to be astounded at the number of people stripped off sunbathing in the park when everyone knows how BAD that is for you?

[LadyBiscuit]

In an era when smoking is more or less banned and the government spends a fortune telling us to eat better and drink less, why are so many people so obsessed with getting a tan when we all know how bad it is for you?

Apart from skin cancer, all the sun worshippers I know look much older than they really are because they are so lined from lying in the sun.

i used to love sunbathing when i was young (15-16) and one day when i was 16 fell asleep in the sun burnt my face terribly and now have big red patches on either cheek below my eyes (broken capilleries) from sun damage.

im 25 now and i may be pale faced but i apart from those red patches which are a constant reminder of what a few hours in the sun unprotected did, i dont have any wrinkles around my eyes on on my face and i have nice supple skin thats not all dried out and leathery. i also have a lot of moles which as ive got older became more aware of the risks of skin cancer. i get them checked every year as i have new ones coming up all the time

i wear my son's suntan lotion which is spf30 although yesterday i was wearing spf50 which was a bitch to rub in - but at least i was safe from sun exposure

and i know im only 25 but there are people i know younger than me that look a lot worse!

Have to admit there are few things I enjoy more than being out in the sun, either gardening or with DCs. I do use suntan oil and always ensure DCs are protected as well. Many of the things we do in life carry a risk but you have to balance that against the enjoyment and you can't wrap DCs in cotton wool forever. I am typing this sitting on the patio watching DCs having fun in the paddling pool - has to be better for them (and me) than TV or computer games?

Well who knows the best way to get the right balance...i don't. Being warm in the sun is a very livening feeling, for a while but thre comes a point when it feels too much and that's when I think you make the decision to listen to your body and go indoors for a bit.

People who go out deliberately to tan often ignore this bit and just carry on.

Apparently one of the worst things you can do is be brought up in a temperate climate, and then either emigrate somewhere really bloody hot, or go on holiday somewhere really hot for a week or two a year.

It's the sudden change in exposure that knackers you.

I tend to enjoy a little bit of sun but this goes down in time proportionately to how hot (and uncomfortable) it is.

So more time outside when it's less hot, and when it's like this (30 odd) as little exposure as I can manage without staying in all day.

I used to tan but am much more aware now having witnessed a beautiful young mother of two die 3 months ago from melanoma...she wasn't a sun worshipper, nobody knows why some people are more prone to this disease but you would be stupid to go taking any really obvious risks - tanning beds for a start. There is research which damns those to hell.

i think sunbathing is pretty dim witted

When I see folk with a tan I generally do think "you will look old before your time and wrinkled too you crazed fool" rather than thinking they look nice.

As for fake tan - just don't bother!! Your natural colour is beautiful.

Its just like hair - nobody seems happy with their natural colour or curliness/straightness which is pure insanity but £££ for the hairdressing industry. Wake up all of you, stop accepting media images of what is beautiful. ~There is too much trying to look like a porn star going on which is vastly misguided.

Ah, I now have nicely bronzed legs and arms!

Chuffed.

I grew up in a hot place in a semi-tropical climate and then moved to a place where the heat was dry, but the sun was more intense because of the altitude.

I never had to work on a tan, as was very active in outdoor sports in both places.

Here, I've had to court what little sun there is.

I hate hate hate sitting in full sunlight. It makes me sweat and I dislike the feeling of my skin being too hot so I don't really understand why people sunbathe. However that is the only reason I would ask why people are sunbathing. Nothing to do with the possibility of skin cancer!

"Its just like hair - nobody seems happy with their natural colour or curliness/straightness which is pure insanity but £££ for the hairdressing industry. Wake up all of you, stop accepting media images of what is beautiful. ~There is too much trying to look like a porn star going on which is vastly misguided."

Hang on a minute. Taming frizz and not wanting to be grey yet does not equal trying to look like a porn star!

I dye my grey hair and sunbathe.

But roar @ the thought I'm trying to look like a porn star.

LOL.

Also despite spending 9 hrs a day in an office 4 days a week, jumping from shade to shade whenever I am outside, just about never sitting in full sunlight and using factor 50 on my face (though not arms and legs) my arms and face are already brown.

It is because I am olive skinned not because I am being silly

nice hair and getting a golden blush to your skin=porn star ???

you have issues, bobbo

Ok Expat and said, provided you do not have a brazilian or fake boobs you may both deduct 2 porn star points

Anyfucker you are so right, I do have issues with media portrayal of "attractive" women

Have nothing against nice hair, in fact I am all for it! I just think if you have naturally curly hair you should embrace a curly hair style not go straightening mad.

And sunbathing is prematurely aging and inviting skin cancer - not attractive imo.

Can I have a Brazilian and fake boobs with grey frizzy hair? Start a new porn trend

LOL at the I have olive skin and tan easily stuff.

I have olive skin - my dm is asian. I've had skin cancer and now she's having a mole removed.

I think that tanning nicely has very little to do with it.

I heard, from a friend of mine who works in Harrods, that they used to shut the toy dept for a rich Sheik who had two albino children due to lack of vitamin D...through wearing a Bhurka.

Bobbalina I understand your mystification at the hair industry

I find it really strange that so many people with curly hair want it straight, so many with straight hair want it curly. Dyeing it seems par for the course - I know nearly NOone who doesn't have their hair dyed.

It makes me feel a bit freakish not to have some streaks put in or something, it's become 'normal' when on a lot of people it does look kind of a weird, greyish yellow colour and not really blonde at all.

And it costs so much!
But it is a bit odd to insist everyone stays natural when people might not want to.

I just don't understand why they don't want to.

My apologies. Feeling like Mrs Dunce now.

[sits in corner wearing big pointy hat]

said go ahead defriz your hair and dye it too just not in a porn star way...but there is no compromising on the fake boobs or the baldy fanjo, I cannot be moved

My dad has very olive skin and has had skin cancer, giveit.

I have olive skin, I tan easily, I like how I look bronzed.

My life, my choice.

No one is saying having olive skin doesn't mean you don't get skin cancer.

I'm not critizing your choice expat - I just find it amazing that those of us with olive skin somehow think we're OK.