healthy sun pleasure

The many nice sides of sunlight may make forget the shady side of it. Protection against the sun is very important, and everybody can do something.

With the right behaviour and a sensible attitude you can enjoy the beautiful sides of the sunlight and protect yourself against its negative effects.

If you follow the hints below, you will be on the sunny side of it!

Change your attitude and prefer your natural skin colour. More...
Many people in Western societies find extended sunbathing in the middle of the day completely normal and consider tanned skin a sign of health and beauty.

This should be challenged: isn’t it that only healthy skin with a natural tan is beautiful? The awareness that there exist various skin types and that everybody should be happy with his or her natural skin colour is the first step into the direction of “sun-wise” behaviour. Even many prominent people have become aware of this: If you look at them thoroughly, you might notice that only few of them look darkly tanned.

More information about skin and beauty: formerly, nowadays and elsewhere

Our skin determines our appearance: One person has rather dark skin, another person numerous freckles and so forth. There have always been different notions of what is beautiful. The beauty ideal and with it the skin colour of beautiful people, depends mostly of the culture in which we live and its beauty ideal.

In our western society today, those who are tannend are often considered beautiful and healthy. This has not always been the case: there were times when bright skin was considered particularly beautiful. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance for instance, "gentle paleness" was considered a sign of beauty and especially of wealth: those who had bright skin could "afford" to make others work for them. Those who were tanned had to earn their living through hard work (e.g. field labour). Similar to some people who use the solarium today in order to conform to the tanned beauty ideal, people then tried to avoid the sun as much as possible. Also, they treated themselves with various tinctures which brightened up the skin. Those agents often were rather unhealthy.

It has not been the case for long that tanned skin has been considered particularly healthy and beautiful. For the first time tanned skin was desirable in the 1920s, with the following thought: Those who are tanned can afford to go on holiday or have enough leisure time which can be spent outdoor instead of sitting in the office. In the light of the many skin cancers, these views are changing at some places and a tendency towards natural skin colour becomes accepted again.

These developments apply especially for industrialised countries. In other cultures, different views prevail. People there want the exact opposite: In Africa and Asia a skin as bright as possible is a sign of beauty and also of wealth and success. Some African and Asian people use cremes which are brightening up, in order to conform to their culture specific beauty ideal und thus hope for better opportunities in the future - job-related and personal. This brightening up of the skin is not always safe. Many can only afford cheap (often illegal) products, which often contain dangerous or prohibited ingredients und harm health.

Avoid sunburn. More...
Avoid sunburn

The best protection against UV radiation damage on the skin is to avoid sunburn and not to expose oneself to sunlight too much. Our skin never forgets.
Wear protective clothing and sunglasses. More...
Adequate clothing is a good protection against UV radiation.


Among these should be a hat or cap with a wide brim, which protects eyes, ears, face and neck.
Tightly woven, loose fitting and possibly long clothes offer optimal UV protection. Furthermore sunglasses with standardized UV filters are recommended.
Apply sunscreen. More...
Sunscreen is another measure of UV radiation protection.

Best apply it generously to your skin about 30 minutes before going into the sun, so it can develop its full effect. Sunscreen should contain UV A and UV B protection. The so-called "sun terraces", i. e. face, ears, shoulders, neck, the back of your hands and feet, should be protected with special care.

If you want to go swimming, apply a water-resistant sunscreen. It helps to repeat the application of sunscreen, but be careful – this doesn’t extend the protection time, it only keeps the protection up. Please be aware to use the adequate protection factor (SPF: Sunlight Protection Factor). It depends on your skin type, but should never be lower than 15.

But be careful: sunscreen does not grant total protection against skin
damages from UV radiation, and it’s not a free ticket for limitless
sunbathing!

Avoid the sun, seek shadow. More...
UV radiation varies in intensity depending on the time of day and year and on geographical location.

Avoid the sun especially at midday (between 10 am and 4 pm). During these hours, the sun shines down on Earth in a right angle and is therefore especially strong. At that time, you might better want to seek shadow.

In the mountains, on the beach and in the water, special attention is recommended – but that doesn’t mean that you are out of danger in the schoolyard or on the balcony.

 

The best way is to consult the UV index for the intensity of the UV radiation.

UV index

The UV index shows the intensity of the UV radiation on a certain day in a certain location.

It starts at 1 and ends at 10. The higher the index number, the higher is the intensity. The higher the UV index, the more important it is to apply sun protective measures. The UV index is often published together with the weather forecast in radio, television, newspapers and internet. The given number indicates the maximum intensity at noontime.

From UV index 3 it is recommended to protect one’s skin against the sun by using adequate clothing, sunscreen or simply by avoiding direct sunlight.

  Please check here for the UV index of the place where you live: http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/whereyoulive.html.

Apply protective measures at any time. More...
You can get sunburn everywhere: during an excursion, at home on the balcony or on the schoolyard during break. Thus, protection against the sun makes sense everywhere.
Avoid artificial tanning. More...
Solariums or tanning parlours are not an alternative to healthy tanning. Every UV radiation, be it artificial or natural, can damage your skin.

That is why you should avoid the use of tanning parlours or sunlamps. They are not even really convenient as "holiday preparation" as the body’s own protection against UV rays is not increased by them.

This is also true if you try to tan by using chemical tanning creams.

  By the way: the European Union discusses to prohibit the use of solariums by children and adolscents under the age of 18. Maybe you find this more understandable after having read these observations?

Find out your individual skin type and take adequate protective measures. More...
Find out your individual skin type and take adequate protective measures.

The most important criterion in sun protection is the skin type. Depending on this, your skin will notice the negative effects of UV radiation sooner or later.

That’s the reason why the protective measures should be adapted to the individual skin type.

The brighter the colour of your skin, the shorter is the time you can stay in the sun without risking sunburn. Therefore, people with bright skin have to apply more skin protection than people with dark skin.

You can find more information on skin type here. If you want, you can judge your own skin type using the table.

The skin determines our appearance to a large extent. One of the factors is the skin type or pigmentation type – in short, the “skin colour”.

An American dermatologist developed the following scheme of six skin types in order to allow recommendations for skin protection against the sun.

Skin type 1
 

Characteristics:

  • Very fair and extremely sensitive skin with freckles
  • Fair eye colour and ginger hair
  • No tanning and mostly sunburn (after 10 min without protection)

Protective measures:

  • Avoid sunburn, better remain in the shadow (especially between 11 am and 3 pm)
  • Use hat with neck cover, adequate clothing and sun glasses with 100% UV protection
  • Use sunscreen with high protective factor ( min. SPF – sun protective factor - 30)
  • Protect especially well nose, ears, lips and neck

 

 
Skin type 2
 

Characteristics:

  • Fair and sensitive skin, often freckles
  • Fair eye and hair colour
  • Slow tanning and mostly sunburn (after 20 min without protection)


Protective measures:

  • Avoid sunburn, better remain in the shadow (especially between 11 am and 3 pm)
  • Use hat with neck cover, adequate clothing and sun glasses with 100% UV protection
  • Use sunscreen with high protective factor ( min. SPF 25)
  • Protect especially well nose, ears, lips and neck

 

 
Skin type 3
 

Characteristics:

  • Skin average fair, fair or dark eye colour, brown hair
  • Simple and slow tanning,
  • often sunburn (after 30 min without protection)


Protective measures:

  • Avoid sunburn between 11 am and 3 pm
  • Wear hat and sunglasses
  • Use sunscreen with at least SPF 15
  • Protect especially well nose, ears, lips and neck

 

 
Skin type 4
  Characteristics:

  • Brownish and little sensitive skin
  • Dark eyes, dark brown or black hair,
  • Quick and deep tanning, sometimes sunburn (after 45 min without protection)


Protective measures:

  • Wear hat and sunglasses
  • Use sunscreen with at least SPF 15
  • At the seaside and in the mountains, protect well lips and neck

 

 
Skin type 5
 

Characteristics:

  • Dark and little sensitive skin
  • Dark eyes, black hair
  • Rarely sunburn (after 60 min without protection)


Protective measures:

  • Wear hat and sunglasses
  • Use sunscreen with at least SPF15
  • At the seaside and in the mountains, protect well lips and neck

 

 
Skin type 6
  Characteristics:

  • Black and little sensitive skin
  • Dark eyes, black hair
  • Very rarely sunburn (in 90 min without protection)



Protective measures:

  • At the seaside and in the mountains wear hat and sunglasses
  • Protect lips well
  • Use sunscreen with at least SPF 15
  • After a longer time without sun exposure, also dark skin can develop sunburn after prolonged sunbathing

    By the way: It is a good idea to check your skin regularly. Should you see anything unusual on it like a painful or changing mole, you should better consult a doctor or dermatologist and get some advice on what to do.  

 

Here you will find some hints on how to do a self examination.

Self examination

Skin cancer is the only form of cancer that is visible from the outside. Thus it can be noticed more easily and earlier than other cancer types.

In the case of developing the disease, early recognition increases the chance for healing. For this reason, you should see your doctor or dermatologist once a year for a skin screening, and you should check your skin yourself thoroughly from head to feet once in three months.

One of the types of skin cancer, for example, appears as raised and palpable nodules on the skin surface and as rough skin areas.

The "ABCDE rule" helps to identify the first signs of malignant melanoma. With the help of this rule, please examine your whole body for moles and dots that show the following characteristics:

A = Asymmetry:
Does the pigmented mole have an irregular form?
B = Border:
Does the mole have a rough, ragged, uneven border or does it look as it would "leak out"?
C = Color or coloration:
Does the mole have a varying pigmentation?
D = Diameter:
Does the mole have a diameter larger than 5 mm?
E = Elevation and evolution:
Does the mole feel raised and palpable? Does the mole change in the course of time?

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