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!

The sun is not all bad though. We need vitamin D. There is a resurgance of rickets in the uk.
It also boosts well being.

This is due to the Earths location, it isn’t possible to get sufficient vitamin D in the UK from exposure, that exposure is also dangerous for your skin.

100%. Mine comes from a bottle

No it makes skin look dry and crepey for anyone over 35.

I’ve never liked the look of tans and always taken care of my skin. Now at 51 I’m really glad of it. My face doesn’t look 51 and the skin on my body hasn’t really changed at all. You won’t be thinking having a tan has been good for your aesthetics when you start getting older, OP.

Yes I agree. It looks fabulous when you're young but those who suntanned regularly with no spf have skin like leather when they get to 40ish.

Of the people I know, those who suntanned look considerably older now than those who did not so not worth it to me (and thats excluding the cancer risk)

I have a friend who sunbathes obsessively. She also smokes. Her skin looks 20 years older than it ought to.

This is me.

HF sunscreen. Usually sit in shade. But tan naturally.

And I do look better for it!

When I say tan naturally I mean sun just causes me to tan. I dont actively try to.

But I walk a lot so my legs and arms do very slowly go brown!

No it doesn't. So many people, myself included have unsightly blemishes due to sun damage. Despite not having sunbathed since my 20s a couple of my moles are now being monitored. Also I have a friend with numerous cancerous or pre cancerous moles.

But in summer, some people's natural skin colour IS tanned. We have evolved to have exposed skin as mammals and also to be outside in daylight probably far more than we are now. So at certain times of year, exposed skin on most people for most of human history would have been tanned to varying degrees. My mother never sunbathed a day in her life but from working outside in the summer months her arms and face are very tanned.

My Dad has had skin cancer so I now fake it. I do tan really easily and look good with a tan but when you've had someone so close get skin cancer it kind of puts that in to perspective.

He never sunbathed, but back in the 70s he was stationed in the middle east and he thinks it was that that contributed to it. It feels quite unfair.

Now I’m nearly 50 it’s really showing which of my friends have enjoyed sun bathing and tanning and which of us have covered up. I’m very very pale. Would look weird with a tan.

I have Celtic colouring, fair but not pale skin,blue eyes and brunette when young. I don’t tan. Bottle tans don’t work that well on me either. I have never been into sunbathing, get overheated and bored in 5 minutes. Always have factor 50 on my face. And have very good skin.

I have a sun worshipper friend, now in her 70s her skin is permanently a yellow parchment colour.

Not me! I'm very, very pale with pale red (strawberry) hair/green eyes. I'd look ridiculous with a tan! I actually don't tan at all! In my 'youth' this was something that I yearned for (all my friends always looked so gloriously tanned when we came back from our '18-30' Majorca holidays 🤣) I looked like I'd stayed in the airport for a fortnight 🤷‍♀️

I did get a spray tan once...for a wedding that I was bridesmaid in, and the bride wanted us all to 'glow' 🤦‍♀️ In the photos I stand out for all the wrong reasons...the 'tan' blends with my hair and I look bonkers! Like an Oompalumpa in drag! 😵‍💫🤣 🍊

No. I look much better my natural pale colour. I'd rather not resemble freckly leather

I think Joan Collins is a good example of the importance of sun cream. She never lets the sun on her face and she’s 91. I think she looks fab.

Yes siree, I KNOW that my natural tan makes me look much more better. Bigly time.

“That exposure is dangerous for your skin”
is too simplistic a statement.

57% of us in the UK are deficient in vitamin D and that is due to our indoors lifestyle and lack of UV rays on our skin.

Sun on skin is not to be feared if you do it safely and do not burn.
It is possible to get enough vitamin D in the UK from April to September to see you through the winter provided you make an effort to get UV on your bare skin for 30 minutes a day even on cloudy days.
It’s harder in the Uk but not impossible.

Please read this to understand how crucial to health sun exposure is

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/sunscreen-sun-exposure-skin-cancer-science/

Going out in the sun is not the only way to get Vitamin D.

It's rather peculiar you think any change in skin colour makes people look better

questionable really 🤔

You don't know why? Maybe because they have a different opinion to you

It’s true that you can get some small amounts from food and of course from supplements but we have evolved to get most of our vitamin D from UV light.
Please read the article I linked in my last post.

But the amount of exposure people need is not that much. Sunbathing isn’t necessary.

No! I've got no intention of looking like a burns victim or an orange!