The sun has arrived. And with him the desire to discover the skin and allow the sun’s rays to provide it with a beautiful amber color. And every year the inevitable advice: but are all correct indications?
To try to clarify, let’s try to review some beliefs, more or less correct, about how to behave before, during and after exposure to the sun.
BEFORE: the clichés about tanning preparation
UV lamps. Does taking a few sunbeds or solar showers before exposing yourself to the sun avoid sunburn? The answer should be: not really.
The pigmentation stimulated by UV lamps is, in fact, more superficial and therefore less protective than a natural tan obtained gradually.
Without forgetting, of course, that exposure to the sun in the central hours of the day, especially between 12 and 15, always involves the risk of sunburn, even if you are already dark.
Carrots and carotenoids at full blast. To prepare the skin for the sun and intensify the tan it is very useful to eat carrots or take supplements containing carotenoids.
Actually, that’s not that true. Carotenoids, if taken in large quantities, are able to give the skin a color tending to orange that has nothing to do, however, with the production of melanin, ie with the natural process that leads to tanning.
And, in addition, attention must be paid to the doses: excessive intake of supplements with carotenoids can lead to carotenoderma, ie the appearance of an excessively yellowish color, recognizable in particular on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
DURING: mistakes under the sun
The skin always reddens before it tans. That is simply not true. In reality, an exposure that is limited to the hours when the sun’s rays are oblique and less harmful, that is, until 11 am and after 16 pm, leads to a gradual tan, without sunburn and intense as far as allowed by the phototype of each.
All the sun you want with high protection. Even in front of the shelf of sunscreens we think of the most disparate advice received: such as that choosing products with high protection factor we can stay in the sun as much as we want.
But few warn, at the same time, that to keep intact the protective capacity of the product it is necessary to reapply it very frequently, at most every 2 hours and, in any case, every time you take a bath or shower. And then, if the skin is fair you have to be careful in any case.
Protected all day with water-resistant sunscreens. Even in the case of water-resistant creams, which have the advantage of protecting during bathing, the above is true: they must still be reapplied when, after bathing, you are exposed to the sun again.
Sun oil is more effective than creams. This belief is linked to the fact that oils, due to their structure, generally contain lower protection factors than creams and therefore offer a weaker barrier to sunlight; It is good to remember, therefore, that they are suitable for people with darker skin.
Once tanned, stop protection. It is widely believed that protective sunscreens are no longer necessary when the skin has already taken on a beautiful amber color.
In reality, the screens present in solar products filter UV rays that also have negative consequences: they act on the cells irritating them, with the formation of bubbles and edemas and on the small vessels of the epidermis causing them to break.
In addition, they can sometimes stimulate the proliferation of cancerous cells.
It is therefore better to continue to protect the skin, avoiding above all to believe the rumors that suggest using as “tanning intensifiers” creams or oils not specific for the sun which, on the contrary, would act as a lens increasing the harmful action of the rays.
AFTER: does the shower really “wash away” the tan?
And finally, once back home, after the holiday, one of our fears concerns the fact that the bath or shower, together with the passage of the sponge on the skin, can “remove” the beautiful color conquered.
Even this cliché, however, has no foundation: if the tan has been gradual, it will also be resistant over time and, indeed, will be made brighter by cell turnover favored by a slight rubbing of the skin.
However, this does not prevent, of course, that without exposure to the sun the skin slowly returns to its natural color.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
The blog covers a wide range of topics related to health and wellness, with articles organized into several categories.