To Tan...or not to Tan...

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

the K-eltic Knight

Kraken, I've been watching your "sign off's" for a while and they make me laugh almost every time.
sorry, off topic.

The only thin i have to add is that I am half Portuguese, the other half English/Irish. Some days I burn, some days I get dark. high SPF usually does it for me. I really don't like long sleeved shirts when it's warm outside. I would say not to tan. you can see your ethnicity in your picture and it wouldn't look awkward at all for you to be out there shining like clean teeth, in fact, it would be almost expected and totally understandable.

 

[RonFrank]

I was working on a dive boat in the '80s and we were all concerned about getting too much sun.

I was framing houses in the early 80's, and wearing a shirt was generally not done as they chafe in the humidity of the N. VA summers. However even carpenters were aware that the sun could cause skin cancer, and we used sun tan lotion and moisteners as well. Funny seeing a bunch of red neck carpenters applying lotion at sunrise!

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

A local dermatologist stated that she believes that the single most effective beauty treatment is sunscreen. The stats that she gave for increasing skin cancer incidence in South Africa certainly gave a frightening context for her comment.

I had a quick scratch around to find those stats. Here are some of stats I found for S.A.:

• Statistics state that overall annual growth ranges up to 14% over a 5 year period (1987-1993)
• Malignant Melanoma is growing at between 6-10% per annum depending on race classification
• This equates to overall skin cancer growth more than doubling every decade
• Melanoma is the third most common of all skin cancers worldwide, after the non-melanoma skin cancers.
• The major risk factors for melanoma are exposure to sunlight, fair skin, and naevi (freckles).

Sobering stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Parrothead_Diver]

My wife has learned a valuable lesson when it comes to those spray-on and lotion type of tanners. And that is "Save the Time & Money".

She used to tan prior to any trip where she might be seen a bathing suit just so that she didn't look like a "tourist" while on vacation. But now she has found that after tanning prior to the trip and then using SPF 35 or greater for two weeks, that she actually comes home "whiter" than when we left. Then she has to deal with all those people at work who ask: "Didn't you just go on vacation?":shakehead

 

[lissette]

Wear a burka and there's no problem with solar radiation.

Interestingly enough, the women over here in and around the gulf spend their time trying 'whitening' treatments, and the stores, beauty magazines and tv are loaded with whitening products and ads for them...

 

[kelpmermaid]

It's not a food item -- it is a foundation color, or a color for pantyhose!

I, too, am a former attempted tanner. I spent my youth on the Jersey Shore trying to cultivate a tan. I can do a goldish color, but dark is just not in the chromosomes.

Anyway, after my father died (related to melanoma), I rapidly lost interest in this pursuit. Living where I live now, sunscreen is part of my daily life. On dive trips, it's hard to remember to reapply, but I have become better about it. I have come to terms my skin...just a whiter shade of pale, I suppose. If I had it to do over again, I just wouldn't worry about the tan thing. At best, it's a source of premature aging.

Shoal Diver, a while ago, I had a language class with a dermatologist. We had a outdoor luncheon at the end, and she wouldn't leave me alone about the sunscreen.

 

[creamofwheat]

I never see anyone getting skin cancer on their legs...so I let that tan.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but both my mother and my grandmother had skin cancer on their legs. Malignant melanoma. It happens.

Any part of you that is exposed to the sun can get skin cancer.

 

[finadict]

I am hopelessly mashed-potato white and have great results with "Savage Bronze Foam" sunless tanner from Sally's. Under $10.00 lasts 2 months with weekly use....

Just be prepared to learn from your mistakes on application... don't use it the first time before an event, etc....

 

[Hank49]

There's no need to paint your skin, you are who you are, be proud of it.

Makes perfect sense but no one follows it. White people want to get tan and, for example, in the Philippines they sell skin "whitener" in stores. But after 29 years in the tropics, my skin is starting to look like an old baseball glove.....with freckles.

 

[LittleFrog]

"white as can be and cancer free". Words to live by.