Do sun tans actually look sexy ?

[heartlock]

My bf is blond and has super fair skin and gets cooked within minutes in the sun.
We were at the beach yesterday and he was literally covered in sun tan lotion and had his bucket hat and sun glasses.
His skin from the top side on his arms turns a light brown colour and the same with his face apart from where he wears his sunglasses. It looks horrible like he's been inside a burning building. He suffers hugely from painful blisters and burns.
I think it's damaging being in the sun for so long. I've had boils on my back .
Why on earth do People go for sun tans? Or say let's go to the beach on a really hot day?

This is something I've never understood. I don't find tanned skin any more attractive than untanned, and really strongly tanned even less so.

I also find really pale skin on women, in combination with a good complexion, really sexy.

Public information for those saying a tan looks tacky; some people have to expose themselves to UV light as part of treatment for Psoriasis. So you might be sneering at somebody for needing medical treatment.

My father was Italian and my mother Israeli so I tend to have a fairly brown complexion throughout the year. Personally I quite like the porcelain look of untanned natural skin. Seen So many burnt people on the last few days.

I absolutely love a tan and love tanned people. I never burn, go red or blister though and can be quite liberal with the fake tan to top it up. Can people tell it's fake, probably, still prefer that to being white tbh

Yes Worldgone I care less now I’m older.

and the inflamed red/pink + white missed bits - I agree - not a good look.

but I also sympathise - Brits get a bit desperate for a bit of ☀️, as it’s so irregular.

also, me, factor 15 for just over an hour today, and got a bit burnt 🔥 . People be careful!!

It's what we are conditioned to think looks good. Just like people used to try to stay pale.

Thanks LunaTheCat good to know I can't be considered sexy because of my melanoma scar 😕 I have never have been a sunworshipper, but I still got skin cancer.

Just cover up or wear high factor sunscreen. If you want a tan get it from a bottle, no risk with that.

I feel I look good tanned but being tanned is an obvious sign of skin damage that it puts me off! There's no such thing as a safe or healthy tan!

Yes I prefer to have a tan. I start getting my legs and arms out as early in the year as I can bear. The key is to gradually build up, just due to walking about, doing gardening etc. Fake tans look obvious and your skin is absorbing the chemicals too.

I’m a big fan of vitamin D from sunlight to combat depression and boost immunity. You are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D (particularly if you are darker skinned) than you are to get a dangerous form of skin cancer.

The fear of sunlight we have here has been damaging to people in the UK with darker skins who actually NEED MORE SUNLIGHT TO ABSORB VITAMIN D and certainly do not need to be wearing factor 50.

I feel the fear of sunlight is completely irrational and a previous poster saying “I was never a sun worshipper but I got skin cancer anyway” makes me suspicious of the whole thing TBH.

Fear of sunlight is a big winner for cosmetic companies selling chemicals you can put on your skin and then heat up aka sunscreen. Also damaging to marine life.

Good skin looks best. If you are pale with no problems you'll look great. I have pale legs with blue bursts of capillaries and scars. A slight tan hides this a bit.

I have pale skin, not helped by low iron.

I don’t ever sunbathe but if I’ve either caught the sun or used fake tan people comment that I’m looking well. So for me it does look ‘healthier’ although I’m only ever sun kissed rather than properly tanned.

DP is olive skinned and looks healthy year round. I’m envious.

Good skin looks good no matter the colour. Although any tan is a sign of sun damage, so I tend to see that as the main thing with a tan.

My husband is very pale, think Jamie Laing pale, including the hair colour. He doesn’t tan at all or get any freckles, but as he is sensible in the sun with both suncream and his clothing choices he doesn’t burn.

For adults sun burn is a choice, and I say that as a Pakistani man who missed a bit of his arm at the weekend so now I’m sporting some sore sunburn.

Sun tans are actually damaging your skin. I like the sun but stay covered up. Both OH and myself are fair and tend to burn if we're not careful.
I think long term it tends to age the skin.

If you do like the sun remember to keep an eye on yourself year round. Sun can be a major source of skin cancer.

I work outdoors so I have a tan from around April to October. I cover myself in suncream and never burn but it's unavoidable unless I totally cover up, which I can't do as I end up overheating, sweating buckets and making myself unwell 😬

I prefer myself with a tan but I rarely ever just go and lie in the sun. If I'm not working I'm generally indoors or in the shade, but I can't avoid the sun when I'm out and about for 5/6 hours a day 🤷🏻‍♀️

I wear sunscreen but I still tan 🤷🏻‍♀️ I work outdoors so it's not like I can hide away inside to avoid it.

Nice to know you think I'm a mug though!

Ah sunkissed. I'm from a time when it was considered that a tan made people look healthier and more attractive. Not a deep ebony but a light glow. Obviously not like your partner - some skin can't take it, and of course we all know now that a tan is the skin trying to protect itself.
But people must still think it is attractive as podrás tans are so popular (though I think fake tans are ick).

I have pasty Celtic skin and never tan - but I’ve never ended up with blistering either, even when I was young and stupid and didn’t bother with sun cream as much as I should. It sounds like the op is talking about sunburn more than a tan!

I use moisturiser with self-tan on my legs when I can be bothered - it’s a bit more subtle than full-on fake tan. Nobody would ever expect someone with my colouring to tan anyway, so a fake tan just looks massively fake on me. I tend to gain a very slight amount of colour over the summer just from being outside (with sun cream applied).

An even glowing tan looks attractive, sore red patches do not.

DH can tan seemingly just by opening the curtains and rarely burns, whereas I have pale skin that has a tendency to go red so I have to be much, much more careful in the sun.

Podrás? Spray!

All the people who are saying that all tans are dangerous: you do realise that people with tanned skin live longer than people without don't you? It makes you look healthier because it makes you healthier.

Enough sun exposure to give you light tan without burning significantly reduces your risk of fatal cancers and heart disease.

Burning however has nothing whatsoever to be said in its favour, hurts, can kill you, and is far from sexy.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160321135854.htm

I don't think looking obviously "tanned" is attractive but definitely a little bit of colour helps.

That's interesting. It's kind of what we instinctively know but that we've been told by suncream manufacturers is wrong.

I don't ever sunbathe because I don't enjoy it and I never let myself burn, but I'm outdoors enough to take on a bit of colour and I see that as a good thing.

It does frustrate me just how much of our accepted science is funded by the industries concerned. That's how we ended up with decades of high carb low fat diets....all the research was funded by the sugar industry

Agree and after posting I went down a rabbit hole…interesting ideas about vitamin D. Lack of could cause skin cancer. So could too much. Skin cancer could be genetically determined. Sun cream could cause skin cancer. So could polyunsaturated seed oils

similarly saturated fats and cholesterol..who stands to gain when something is demonised? There’s usually money to be made and if there is, be sceptical

Tans ate youthful on youthful skin. Not so much as you age unless the melanin is natural.

Yes, we were sold the idea that breakfast cereal was the holy grail of healthy eating because the USA had an abundance of wheat.

Moderation in all things is the most rational.

Always been a bit suspicious of Sun cream. Only ever used it once and then burnt ! that was over twenty years ago. Never used it on the DC. I never took them on a beach in blazing sun. Not just because it would be irresponsible but because it would be crowded boring and unpleasant. Enjoyed the sun and sought out shade at regular intervals. They never burnt.

Very pale olive, so do tan but because I'm not prepared to 'sun myself' hours at a time I'm never going to be very dark. The only conditions under which I'd probably be a really lovely colour is if I lived in a hot country. Moderate exposure all year round.

I've seen plenty of wrinkly pale people. My father lived and worked abroad a lot, was always outside, had a fantastic colour. At nearly 90 people thought he was 60.

Oh and why were you at the beach OP? that should have answered your question?