my arms. This is from many hours of sport in the sun without sunscreen.
I am against solariums because of what happened to that girl called Claire who died from using them, I found out about this on the news. When I go to the beach now I like to wear sunscreen and then lie in the sun, because I love the warm feeling.
So I am definitely into applying sunscreen daily and fake tan, so I do not get anymore! I have been using palmers gradual tanner and find this is good, but I am more than willing to try this product!
In my teens it was definitely the browner you were the better. I cringe now when I think of the days down at the beach when we smothered coconut oil all over our body to get that perfect suntan. The dangers of Melanomas were not really known about then. Luckily we didn’t do that for long.
Nowadays, it’s just go with the flow. If going out and I want a slight glow to my legs, I just use one of the wonderful instant natural tans out there.
Once though I did have an all over spray tan because I was wearing a strapless dress. It was a big disappointment because the smell of the tan lingered with me for 2 days. The only thing that really stood out from my tan were the whites of my eyes lol. The tan itself only lasted 4 days if that.
I used to worry about having legs as white as a sea gull but now I don’t care. Have seen my hubby go through having the tiniest Melanomas out yet he has 2 enormous scars on his back.
In the 70’s it was so cool to have a tan, the problem is we now suffer in our 50’s. Faking it is the way to go, skin cancer is not.