Young adult females who use tanning lotions and other sunless tanning products tend to sunbathe and use tanning salons less than other women of their age, researchers from Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, reported in Archives of Dermatology. They added that the more a woman used sunless tanning products, the less she tended to sunbathe or use tanning salons.
The authors explained as background information:
“Despite the growing popularity of sunless tanning products (STPs), their effect on tanning behaviors has yet to be fully explored.
Some studies have supported the use of STPs as an acceptable substitute for UV radiation (UVR) tanning methods (tanning bed use and sunbathing), others have raised concerns that promoting the use of STPs may encourage, rather than lessen, intentional UVR exposure.”
Rachel E. Sahn, M.D., and team gathered data on 415 females aged 18 years or more between May 30th 2007 and December 4th 2007. All the women were on the Emory University campus and surrounding community.
The researchers wanted to find out how many used sunless tanning products, how often they used them, and what their sunbathing behaviors were.
48% of those surveyed said they had used sunless tanning products (SPTs) at least once during the previous 12 months. The vast majority said they applied the SPTs themselves, while 9% said it was professionally applied.
Below is the percentage of STP users according to age:
- 18-25 years, 53.6%
- 26-40 years, 40.7%
- 40+ years, 41.4%
70.6% of the women said they had sunbathed, 26% had used tanning beds, and 25.3% reported doing both (sunbathing in the sun and using tanning beds) at least once over the previous 12 months.
Sunless Tanning Products appear to make women sunbathe less
Of the women who sunbathed and also used STPs, 36.8% said their intentional sunbathing went down because of STPs.
Of those who used STPs and tanning beds as well, 38% said their usage of tanning beds had gone down because of the STPs.
They also found that the higher the frequency of STP usage over the previous twelve months, the less often tanning beds were used.
92.7% of the women believe that a woman with tanned skin is sometimes to always more attractive than women with pale skin (skin that has obviously not been tanned).
79.2% of them said they either sometimes or always felt better about themselves when their skin looked tanned.
They concluded in an Abstract in the journal:
“The desire for tanned skin remains strong despite growing awareness of the dangers of UV radiation exposure.
This study provides promising data suggesting that as the appearance of sunless tanning product tans continues to be improved, sunless tanning products carry the potential to further decrease intentional UV radiation exposure and, subsequently, the risk of UV radiation-related skin cancer.”
Written by Christian Nordqvist