Sunbeds: the darker side to tanning

Western culture has an undeniable obsession with trying to obtain tanned skin. Whether this is through fake tan, spray tan, sunbathing holidays in the Mediterranean, or even sunbeds. Everyone seems to want a bronzed glow all year round, without paying much attention to some of the potential consequences that come with these chemicals and treatments.

Sunbeds tan the skin through use of high intensity ultraviolet (UV) radiation which damages the DNA in your skin cells, and can lead to skin cancer. It's understandable why sunbeds seem so appealing at first; you only need a few minutes on one to build up a tan. However, many people fail to realise the serious implications they can cause, and this is partially due to the coverage they receive on social media and the promotion of sunbed products too.

Social media platforms, such as TikTok, allow the promotion and sales of sunbed creams and accelerators. On their shopping section of the app, users can search for sunbed products and are then faced with hundreds of options. In the description there is no information or warnings to explain to the customer that this can be dangerous, although most do mention in the small print that it does not contain SPF, but it's highly unlikely that most customers would read this far.

Whilst sunbed creams haven’t necessarily been proved to be dangerous themselves, the societal impact they have can be considered dangerous as it normalises the idea that trying to reach darker and darker shades is desirable for people with paler skin.

One topic of conversation that I see often across the internet is about people fake tanning ‘too dark’, to the point that it can become offensive to POC with darker skin tones. Many people with fair skin are trying to reach a level of tan that would never be obtained naturally, through these fake tanning products and treatments. This begs the question of how far is too far before it becomes problematic, or as it's sometimes known as, ‘Blackfishing’?

This is just scratching the surface with some of the issues of sunbeds; whether it be health problems or societal issues - there’s a whole lot to unpack. Hopefully soon there will be a revolutionary invention to make sunbeds safer, or beauty standards will shift and the demand for tanning will subside.

Edited by Marianne Hamilton