• Question: How do we tan?

    Asked by msargent15 to Aime, Akshat, Diana, Gemma, Judith on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      If our skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays we tan.

      You know this melanin we’ve mentioned a few times? The pigment our skin cells produce that give our skin colour? Well when we are exposed to UV rays the melanin is oxidised which makes it darker. UV rays also make our skin cells produce more melanin, which also adds to the tan.

      Some people tan more easily than other (for example, for 11 months of the year I am a ghostly white colour, but if I’m not careful in the summer I sometimes spend 1 month in intense pain looking like a tomato… I don’t really tan).

      It’s important to always wear a high factor sun cream though because there’s no such thing as a healthy tan. Overexposure to UV radiation can cause skin cancer, premature ageing, mutate DNA, and weaken your immune system.

    • Photo: Judith McCann

      Judith McCann answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Some sun exposure is good for you as your body can make vitamin D but like Gemma said, it can be dangerous, sunburns hurt like the jeepers, but skin cancer can be a risk with sun exposure!

      As gemma mentioned sun exposure can make your skin produce more melanin (darkening the skin) but if you already have dark skin that is a result of more melanin in your cells anyway which absorbs the UV radiation (as a defense mechanism for you tissue underneath) so you don’t burn or tan as much

      Unfortunately, every year without fail, the one day I’m wearing a top with strange straps I burn, this years has happened this weekend, and now I have oddly patched tan areas 🙁

    • Photo: Akshat Rathi

      Akshat Rathi answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      This is something I don’t have to worry about. Brown skin helps me. If I tan I don’t look very different. 🙂 Some evolutionary advantage over my peers I think. 😉

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