• Question: why is fake tan better for you than real tan?

    Asked by corriestewart to Hitesh, Hywel, Mae, Nik, Tiffany on 11 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by abbieholden96.
    • Photo: Tiffany Taylor

      Tiffany Taylor answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      Because a real tan comes with the danger of skin cancer.

      Cancer is caused when a cell in the body grows faster, and for longer than it is supposed to. That is what causes a tumour. This happens because of a mistake in the cell’s DNA (the code which tells the cell how to behave) which changes the way it grows. These mistakes can happen by chance, but there are some things which can make it more likely to happen. The sun is one of those things. The rays from the sun can be so powerful (the rays are called UV rays), that they damage the cells and make mistakes in the DNA, which could turn into cancer. Your risk increases the more damage caused by the sun, so getting burnt should REALLY be avoided.

      As well as increasing the chance of getting cancer the sun can also make your skin look older than it is – which isn’t a problem when you’re young, but is a problem when you’re older!

      My advice is, slap on the factor 50 and get a spray tan if you’re worried about having a tan.

    • Photo: Hywel Owen

      Hywel Owen answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      No tan is better than fake tan or real tan! But real tanning is worst. Sunbeds are crazy crazy crazy. I’ve had two relatives who died of skin cancer, and basically the mistake they made was to stand out in the sun for hours on end with no shirt and no suncream. If your skin goes red that’s already too much. If your skin peels, that is a sign that you are really overdoing it.

      However, too little sunlight on your skin causes Vitamin D deficiency. So if you use Factor 50 *every* time you go out in the sun you can give yourself rickets! It seems that taking Vitamin D supplements can’t make up for being out in the sun.

      So perhaps the right approach is to go out in the sun for a while, but get out of it before you have any chance of burning. For most people with lighter skin this is less than an hour on a hot sunny day. People with darker skin need to worry less about burning, but you can still get sunburn if you are darker if you’re out long enough!

      What I find really interesting is *why* people like tanning these days. A hundred years ago nobody wanted a tan in Europe, as it was a sign that you were a poor person that had to work outdoors all the time. If you were pale-skinned it was a sign that you had an indoor job. In the modern age it’s the other way around, because tans could only be obtained by people who could afford to fly to hot countries for their holidays. Now that foreign holidays are cheap, and lots of people are getting skin cancer, maybe the fashion will change one more time….

    • Photo: Hitesh Dave

      Hitesh Dave answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      Being born and brought up in hot country like India; I got natural tan on my skin so never ever bothered about tanning ideas….

      To make this simple I suggest NO tan is better than other…natural skin colour is what suits better…

      Sun rays are so much powerful and has ability to start the fire…example: Put a paper under sun rays and with magnifying lens concentrate sun rays on one part of paper…within a minute it paper will burn…Our skin is as thinner as paper…If there is no protection it will burn..and can cause skin cancer..

      Some of the areas of sky has Ozone layer which will bend the sun rays (in easy term it will filter the rays)..so sun rays won’t come straight and hit direct on the skin..the weather will be humid and you will be sweating…that’s good for skin…and you won’t feel skin burning even the weather goes to 40-45 degrees…

      but if there is no such kind of layer or filter on sky…you will feel burning hot during 25-28 degrees…that’s dangerous for skin…

      so, Eventhough if person prefers tanning I would suggest real tan under sun with factor 50 protection until you feel hot or you feel burning on skin… my suggestion is get out of the sun if you feel redness on skin and if you feel itching..that’s the sign of burns..

    • Photo: Mae Woods

      Mae Woods answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      Because being out in the sun for too long can cause your skin to burn and could cause skin cancer!!! When your skin is damaged or you have a sun burn, the cells will need to repair the DNA inside the cell. DNA repair involves hundreds of complicated steps and at any point there could be a mistake which could lead to skin cancer. Whilst this is all happening, your skin turns brown to stop future burning.

      Fake tan makes your skin look brown, but does not damage your cells in the same way as the sun so it is far safer to use.

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