Through out history women were obsessed with their skin being as white as possible. They went to great lengths to keep it flawless. Since women did wear a lot of clothing during these times their bodies were protected from the sun. It was a part of their fashion sense that had them protect their faces with large hats and beautiful parasols. Tan skin was never popular or even considered to be glamorous.
It was the original fashionnista herself, Coco Chanel who was given credit for making tan skin part of the glamour fashion scene! In 1923 she stepped off her friends’ famous yacht in Cannes and the paparazzi snapped their shutter cameras quickly for the latest from Coco herself. Her tan soon set a fashion trend. American and European women quickly embraced the new look. Who would of thought that it would have taken 80 years for a fashion trend to fade? TANS FADE PEOPLE DIE. CoCo was known for making comfortable clothing at the time and this new trend led into the Jazz Era with looser clothing and women exposing more skin this leading to more tanning.
The 50’s brought us the bikini and even more skin was exposed and Moon Doggie (Jeff) and Gidget hit the beach everyday for surfing. Self-tanning products started to appear on the market and everyone thought that being in the sun was healthy and good for you. Only 50 years later we have discovered it is seriously harmful to body and life threatening for 1 in 5 Americans (that’s 20% of our population! And the numbers are growing fast).
In the 70’s 80’s and 90’s our lives got busy, some of us started getting married, having kids, full time careers, and that wonderful rest & relaxation was becoming harder to pencil in. Let alone finding time to lay by the pool or go to the beach. We still didn’t think that sun tanning was a bad thing for us. The need for another tanning solution was born and tanning beds quickly popped up in every major city. The microwave saved women time in the kitchen; could the suntan bed do the same for them when it came to tanning. Yes, and by the 1992 tanning salons command a huge industry of over 28 million dollars each year. The problem is this industry isn’t regulated and turned out to be even more dangerous than the real sun when it comes to creating photo light damage and skin cancer.
Honestly, did you really think lying in a tiny capsule with strong UVA/UVB bulbs inches from your face and body is healthy for you? Suntan beds can be ten times more dangerous because most people do not use any sunscreen or sun block protection. Companies say they are coming up with safer types of light bulbs, but the truth is that frequent tanning bed users proved three times more likely to develop melanoma than non-users and subjects that used tanning beds for any amount of time showed a 74% higher rate of melanoma than non-users according the University of Michigan study published in the Journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. Many people are even linking tanning bed use to drug abuse due to the life threatening dangers associated with it – no matter what your friends tell you – tans are not healthy.
The new fashion trend is to Escaping The Sun In Style. Create your look with one of ETSIS fabulous hats, driving gloves, shades, and long sleeves you will be protecting yourself and leaving everyone else wondering.. Who’s That Girl?
Group Question: What was the worse sun burn you ever had?
Image: Graeme Weatherston / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
By Devra Wathen