14.10.2024

10 questions about the benefits and harm of tanning for real Siberians

The Siberian heat, during several days of its domination, forced to forget about complaints about “cold Siberia” and to recall the existence of such a place as the beach, and such a phenomenon as burnt shoulders.

The problem of sunburn again became relevant – which means that we will again have to remember how to combine the desire to have a chocolate tan, the fear of developing skin cancer and the unwillingness to spend autumn in a beauty salon, trying to rehabilitate the dried out skin under the scorching sun.

The correspondent of SHE was looking for answers to the most burning issues.

Is it worth going to a solarium before going on vacation?

In this question, the answer is positive only if you are too shy to sparkle on the beach with whiteness: the argument that it is so possible to “prepare” the skin for the beach is a myth.

“An hour in a solarium equals two days spent in the sun. The danger is that you do not feel it, and if in the solarium the old lamps that pass harmful UVA rays, the danger increases, “warns Anna Bugay, a dermatocosmetologist at the Estomed center. So you can only prepare the skin with one method: buy a good cream.

Is it safe to use a tanning accelerator?

Creams-enhancers of sunburn, as explained by the curative of the therapeutic cosmetology of the NGMU Irina Peskova, contain photosensitizers – substances that when applied to the skin enhance the synthesis of melanin and affect the quality of melanin. So they really work. But not everyone is allowed: it is not worth using such creams to use allergic people, fair-skinned at the beginning of the holiday and comrades with birthmarks (they do not need provocation).

But before you leave it is useful to drink fresh carrot juice at 100 ml per day for a week: provitamin A is a natural tanning enhancer. Juice is best consumed with cream – for better absorption of the vitamin.

How to choose a sunscreen?

Creams differ in the degree of protection, it needs to be selected depending on the phototype. Light, red, moles, children, as well as the face, neck and hands of all the others need to be smeared only with a cream with maximum protection (SPF 30 and above), darker than the body can be applied an average level of protection (15 and below).

“But to lie all day in the sun under a high protection factor there is no sense – the forbidden spectrum begins to work: UV rays of type A penetrate deep into the skin, cause damage and have oncogenic effect. 

That is, distracting from the rays of type B, which cause visible burns, we become a victim of dangerous A-rays, “explains Irina Peskova. By the way, type A protects very little, so do not engage in self-deception: if there are no burns, this does not mean that the sun is safe.

If you use a cream, will not tan?

In this statement there is some truth: those who use the cream with the maximum factor and do not fry at noon are paler than others. After all, the sunscreen is called so not in vain: the figure shows how many rays the cream blocks. So, SPF 2 blocks half the beams, SPF 4 – 75%, and SPF 30 – 97%. But this is not a sentence: for a good tanning, you just need to stay out in the sun longer (not once, but by days), so that a small number of penetrating rays can influence the shade of the skin.

Sunburn will heal from depression? 

The most pleasant moment of summer vacation: the sun raises the mood and serves as a real antidepressant. Under the influence of ultraviolet, we are producing not only vitamin D (which, however, is also pleasant), but also endorphins, responsible for mood.

The psychotherapist Igor Lyakh noted that this is due not only to biochemistry, but also to the fact that in the summer, eroticization naturally increases: on the beach or not, but in summer clothes are few, and this automatically makes us sexually attractive in our own and others’ eyes, and this directly affects the mood .

Will the sun help get rid of acne? 

The sun dries any skin: a thin dry makes it look like the Sahara desert, and on the problem “burns out” pimples – dries, but does not heal. In moderate doses, it is useful, in excess – it is easy to get allergies: solar acne is very similar to usual, but itches and aches.

Anna Bugai recommends the use of sunscreen fluids in oily skin (they do not clog pores), and on dry apply only creams: she really needs protection. It is useful if hyaluronic acid, carbamide (urea), aloe, panthenol and vitamin E are present in the care cream (for any skin) during this period.

Why does the skin peel after the holiday?

Peeling skin after sunburn is the expected reaction to a strong sun. “Insolation accelerates the maturation of cells, but the first few days after sunburn, the skin is edematous, and due to this there is a feeling of smoothness, as soon as the stress goes away, the skin begins to flake off,” says Irina Peskova. To make the peeling as inconspicuous as possible, the skin needs to be protected during sunburn and well moisturized afterwards. And more important is the presence in the diet of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (they are in fish and oil): without them, even healthy skin will be peeling off.

How to prolong the sunburn, is it washed off with a scrub?

“Of course, the scrub weakens the tan – after all, melanin accumulates in the superficial layers that peel off the scrub,” says Anna Bugay. Therefore, you have to choose: even skin or dark skin. Peeling reduces the drugs with carbamide (urea), aloe, vitamin B5 (panthenol).

Means for prolonging sunburn is a light tan, but it will not force the skin to produce melanin, but will only color it. By the way, it is fraught with dermatitis and allergy. So the sun can only prolong sunburn. 

Where to sunbathe safer?

Oncologists have not yet derived a mathematical formula for the connection of the number of minutes, sun activity and the risk of skin cancer, but they admit: any sun can become dangerous, than it is more and it is brighter – the more provocation. “Ultraviolet is a stimulant for the formation of free radicals in the skin – they have a damaging effect on skin cells,” Irina Peskova explains. In this regard, in the south, more sun, then – more risks. In our latitudes the most active sun is in February-March (we are still in fur coats), and by July its activity is dropping, but gaining full speed in the south, where we aspire in swimsuits.

Southern tan – better and more durable?

In different regions the sun is at different angles: in the north the rays are more slippery, and closer to the equator they are vertical. As explained by Irina Peskova, all this gives a different skin irritation – and melanin is produced of different qualities, even the tint may be different: in the north it is more yellow, and in the south – chocolate.

But the belief that the southern tan is more persistent is a myth: the epidermis is renewed every 28 days, but we usually go to the sea when the street sun does not support our tan at home and without this support it seems to us that it is quickly “washed off”.

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