Heavenly Herbs: Is a Tan Really Healthy?

With today’s busy schedules and outdoorsy life; we are exposed to sun in many parts of our day. And while I too am a fan of sunshine and fair weather; I must admit that I’m really not a fan of skin damage. This is an all too common problem in our society. We want the tan but we don’t want the damage. We want to look like bronze replicas of humans with baked skin and dark complexion.

I’m not really sure where this phenomenon came about. In the earlier parts of the generations past; women and men both were considered more beautiful if they had NO tan at all. I think it may have been because only gentlemen and women were exempt from being out in the sun each day. The average laborer or field worker was exposed to the damaging rays as they worked while nobility and the upper echelons of society were more leisurely in their lifestyle; allowing others to toil out of doors. This respect and even worship of the upper class was most probably the reason for lower class wanting to emulate them with lack of skin pigmentation.

But today we have many people tanning; using tanning creams and basically “baking” the skin to a dark leathery texture with the end result being that there are more cases of skin damage and cancer in our society than ever before. Even though many experts in the field have warned against tanning booths and not protecting our skin; people are still flocking to the beeches to lay out in the sun; hoping for the perfect tan line.

The studies of tanning booths are damning in their ability to wreak havoc on the body’s most important organ; the skin. We in the herbal world believe that the skin is considered to be the “third” kidney….meaning that it is responsible in part to helping the body to rid itself of toxins. But people do not respect this and are in fact; slathering on creams and lotions; potions of all kinds to try to get the perfect shade of dark. And then when the damage is eminent; slathering on creams of all sorts to try to stave off the inevitable damage brought on by said sun exposure. Even sunscreens are suspect with many herbalists believing that they are as much a part of the damage as the sun itself.

So what to do with this problem? First of all it’s important to rethink beauty. If you think a tan is beautiful then go to a nursing home and look at sun damage on the face of someone born to work out of doors their whole life. Then see the woman or man that was fortunate enough to be able to be indoors and see the real difference in their skin; and most probably their health. Many of the older generation; in fact; many of my generation are now starting to have to have spots removed due to their ability to turn into cancerous growths. This is inevitable if we continue to worship the sun!

So when you go into the sun today think about how to best protect yourself. First and foremost; dress the part. A wide brimmed hat; a long sleeved shirt and pants rather than shorts will go a long way toward helping to protect the skin. If possible; staying in the house until after 4 o’clock to do outdoor work is a great idea or going out very early in the morning. TEACH your children that skin will protect them if they protect their skin! We can stop the madness if we start teaching our kids at an early age!

And remember….God made us in His image; so if he wanted us to be baked like clay He would have made us that way.