Get spray painted or use self tanners. Some of them are really great!!!

Tanning ruins your skin!!!!! You will regret it!!!!!!!

As someone who has had several "precancerous" spots removed (I'm only 30) I would stress that you wear sunscreen and reapply throughout the day!!!

I'm quite fair and have used sunscreen regularly for most of my adult life, but I still have accrued enough skin damage to cause me worry. Only 1 or 2 bad burns in childhood is enough to raise your skin cancer risk substantially. I really wish my mother had stressed sunscreen use more when I was a kid.

So please, don't tan and wear your sunscreen.

I think women need to embrace who they are and stop worrying about how society and the fashion mags tell them to look. A tan is not healthy!

Chiming in on the self-tanners, my newest try is Vaseline daily moisturizer with a self-tanner. I bought the type for "medium" tones, and it says it gradually works like over a weeks' time? no, it works overnight! you'll be a shade or two darker the next day. It works well for my skin tone, it doesn't look orangy or brown.

I also have L'Oreal Sublime bronzer, i use it in the summer when I'm at a party or such because it has shimmery gllitters.

Don't tan! Embrace your pale skin!

Did you see the Oscars? Anne Hathaway refuses to tan, and she was there in all her porcelain glory next to other stars who looked ORANGE by comparison.

But in 10 or 20 years from now, you'll have other things you want to attend and look good for. You'll have other weddings, parties, events, etc--don't you think you're going to want to look good when those roll around too?

This debate reminds me of an article I read encouraging people to contribute to their retirement funds. It said something like, "yes you want that pair of shoes now, but don't you think you're going to want shoes when you're 65 as well?" In other words, don't sacrifice the future for the present. You're always going to want a new pair of shoes.

I don't, tanning damages/ages your skin. I want to look good when I am middle aged. I wear sunscreen daily.

Even without considering the harmful effects of tanning, pale people look awful when they tan anyway. And tanning now means you have to pay the piper later.

My brother and I are very close in age (I am older by 1 year) and we have exactly the same skin tone - we're pale redheads that burn quickly and freckle. He has tanned since his early 20s and he now looks years older than me. His girlfriend is a major tanner too (blond and pale), and she has aged poorly as well. Neither of them turn a particularly nice colour when they tan - they are just too pale and it looks kind of orange on them. I am 39 and am so very, very, glad I have not tanned. I look years younger than my age and am usually mistaken for being in my 20's (believe it or not, that's kind of irritating - I have earned my years )

I don't use sunblocks much because they block the UVB rays that are essential for vitamin D production and vitamin D is very important in preventing skin cancer. Some studies are actually showing an increase in skin cancers in long term and faithful sunblock users. Because adequate vitamin D production needs more sun exposure on my skin than I can tolerate without burning, I limit my sun exposures to less than 5 minutes at a time. Over the course of a day, 5 minutes here and there are enough to produce sufficient vitamin D without damaging your skin. If I am going to be in the sun for more than 5 minutes at a time, I put on a broad brimmed hat and a long sleeved breezy shirt and some sunglasses and I'm good for the day (I have developed quite a nice hat collection!). I do always carry a small tube of sunblock in case I need it - one light burn is way worse than one day of no vitamin D production!!!

BP

You know, I have to chime in here.

Tanning CAN be dangerous...but on the flip side, many people who stay out of the sun are vitamin D deficient. The sun is one of the only ways to get vitamin D. Yes, they put it in milk and you can take vitamins, but the absorption rate is horrible from those sources. A little bit of sun is actually HEALTHY for you, but like everything...in moderation.

Sunlight also can help with depression. I get extremely depressed in the winter. My doctor recommended that I spend at least ten minutes out in the sun daily during the winter. She also said that if that wasn't doable, that 5 minutes a week in a tanning bed would help, but not as efficiently.

So, while I agree that baking yourself to a crisp isn't healthy, neither is shying away from the sun.

But you can get vitamin D if you use sunscreen. I use sunscreen when I go out in the sun.

nelie, what I've heard is that you shouldn't go much above 30 SPF if you want to get absorption of vitamin D.

Sunscreen does block UVB rays, and that's what's needed for vitamin D production. The better the sunscreen, the less vitamin D you can produce.

One thing that matters a lot is where you are. If you live in the southern US or anywhere similarly sunny, you're going to get enough sun through your sunscreen or through other small exposure areas. It you're in Canada, like I am, then you get less sun to begin with and it's a lot more important to get a few minutes of sun a day.

Sunblock is a good thing - especially for young kids and babies who can't or won't wear protective clothing and for people that are out in the sun for an extended period of time. Sun is also a good thing - we *need* it. But it's finding the happy medium of no sun/too much sun that's tricky. It's different for different skin types and different geographical areas.

Nevertheless, it's going to be sunny and 12 degrees out (50 something F) on the weekend and after this long crappy winter, I'm going to go out and enjoy the first nice sunny day!!! I might even take my hat off

BP

You can get enough vitamin D from the sun in just a few minutes a day...and you don't have to be sunbathing to do it-as in fully body exposure. Doing things like going to the mailbox and mowing your lawn with SPF 15 or 30 will provide more than enough. But, you can wear sunscreen, and you don't have to be totally exposed (bathing suit or nude in a tanning bed) to do it.

tanning is fine

I went tanning for a few years in high school because I was a cheerleader and I didn't want to be the pale one. I regret it so much, I feel like the few times I accidentally burned already make me look older than I am!

My 23 year old cousin Shannon passed away last month of skin cancer that metastasized to her lungs. She was always tan from the beds. It's one of those things people don't care about until they are staring down the barrel of the gun, so they say...you can die of skin cancer, I don't think people realise that.

Of course it is your choice to take the risk, but the question of whether or not it is worth it is even pointless to consider, especially with such great self tanners out there now!

Articles from the Mayo Clinic:

1. Getting a base tan?
Short excerpt: "Many people go to tanning salons to get a so-called "base tan" before leaving on a beach vacation. The theory behind this is a few sessions of indoor tanning will protect your skin from sunburn in a sunny climate. But there's no proof that this is true."

2. Tanning beds safer than the sun?
Short excerpt: "No. There is no safe tan. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation — whether from sunlight or tanning beds — damages your skin, increasing your risk of skin cancer and premature skin aging. In fact, malignant melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, has seen a sharp rise in recent years, perhaps due to the increased exposure to UV radiation from both the sun and tanning beds."

I'm from the "pasty white" skin coloring also and very proud of it. When everyone I knew was getting as dark as possible, I was lathering on sunscreen. They all look older than they are now and I look younger. A few have had skin cancer issues. I even (always) wear an SPF moisturizer on my face and neck since I was in my teens, and wear hats if I'm going to be out during the day to protect my scalp.

Take care of your skin, it protects you for your whole life.