I know it's bad for you and can cause real health problems but bloody hell, aibu to think everyone looks better with a suntan?

[Eeepsh]

Just that really!

I think sun tans are very unattractive, quite apart from the skin damage.

No, personally I don't like how a tan looks.

I don't like how it looks on me, and generally I think intentionally tanned people (especially fake tan or sunbed tan) look older than they are and less attractive.

I agree for many people, though not all. Personally, I look a million times better with a tan (not that I have time to sunbathe these days). I've always used sun cream when I do sit in the sun and don't burn if I'm sensible, but I have very dark hair and olive skin and go a really nice colour on the rare occasion I can get a tan, so I'm biased! Conversely, I look sallow, tired and ill in winter and am always being asked if I'm OK! Even without sunbathing, my skin changes colour in summer and I dig out my summer makeup. Two sets of everything. I would kill for a sunshine holiday tbh.

Not sure everyone looks better with a tan, but most people probably do.

I'm ginger, and perhaps unusually, I tan quite nicely. But only on one side unfortunately, so I end up looking decidedly two tone! I've got a couple of friends with dark hair and pale skin, and they don't tan at all. Known them for years but couldn't even imagine what they'd look like with tanned skin.

I think if people just liked and loved themselves except themselves they would look and feel better and it would show without the need for fake crap.
Took me years to learn the above.

It doesn’t look better on me. I don’t tan, I burn or freckle. Fake tan always looks fake on me - orangey/yellowy.

I've just come home from 2.5 weeks in Turkey. Wore factor 50, a hat and sat in the shade when not in the pool - I'm so tanned it's ridiculous. I'm multiple shades darker and won't be able to wear my fountain shade for months

No I really genuinely think people generally look better with their natural colour skin as it tends to suit the rest of their features.

I think people look their best for example when their make up literally just covers imperfections rather than things like fake tan, bronzer etc. I think people look worse when they've been on holiday and got a tan and I find it odd I'm supposed to compliment them on it.

I also once lived somewhere where people liked to lighten their skin and I had similar feelings about that too.

As someone - in my 50s, 35 + years after the damage probably occurred - who has just had treatment for skin cancer, I can tell you it is 100% not worth it.

I bloody love a sun tan! I know it's bad for you. I feel better. It makes my skin better. But probably bad long term. I very rarely get abroad so I consider it my Vit D top up.

We all need some sunshine for the vitamin d.

I never feel I really suit a tan. My skin goes an unattractive orange colour for a short while and then fades to a greyish sort of brown.

I do but I mostly have to fake it. I don't go brown, although I do go pink. My freckles come out in full force and make me look brown 😂. I have to wear suncream a lot but I'd rather be pale and translucent than have wrinkles or something much worse.

I'm very pale (and ginger/freckly) and I've been slightly furious to discover that a tan covers up so many sins! Spots, scarring, random bruises, veins - it makes me look slimmer, it makes my eyes stand out more, makes my teeth look whiter.
And when I say 'a tan' I mean, I'm so pale that a standard fake tan actually just brings me to a more normal skin colour. I did a top up of my existing fake tan the other week for the first time ever (I've only actually fake tanned about 6 times) and had a panic that I was orange - looked at pictures from the day where I'm in amongst crowds and I'm still one of the paler ones.
I'm annoyed that I feel better with a tan, tbh - I want to feel beautiful in my own pale skin, but I would look at photos of me and just get upset, I couldn't understand why I just looked a bit odd all the time, I would never have said it was my skin - it's only since trying tan this year and seeing photos of me and going 'oh... I look alright actually!' That it's clicked.
I see some people who really suit it, but despite being a redhead I think I'm just a touch TOO pale naturally, I don't think it suits me. But then I have been indoctrinated by years of seeing normal/tan skin. The only proper pale skin you see is in 50s style, burlesque style - and that's just not how I want to dress.

This.

My DP's brother has just had treatment for skin cancer.... and I know a lady who lost her mum to it.

Sun tans are a sign of your skin saying 'enough'. I don't see how it is healthy or desirable.

I've never worn sunscreen a day in my life. And, I deliberately go out in the sun. Shocking, I know. I don't really burn but I do tan in the summer months.

Maybe, when I'm riddled with skin cancer I'll regret my choices & wish I'd worn sunscreen, but for now, I love the sun.

yes and no. A light tan, yes, a hard leathery bronzing, no.

apparently the benefits of vit D are so massive for heart health, vascular disease and autoimmune diseases, they outweigh the risk of malignant melanoma. The number of heart attacks drops massively in the uk in summer and goes right up in the depths of winter.

Why do you need to sweep up 'everybody' in your post, OP? It makes you sound so goady and as if you're trying to provoke upset for no reason.

Whatever people look like, their skin is just fine the way it is - tanned or not. That's all you need to know.

This is me! My skin seems to show up every red mark and vein without being a beautiful porcelain (I just look unwell), the only way to make it better is a bit of a (fake) tan - can’t do sun tanning I get too hot and I’ve got too many moles!

No, I think suntans look awful on most people. My DH has had melanoma twice, so no doubt I’m biased. I have marks on my skin that are now permanent from skin damage - and I have never set out to have a suntan. I am super careful now and try to stay as pale as I can. So do my 20-somethings DDs. They want to look pale.

I don't agree at all, pale skin is beautiful.

Admittedly I do think I look better tanned, but that's because I have olive skin which goes a bit grey in British winter. By February I look decidedly unwell. But I can't be arsed to do anything about it - as soon as the sun comes out in April I tan enough (even with SPF) to look human again.

I must admit I agree with this too.

I ran with factor 50. I look better with a tan but like to protect my skin.

Tan!

I think everyone looks best with their natural skin color.