Has Tanning Become Uncool?

Gone are the days of sunbathing doused in oil, with all of us more aware than ever about the dangers of sun exposure

- Mishaal Khan

Travelling abroad and getting our fix of sunshine has been something we’ve all missed over the last year and, for women, coming home with sunkissed skin is one of the things we enjoy the most. New research reveals that six in 10 women aged 18-55 are only happy if they come home from a holiday with a tan, with 34% using fake tan before they go, to top up their glow.

There once was a time when soaking our skin in oil before a day of sunbathing was the norm, and when the dangers of sunbeds were largely unknown. But these days, health warnings of premature skin ageing and cancer are widely reported.

Sales of fake tan have risen in recent years, particularly among younger age groups, and health concerns mean high-factor sun protection is selling better than ever. Woman investigates whether sun worshipping really has become a thing of the past...

‘BACK THEN, NOBODY WORRIED’

‘BEING BRONZED MADE ME FEEL ATTRACTIVE’

Susanna Hancock, 52, is a business consultant and lives in Manchester with her husband, Keith, 52.

Understanding the risks of sun damage is something I learnt the hard way, having spent most of my youth exposing my skin to UV rays. As a child in the 70s, when there wasn’t much education about it, my mother used to let me play outside on a sunny day with no sun protection. And as a teen in the 80s, on a family holiday in Cyprus, I got severe sunburn all over my body, but other than dealing with the discomfort, back then, nobody worried about the long-term effects sunburn could have.