bEaUtY & anti-aGinG tanning? How Last Millennium ElizabEth MichaElson To learn whether tanning’s popu- have to clear up. A healthy glow means larity has faded, we went right to the your [natural] skin tone, glowing. You, source: fashion and beauty magazines. looking luminous.” After an informal focus group of eight Larkworthy agrees. “Skin that’s not prominent beauty editors confirmed that tan is gorgeous… The more you take suntans are at last going out of style, we care of it and don’t subject it to the sun, conducted several in-depth follow-up the less makeup you need. Taking care Lois Johnson Valerie Monroe interviews. As Jane Larkworthy, Beauty of your skin is almost, in and of itself, a More Magazine O, The Oprah Magazine Director of W, notes, “I can’t remember type of foundation. It’s one step less in the last time I saw a tanned model in my your makeup routine — you don’t have magazine; I can’t remember the last time to cover up the wrinkles as much as you I saw a tanned model on the runway.” would if you’d spent 20 or 30 years in tanning’s tired tyranny Val Monroe, O, The Oprah Magazine’s the sun.” Suntans promote a particularly Beauty Director, has likewise observed limited vision of health and beauty, consumers’ shifting attitudes: “I do no- you gLow, girL since the popular image of the tanned tice more people walking around pale in But while UV tan-seeking is a no-no, all-American beauty was tradition- the summertime than there used to be.” a little glow, the kind that comes ally a light-skinned Caucasian whose Lois Johnson, Beauty Editor at More, from non-UV tanning products and golden glow was the result of UV puts it more flatly: “Tanning as a life bronzers, while still using sunscreen, exposure rather than genetic inheri- priority is over.” is still permissible and won’t sacrifice tance. But recently we’ve embraced your health. Monroe explains, “Fortu- a more inclusive aesthetic, says Looking HeaLtHy Vs. Being HeaLtHy nately now there are ways for you to Johnson. “We have such a diverse Over many years, Americans were con- get that color without lying out in the population with millions of beautiful ditioned to see a tan as “healthy-looking.” sun — through bronzers, or glow prod- colors of skin; I think we’re enjoying But the ultraviolet (UV) radiation neces- ucts that tan you gradually. The more our diversity.” sary for tanning causes DNA damage options there are for people, the better This appreciation coincides with that leads to problems from wrinkles to it is for their health.” beauty editors’ exhortations to cel- skin cancer. Larkworthy says, “My gen- If you must have a tan, these non-UV ebrate individual, natural beauty eration, at least, grew up thinking that a self-tanners are the way to go, says rather than aspire to an outdated tan was sexy and that — ironically — it Monroe: “Give yourself some color, and narrow ideal. Brown explains, made you look more natural; you were a make yourself look ‘healthy’ — because “In America I think for a long time natural beauty if you had a tan…” These people still generally equate having a there was one aesthetic ... It was days, she feels very differently: “I am glow or pink cheeks or sunlit skin with very generic, in my opinion — the so vehemently against tanning that my skiing, with being at the beach and blonde with the wide-set blue eyes, reaction to someone with a tan is pretty outdoor activities. And if you can cre- small nose and tan. I think times are comparable to seeing someone with ate that artificially and not make it look changing, and we are broadening our a cigarette. It’s just so dangerous and artificial, that’s great.” scope of what we find beautiful. It’s so silly.” In the end, notes Monroe, “It’s kind of about different skin tones, different The message is clear: “We all need to clichéd, but I think it’s true: Real beauty facial features, all kinds of different pay attention to being healthy and hav- comes from inside.” And while “You can beauty. It’s about individuality.” ing healthy skin, not to changing our attempt to enhance your glow by going Monroe agrees: Most readers skin color,” Johnson declares. out and getting a sunburn,” the beauty aren’t interested in looking like ste- Sarah Brown, Vogue’s Beauty Direc- expert certainly doesn’t recommend reotypes. Instead, “They want to look tor, is quick to clarify just what healthy it: “That just doesn’t work very well for like themselves at their very best.” skin means: “A healthy glow does not your skin.” mean a tan, and I think that is what we

16 SKIN CANCER FOUNDATION JOURNAL