I grew up with racists who didn't like people of color but spent a lot of time, sweat and energy to get a dark tan and look like people of color. It never made any sense to me. I think we are the most beautiful when we are the best version of ourselves
I prefer a morning tan. Less wind, less people meaning more beach to ourselves. Leaving when we've had enough.
What is considered "better" or "worse" is entirely or almost entirely culturally mediated. You need to define tan as well. I get darker in summer but it's my normal skin tone. White skin and thus tanning are 10,000 years old. It's an extremely recent mutation. So not enough time for tanning to be selected for as a genetic trait or advantage. Depending on which decade you were growing up in and where it may be more or less culturally significant. But up until 1950, it was pretty much thought of poorly. Literally. As in poor people are tanned. Rich people avoided the sun after the aristocratic tradition. Surf culture, the explosion of middle class leisure and outdoor recreation as classed activity brought tans to favour. It's just up to you or any person who has a tan... do I prefer this? Something to note is that underneath a bronzed skin uv and ir will show the actual damage and sometimes cancers so... looks are not the only thing that matters in health. I am partial to a bit of brown too though.
Really interesting comments. This is one of the good things about this site, lots of comments from lots of people wide variety of backgrounds, we can all learn. The question, I assume, was asked from a Caucasian perspective and the answers were also mostly from that background. Many of us with European backgrounds have that understanding, tan = healthy but in the past it was not, it was a measure of discrimination.
Being of Native American, Spanish and Italian descent, I am naturally tan all the time. I can get pretty dark when I sunbake. We used to sunbake quite a bit and my wife looks incredible in an all over tan. She tans quite well and easily but she's had some skin cancers removed and must be very careful in the sun. She's of Irish, French, Dutch and German descent so she's pretty fair skinned. She still spends time naked outside but always under an umbrella. She gets reflective sunlight off our pool and off the sand and ocean when we are at the beach. She tans up slightly but not like she used to. The skin cancers have scared her enough that she will not sunbake any longer. She does look amazing in a tan!
"Iwonder how some people have perfectly even tans. It looks like they never wear clothing outdoors in warm weather."
An office job and a weekly trip to Sunnyside has worked for me lately (laying out for about 20 minutes a side, walking and paddling). In the garden or around the house I am often in the shade or shall sometimes lose the shirt (just short shorts) if the solar-radiation-to-temperature-comfort-level is a pass, or shall avoid the middle of the day and be outside early or late.
It is a challenge to get an even tan, I think people with olive type skin have a big advantage over us fair skinned types. I try to spend even times front & back but my sides are always a little more pale, but I'm trying to be even. Going for a long walk with the direction changing helps a bit to so the angles of the sun change.
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