14 DAY TRIAL // There’s a new hashtag picking up on Twitter, but don’t give in to the temptation to take part in it. #SunburnArt is about people getting sunburns on specific parts of the body, using artistic designs, and then posting photos of it on social media.
That might sound like a fun thing to do and a hilarious anecdote to share with friends, but the health risks it entails are simply not worth it, experts warn.
Getting a tan is bad, but getting sunburns is even worse
New York City-based dermatologist Elizabeth Hale spoke to People Magazine about this new and very unhealthy beauty trend, in the hopes of discouraging those who were considering it.
Protecting your skin from the harmful rays of the sun isn’t a joke, so we should leave no tiny piece of it uncovered in sunblock. The way this new beauty trend works is that you create temporary “tattoos” either by placing a design on the skin so that that area remains untanned, or not covering it in sunscreen so that it gets burned.
Whichever you choose depends on whether you want the “tattoo” a lighter shade than your tanned skin or an angry red.
Hale says we shouldn’t get it at all. In fact, consider ditching tanning altogether because a tan is the body’s response to an aggression done to the skin. No one should willingly put their body through that.
“Either two blistering sunburns as a child or five sunburns at any time in your life, both of those double your chance for melanoma, which is the most deadly form of skin cancer,” Hale says. This should help us get an approximation of the damage we’re doing to the skin through unnecessary exposure to the sun.
Always wear sunscreen
Experts don’t get tired of warning us of the dangers of sun exposure and the importance of wearing sunscreen, especially during the mid-day hours.
However, as of late, they started advising wearing sunblock at all times, even indoors. Indoor tanning is possible and it can also have disastrous health effects, increasing the odds of getting skin cancer.
Summer isn’t the only season when we should wear SPF, either: right now, experts say it would be best to use sunblock around the year, whenever stepping out. Women have the option of using concealers, foundation or BB / CC creams with SPF incorporated, which can be lower or higher, depending on the season.