There are few widely accepted signifiers of a ‘good holiday’ quite like a tan. It’s the first thing everyone comments on when you return to work: that ‘sunkissed glow’ that comes from spending a week lazing by a pool or exploring the streets of an unfamiliar city. 

In some cases, it’s even praised as a sign of good health – especially if, like me, you spend most of the year with skin that’s on the translucent side of pale.

But at a time when more and more of us are waking up to the importance of protecting our skin from the sun and wearing SPF all year, this idolisation of tanning feels a little out of place. 

Sure, you can get a tan while you’re wearing suncream – but is that still OK? Is it possible to look after your skin while also developing that sunkissed glow? And if not, what should we be doing to keep ourselves safe?

To find out whether a ‘healthy tan’ exists and what steps we should all be taking to look after our skin health this summer, we asked two dermatologists to explain all. Here’s what they had to say.  

While sun exposure can offer some benefits for your mental and physical health, exposing your skin to the sun to the point where you develop a tan isn’t a sign of good health. It’s for this reason that many dermatologists say the only ‘healthy’ tan is one that comes from a bottle (aka, self-tanner).

“A tan happens when the skin pigment cells in your skin called melanocytes are stimulated by UV light to produce more melanin, which is how the skin protects its cells from the DNA damaging effects of sunlight,” explains Dr Natalia Spierings, consultant dermatologist and author of Skintelligent: What You Really Need To Know To Get Great Skin. 

“In this way, a tan indicates that damage has been or is about to happen, and your skin is responding with its first line of defence – the increased melanin in the skin is there to absorb the sunlight so it can’t get any further into your skin and damage the cells.”

While that increased melanin response is designed to protect you from sun exposure, that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing, adds dermatologist and Topiskin co-founder Dr Sina Ghadiri.

“Tanning in the traditional sense, which is a physiological response in the skin to UVA and UVB radiation, is something unique to the individual, with no set threshold of ‘safety’ which we can establish as a rule,” he says. “However, we do know that UV exposure has several effects on the skin, including immune response and activation, DNA damage, vitamin D synthesis, inflammation and tanning.”

In this way, even though getting an occasional tan may make you appear glowy and healthy, it can have long-term effects on your skin health that may not be evident for years to come.     

One of the main concerns people have when it comes to protecting their skin from the sun is not getting enough vitamin D3, which is formed when the ultraviolet rays from the sun hit our skin.

However, there are ways to ensure you get the correct vitamin D levels and enjoy the sun safely without putting your future skin health at risk.

“We now have developed such effective ways to protect ourselves, from high factor sunscreens effectively covering the UVA and UVB ranges to sun protective clothing and accessories,” Dr Ghadiri says. “The human body can still get the recommended amount of vitamin D within minutes of exposure to sunlight, even through limited areas such as the arms, legs and face.”

In this way, you should be able to soak up the amount of sunlight you need on your daily walk – yet another reason why getting outside in nature can be so beneficial. Just don’t forget your SPF, and make sure to avoid the sun during the strongest points of the day (ie the hours surrounding midday).  

Images: Getty