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!

examples - genuinely think they look better in their natural way!

Setting aside the problem of skin cancer...death and all that... who looks good prematurely aged, covered in sunspots and wrinkles, and with skin like a worn old leather bag?

Some of us just go red then white again. Tanning is genetically impossible!

When you get to a certain age and you tan those white crow's feet and neck lines don't look very good

I look loads better with a tan, I've a warm skin tone, brown eyes and brown hair (which are pretty much the same colour) often feel pretty washed out in winter but don't really need make up in summer 🤷‍♀️

I’m a redhead, but I work outdoors, so I do have a tan. I use factor 50 when it’s very sunny, but nothing when it’s cloudy.

I find it easier to dress in the summer, when I have a tan.

I have olive skin, and tan so easily. I wear factor 50 throughout the spring and summer and also wear a wide brimmed hat on holidays. My poor face is full of pigmentation as was never made to wear spf as a child because I'm olive toned. Wish I looked better without a tan, but I just look yellow from November to March, like I'm unwell.

I agree! I don't really tan though and am rather pale.

Also have a huge scar on my back from a malignant melanoma at age 38... Burning is not cool!

I can only speak for myself and yes, I look and feel way better with a tan. I also adore the sun and heat in general. I'm aware of the dermatological risks. But also see the benefits

I will never, ever let the sun tan my skin anymore. I tan well but I’ve no interest in the damage. I fake it and it looks so good. Year round.

Nope, as a ghostly pale ginger I would look a proper muppet with a tan. My very, very fair skin suits me. I've tried fake tan and it just looked so bad on me.

I wonder if the poll would be quite so middling if you asked "bloody hell, everyone looks better with radiation burns!"

Fake tan is the answer. I’m coming up 50 and honestly, once you hit your 40’s, the difference in skin between people who’ve tanned regularly over the years and those who haven’t is very noticeable.

It really isn’t worth it long term, find a fake tan that suits you instead!

You seem to think tanned means burnt.

Everyone is slightly darker at the end of summer compared to the end of winter even when wearing spf50 and a hat. It is the body's way of protecting the skin from burning.

The only way you could completely avoid even the merest hint of colour change would be to stay indoors completely and obviously that would not be healthy via a vis vitamin D

It's rather peculiar that you would suggest that any change in skin colour makes people look awful. In a huge part because people come in an endless range of colours do to suggest that anyone with browner skin looks awful is somewhat questionable.

I don't know why so many red heads are saying they look awful with a tan. I think red heads look great whatever colour they are. I have seen some that look radiant with a light tan as well as lovely with no tan

But what is meant by 'natural'?
Melanin production is a natural process to protect the skin.

That's why it occurs. End of winter colour is no more or less natural than end of summer colour.

Baking for hours in the sun isn't great for any skin but it's peculiar that people suggest that the palest shade people achieve is their 'natural' colour.

I look ridiculous because I'm not meant to be tanned! Some redheads might do, especially if they're more strawberry blonde and more warm toned/freckles, my dad is a red head and tans slightly
I'm pretty cool toned virtually blue and just don't change colour at all. Spent 3 weeks abroad and came back the exact same colour I left

I agree - especially on legs. Summer clothes, and particularly shorts, don't look good on pasty skin imo.

However, in the winter I don't think that it makes much difference. It's only when you've got a lot of skin exposed in the summer.

I don't tan but would love it if I did. Brown fat looks better than white!

All my Aunties and Uncles think so! All the very retired pensioners at their CC think so too.

I am allergic to the sun so I’ve always used factor 50, hats and shade.

Fake tan looks awful no matter how professional someone claims it is it still looks like someone is dipped in tea

Real tan looks like skin cancer to me so sure go for the look if you want no one is stopping anyone

Nup, my natural tan makes me look like I’m dirty and in need of a wash. I’m naturally very pale so it just looks weird, I’ve not had a natural tan for almost 30years now. I admit I do apply fake tan (Dove buildup) to my arms and legs in summer. I don’t do the full application, just a little to make my pale blotchy chicken legs look reasonably presentable. But still very very pale compared to most people.

Idiot.

I lost a teaching colleague when she was 40 due to stage 4 skin cancer.
In her memory I always wear factor 50 whenever out in the sun and get my moles checked yearly.

I will never forget her wedding just a month before she died.

I miss her.

I don't like deep tans, but I like a pale glow. It is like being airbrushed, with features brought into focus and flaws minimised. If looks were scored out of 10, with a light tan I definitely go up a few places. I stopped sunbathing about 20 years ago (find it boring). But in the summer I spend a lot of time outdoors. I diligently apply high factor SPF but still get a light tan (of course it is a farmers one, I don't walk around in bikini bottoms) and I am always surprised how much better I look. I have tried replicating that glow through gradual tan but it doesn't suit me, and I have tried loads from cheap to very spendy. In the depths of winter I look like I have been dug up.

No, I don’t like tans, its just a physical sign of sun damage, the more often someone neglects their skin in sun the earlier they’ll suffer from age spots, wrinkles, sagging ans crepe like skin. Thats before we consider cancer.

My husband is white, his milky skin is perfect.