UK approach to the sun

When I was young, people measured how good your holiday was by how much of a tan you had when you got back to work. Acquiring this tan usually involved at least one bout of sunburn, particularly for blokes who were always too macho to put on suntan lotion and only succumbed once they had experienced a period of agony, a sleepless night and a morning of peeling their skin off like a shedding snake.

If you had a deep tan the assumption was that you could afford a foreign holiday and it therefore became a status symbol.

Once you had a tan you wanted it to last as long as possible but the dream was to have an all year round tan which is why sunbeds suddenly became so popular.

Of course we then learnt a lot more about the effects of UV radiation, most notably skin cancer, let alone the ageing effect it has. As a result time spent lying out in the sun or under a sunbed has drastically reduced and most people protect themselves with lotions, clothing and hats. Maybe pensioners in 30 years time will only look 40 due to still having young looking skin as a result of this more informed approach.

The knowledge about health impacts rightly changed behaviours but ultimately not desires which is what drove people to the tan out of a bottle solution. Obviously it takes careful product selection, practice and a skiĺled hand to achieve the effect of a natural healthy glow.

Asian approach to the sun

Through conversations with people in every country we have visited we have been assured that instead of a tan suggesting affluence and status, it suggests the opposite in Asia. The preference is for pale skin, particularly on the face, as this suggests affluence through the assumption that the person works indoors in a position of importance rather than outdoors in an agricultural or manual role.

Pip has found that a large proportion of the many, many, many moisturisers and other skincare products that she has looked at in many, many, many shops contain whitening ingredients. I thought they were only in toothpaste, shows how much I know. In the west the exact same products often include a tanning ingredient rather than a whitening one.

A lot of people still wear Covid style face masks in Asia whether indoors or outdoors which, when teamed with whitening sunscreen protection and sunglasses does give off a Michael Jackson vibe. Other people plump for a full head and face covering which reminds me more of The Invisible Man.

Beach culture

We have regularly passed locals returning from the beach in the morning just as we are heading there.

Later in the afternoon we might pass the same people as we leave the beach and they are heading back out.

Whereas the British seem to treat the beach as a place to go only when the sun is at its most powerful (what is it they say about mad dogs and English men), people from other countries spend just as long there but often later into the evening. Even in Spain you will often see families still on the beach at 9pm just chilling out and having food and drinks. By that time the British have probably left, showered and are several drinks into their night out.

Each to their own, just stay safe whatever your approach. I still remember the Australian skin cancer awareness campaign from the 80’s and 90’s, “Slip, Slop and Slap” which was: slip on a t-shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat.

I am aware that as I write this the chance of sunburn in the UK has disappeared for another seven or eight months.