Is Sun-kissed Skin Safe and Sustainable?

We are all subject to external and internal pressures to meet certain beauty standards. While much of this pressure comes from societal expectations, sometimes our own desires align with those standards. 

For me, I’ve been pale my whole life. In the summer I might get the slightest bit of color, but I usually just burn and fade back to pale. Now, there is nothing wrong with being pale, and furthermore there are historic and systemic benefits of being light skinned (aka white privilege) which I acknowledge but isn’t the topic of this post. 

Because I never had success just tanning in the sun, I learned to accept my pale skin. I never felt less beautiful because of it, but just preferred how I looked and felt when I got a bit of a tan from playing sports, sunny days at camp, or from working in the yard over the weekend. However, as I got older, I realized I didn’t want to burn anymore and became a very responsible and consistent user of sunscreen when I was outside. 

A few years ago I noticed that many of the individuals I followed on social media were all sharing their favorite (or sponsored) self tanning products because we have now decided sun is the mortal enemy to our skin, and SPF must be slathered on the face EVERY DAY even if you aren’t leaving the house. My initial reaction was, “oh the sun is harmful and can cause cancer, but here’s my favorite mixture of chemicals that temporarily turns my skin a darker color.” This was driven by my knowledge on environmental toxicity and how little the ingredients in cosmetics products are studied. So for another few years, I brushed it off as just a gimmick and no safer than radiation from the sun. 

Flash forward to spring of 2018 and I was preparing for my wedding in the fall. I wanted a bit of color so that I didn’t completely blend in with my wedding dress, so I just decided to self tan for a few months until the wedding for practice, and after I would stop. For a while, I did stop, but I kept remembering how much I enjoyed being tan even in the middle of a Maine winter. So I decided to delve into some research regarding self tanning. 

Question 1

The first question I had was very basic, how does self tanner actually work? The active ingredient in most self tanners is dihydroxyacetone (DHA)¹, which interacts with the amino acids in the skin’s stratum corneum*, the outermost surface layer of skin comprised of dead cells, in a chemical process called the Maillard Reaction², creating the browning effect for a self tan. Tanning from the sun or tanning beds produces pigmentation via melanogenesis, caused by exposure to ultra-violet rays³. While this is a natural, biological reaction, prolonged exposure to UV radiation has shown to increase the likelihood of developing skin cancer⁴.

*some reports now suggest that up to 11% of DHA penetrates into the living cells in the epidermis and dermis.

Question 2

My next question was how dangerous is the chemical DHA? My first resource was to check for the actual tanning product in the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) cosmetic database. However, the particular tanning product I was using wasn’t listed, so I searched each ingredient in the product. Acording to the EWG database results for the primary active ingredient, DHA, has a relatively low overall toxicity score of 1-3 (1 being the lowest hazard and 10 the highest) and has a fair data availability score (a moderate score between none and robust). Additionally, DHA is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for external use in self tanners, but this does not include spray tans as there is potential to inhale dihydroxyacetone.

Then I turned to peer-reviewed literature to see what scientists had to say about DHA as a method of sunless tanning. There are two primary sources of health concern when it comes to the use of DHA in tanning products. The first being inhalation of DHA during spray tanning, and application of the product externally to areas not approved including the lips, eyes, or any body surface covered by mucous membrane⁵. The second major concern is the increased production of free radicals on DHA treated skin when exposed to UV radiation⁶. DHA itself does not protect the skin against UV rays therefore it is important to use sun screen and limit time in the direct sunlight.

Question 3

The last question I had was to ask myself, how much did this mean to me and is it something I was willing to continue? From a health perspective, topical application of sunless tanners is relatively safe and there is long term evidence to support that. From a sustainability point, there are two factors to consider; consumerism culture and product waste. Most people actively living in an affluent society have some sort of self care/hygiene routine, and for many that extends into things like makeup, hair care, skin care, and increasingly, self tanning. Whether you choose to self tan or not is a personal choice, hopefully done as something you truly enjoy and desire rather than to submit to societal beauty standards. Using self tanning products on a regular basis will produce waste from the bottling or other packaging it comes in. While one bottle can last at least a month and therefore on a personal level is a nominal amount, when multiplied by millions, that can add up. The only way to offset that waste would be to reduce or eliminate consumption of other products in your lifestyle.

Ultimately, I decided to continue self tanning on a somewhat regular basis, when I feel like it. While it does increase the amount of waste my individual household produces, I work to reduce waste elsewhere. Living a sustainable lifestyle has to be just that, something YOU can sustain, which is why it will look differently for everyone. Constantly evaluating our choices and searching for ways to avoid, minimize, and mitigate our environmental impacts is a key practice towards living sustainably.

References

1. Sunless tanning: Follow these safety tips. (2019, May 24). Retrieved July 05, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/sunless-tanning/art-20046803
2. Compound Interest (2015, July 24). How Do Tanning Lotions Work? – The Chemistry of Fake Tan. Retrieved July 05, 2020, from https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/08/07/faketan/
3. D’Mello, S., Finlay, G., Baguley, B., & Askarian-Amiri, M. (2016). Signaling Pathways in Melanogenesis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 17(7). Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/17/7/1144/htm
4. Stanojevic, M., Stanojevic, Z., Jovanovic, D., & Stojiljkovic, M. (2004). Ultraviolet radiation and melanogenesis. Archive of Oncology, 12(4), 203-205. doi:10.2298/aoo0404203s
5. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (2018, March). Sunless Tanners & Bronzers. Retrieved July 05, 2020, from https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/sunless-tanners-bronzers
6. Jung, K., Seifert, M., Herrling, T., & Fuchs, J. (2008). UV-generated free radicals (FR) in skin: Their prevention by sunscreens and their induction by self-tanning agents. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 69(5), 1423-1428. doi:10.1016/j.saa.2007.09.029