“Did you see that the UV was 9 today?”

Depending on who you are, this statement could spark two vastly different reactions. If you’re a dermatologist, your first thought would be to lather up in sunscreen and urge others to reapply by the hour. But if you’re a teenage girl, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to crisp up your tan lines for summer. This divide reveals America’s complicated relationship with tanning, an obsession that represents a dramatic reversal in centuries-old beauty standards and carries potentially deadly consequences.

America’s obsession with tanning is a newer phenomenon in a long history of colorism and socioeconomic status. For hundreds of years, having paler skin was associated with wealth and higher social status, as darker skin was perceived as a sign of outdoor labor, which was seen as a marker of lower social status.

Historical records show that ancient Egyptian royalty, including Cleopatra, used milk baths and other treatments to maintain lighter skin tones. Queen Marie Antoinette of France became famous for her alabaster complexion and powdered white hair. Following the rise of colonialism, Eurocentric beauty standards dominated globally, making pale skin the ultimate symbol of beauty and prosperity.

This preference for pale skin remains deeply entrenched in cultures around the world. Asia in particular has become notorious for its harsh beauty standards and pride for pale skin. There has been a rise in skin whitening products, skin-lightening laser treatments, and even topical products that have been known to include potentially harmful ingredients such as arsenic, lead and mercury. A study by the World Health Organization revealed that 40% of women in countries such as China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea routinely use skin-whitening products. The industry’s estimated value is projected to reach a staggering $8.9 billion by 2027.

Western beauty standards followed a similar trend until, surprisingly, the Industrial Revolution. As work shifted from outdoor manual labor to indoor factories, the idea that a darker skin tone correlates with lower social status began to disappear.

Beauty standards shifted in 1923 when fashion icon Coco Chanel returned from her vacation in the French Riviera with a new accidental sunburn that left her with a bronzed complexion. This new look kicked off the Western hemisphere’s obsession with tanning. Swimsuit advertisements shifted from images of women covered up at the beach with hats and parasols to models splashing around in more revealing designs.

In 1946, the bikini was introduced by Louis Réard in Paris, and Hollywood began to enter the “Golden Age.” The bronzed tan began to correlate with the idea of being rich enough to travel to exotic destinations. Suntan and baby oils began to become staples, and people were willing to do anything to achieve the perfect tan.

Innovation soon followed this trend. In the 1950s, Dr. Eva Wittgenstein was researching an oral drug for children when she discovered that dihydroxyacetone significantly darkened skin tone when applied topically. This discovery led to the explosion of tanning products such as Man-Tan, Sudden Tan, and Coppertone’s Quick Tan, spiking popularity in the self-tanning market.

The industry grew more complex when German scientist Friedrich Wolff developed and began selling his high-UVA tanning beds to Americans in 1978. According to a recent beauty market research report from IBISWorld, tanning salons have grown to a $2.8 billion industry and are unfortunately projected to continue their growth.

While the tanning industry flourished, medical research began revealing alarming conclusions. Studies have shown that continued exposure to UV radiation and tanning beds significantly increases the risk for skin cancer, premature aging, melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, immune system suppression, and more. UVA light has been strongly linked to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and studies observed that 61 of 63 women (97%) who were diagnosed with melanoma before 30 used tanning beds.

According to the American Cancer Society, 186,000 new cases of melanoma are estimated to be diagnosed in the U.S., and over the past decade, the number of cases has increased by 27 percent. Ninety percent of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are associated with UV exposure from the sun.

These new findings did not go unnoticed. In 2015, the FDA proposed prohibiting minors from utilizing tanning beds, and today 44 states currently ban or regulate the use of tanning beds by minors. Additionally, skin care products that include SPF have spiked as the number of online searches for sunscreen from spring 2019 to 2021 increased by 210,000, making it the skin-care product with the highest search growth according to the market research firm Spate.

To further understand this medical perspective, Eastside interviewed Dr. Grace Chung, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Premier Dermatology in Haddon Heights, NJ. She has been recognized as a ‘Top Doc’ in multiple publications and continues to serve the South Jersey community with over 30 years of experience.

“There’s no such thing as safe tanning. Every time you tan, there’s damage to your skin,” says Dr. Chung. “The skin remembers and it keeps the record, so it adds up until it reaches the turning point where the cells turn cancerous. Especially younger exposure, like exposure at a younger age, can cause more damage later in life. If you get 10 visits to a tanning salon before age 35, your risk for skin cancer is significantly higher.”

Dr. Chung also addresses common misconceptions: “So many more people get burned on cloudy days because they get fooled into thinking that there’s no sun coming out. But surprisingly, on cloudy days, you still get 80% of UV coming through the clouds.”

One persistent myth is that sunscreen prevents tanning entirely. Trending videos of individuals showing a bright red sunburn and its transformation into a tan have gone viral, and achieving the perfect tan lines has become an obsession.
Some attempt to compromise by using sunscreen with a lower SPF of 15 or 30 with the belief that it will allow them to tan more deeply. However, dermatologists report that SPF rating indicates how well a sunscreen can block the UVB rays that cause sunburn, not tanning. Most dermatologists recommend using SPF 50 or above to protect against harmful UV penetration while still allowing some tan. While SPF 100 is a stronger aid, tanning can still occur at a slower pace.
However, understanding sunscreen terminology is crucial.

“SPF is sun protection factor that only is a protection factor against UVB, so it doesn’t give you any information about UVA protection,” Dr. Chung explains. “UVA goes deeper and causes aging while UVB causes sunburn, so SPF number protects against UVB. The best sunscreen nowadays is mineral sunscreen because they add a little tint of color that will protect against UVA and B without leaving a chalky white film on your face.”

But despite the growing knowledge of the harmful effects of UV radiation, Gen-Z remained unfazed. “Tanning routines,” “Best Tanning Oils of 2025,” and a culture where monitoring the UV index regularly has taken over social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

To understand this mindset, Eastside interviewed two students who enjoy tanning.

“I think teenagers are obsessed with tanning because a lot of people tend to make it a competition,” said Bianca Laudano (’27). “I think a lot of people get super dark in the summer, and then other people catch up to them. And it’s kind of just like a lot of people find it fun to just lay out and kind of see who can get the most tan, or for tan lines or stuff like that.”

When asked about awareness of tanning dangers and why teenagers still continue to tan amidst dangerous effects, the responses were telling.

“I think everything is a joke to us,” said Ellie Finer (’27). “We know and we hear about the harmful effects but no one thinks it can happen to them until it does.”

Laudano added insight about social media’s role: “I think it’s a nationwide thing because, on social media, we see a lot of things that might not even be real. For example, people put filters on them or edit the colors of certain photos. That brings people to wanting to get that same tan they see online even if it’s fake,” said Laudano.
One of the most pressing public health challenges is something that can be easily avoidable. In a generation that has more access to health information than ever before, the continuation of dangerous tanning habits reminds us that knowledge alone is often not enough to change behavior. America’s tanning culture remains deeply entrenched in our social media algorithms, filters, and beauty standards.

The challenge lies in competing with the instant gratification of social media validation while promoting behaviors that protect long-term health. But change is possible. It starts with redefining beauty standards that celebrate healthy skin over damaged skin, and prioritizing authenticity over filtered perfection. The next time you see that UV index of 9, perhaps the real question isn’t how to get the perfect tan, but how to protect the only skin you’ll ever have.