Guapura 101: Balancing A Love Of Tanning With Safety

I love to tan. Don’t get me wrong, I am somewhat light-complected, so I can’t really tan. What I have to do is lather on SPF 30, then go out in the sun for a few hours at a time, and over a period of weeks, I develop of a tan. My skin isn’t white, it’s yellow-ey, so when I tan I get what people like to call an “olive” complexion.

Of course, there’s that whole cancer thing. In reality, tanning — especially in an era of global warming — isn’t safe. It damages your skin and puts you at risk for skin cancer. The Mayo Clinic advises people that spray tans or fake tans are a much preferable alternative. But, of course, then you don’t get to soak up the sun.

So one way to get as close to a “safe” tan is possible is to seek out sunBLOCK, not sunSCREEN. This article points out that sunblock will protect you from all harmful UV rays (the ones that cause cancer) while sunscreen will create a barrier in accordance with the SPF number. Then, The Skin Cancer Foundation (for obvious reasons) blasts any form of tanning (in beds or on beaches) and seems to recommend only tans in a can.

I think the answer lies somewhere in-between. Of course in the U.S., where people have historically had lighter skin, the government and medical foundations have a hard core stance on tanning. For other people with more melanin, or color, in their skin the risks are still there, but are different. People with darker skin can still develop skin cancer, and are more likely to die from it, mostly because they tend to think they are immune and so it gets diagnosed in late stages.

For me, as with everything, there’s a balance. I love being in the sun, don’t know if it’s that Vitamin D making or what, but I feel happy when I have sun and sad when there is none. But, knowing that I have burnable skin, I always try to lather on SPF 30 as often as I can. However, after reading this article, I’m going to take pains to buy sunBLOCK instead and try to limit my time in the sun so as not to expose myself to more severe burns. In the end, it’s a personal choice we all have to make based on how much we love the sun and how much we love our bodies.