To Tan...or not to Tan...

[Crawl79]

I wear sunscreen for my face and feet so they dont get BURNT, but Im always trying to stay tan for a reason. I am pretty much living in Brasil now and I feel that if I look darker and speak a little but good Portuguese I can pass as Brasilian and that makes me feel safer. Now of course there are people in Brasil who are not tan but, I am much more comfortable being tan and looking local.

 

[Red Lioness]

If I were any more pale I'd glow in the dark. I always *bathe* in sunblock and do my utmost not to get any sun at all. Hey, Irish/Scottish/Welsh here; believe it or not, I'm supposed to be this color.

 

[ReefHound]

...if you have a base tan you are not as likely to get burned when your skin is exposed. I have heard that a sunburn is what is really bad on your skin.

I'm not so sure that building a "base tan" isn't hurting you more than helping you after reading this:

"Dr. Brash found that the type of melanin that causes blonde and red hair actually increases the risk for cell death such as seen in sunburn . Blondes and redheads have what is called pheomelanin. People with darker hair have eumelanin.

Melanin filters out UV radiation, but it also actually increases the UV harmful effects and causes cell death, particularly when the melanin is the kind found in light hair or skin. Pheomelanin acts with the sun's UV rays to increase sun damage. "

http://www.ynhh.org/healthlink/cancer/cancer_2_05.html