From hopelessly pale to healthy tanned with natural sun tanning
By Carolin
Hi! My name is Carolin. If you like the tips and ideas you see here, and there are hundreds of them, please subscribe. And don't forget to Follow me on Twitter .
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Yesterday I wrote about vitamin D and why it is so important. So today I’ll continue on how to get a healthy vitamin D intake through sunshine.
A healthy sun tan is one you get without sunscreen and without sunburn.
And it’s surprisingly easy.
Let’s start with how I know this works.
I am blond, I’ve got blue eyes and I used to burn if I spent more than 1 hour in the sun without sunscreen. As a result I was always really pale. Well not always, I sometimes got a lovely pink sunburn on certain parts of my body. My sunburnt skin then peeled off which made me look like a white/pink leopard. I went through all this only to return to my regular white.
I used enormous amounts of sunscreen and after sun.
When I started learning more and more about health I stopped buying lotions including sunscreen. Now I simply had to learn to sunbathe the natural way.
The result is fantastic. Today I’m naturally tanned. I get a healthy tan that stays for a long time. I don’t even get ghost-white anymore during winter. And best of all, I don’t need to worry about the sun anymore. It’s there, I go out and I tan. That’s it!
How I do it
- Look at your skin: The trick is to expose your skin without sun protection for just as long as your skin can take it. This time will be different for each person. It will even vary for different parts of your body. I for example have to cover the skin under my eyes and my chest long before the rest of the body reacts. Expose you skin to the sun until it starts to react on the sunshine, maybe until it becomes a little bit pink. The time that you can expose your skin to the sun will get longer as your tan gets deeper.
- Regular exposure: The more often you expose you skin to the sun the faster you will tan. If possible say in the sun of 15 min or so everyday and you will maintain your tan as well as get your daily dose of vitamin D.
- Foods that help you tan: When you tan you need extra antioxidants to protect you skin from premature aging. Beta carotene turns into the antioxidant vitamin-A in the body. Carrots are rich in beta carotene and they also contain natural orange color that will make your tan look deeper. Another carotenoid is lycopene which is very powerful antioxidant. Tomatoes are especially rich in lycopene. Heat up these vegetables and the vitamin will become even better absorbed in the body.
- Protection: When your skin has had enough sunshine the best thing you can do is to get out of the sun or cover your skin. A hat will protect your face. Over sized sunglasses will protect the sensitive skin under your eyes. Clothes protect your body. For children or extra sensitive skin use sun protective clothing.
- First aid when it goes wrong: If you get a sunburn aloe vera gel is a great, gentle and effective product that will help the skin recover fast.
Related reading:
I am thinking about starting a site that helps people learn to tan for those who have a hard time doing so. I have done a lot of research and also tryed out the things I discovered, with much much success. Anyway, before giving the advice you did, did you check it out at all? I would be concerned about giving some of the advice you did.
You can still protect your skin and get a great tan at the same time. And you left out so much important stuff that beginner tanners need to know. If you are interested in emailing me and we can compare notes by all means feel free. I do not mean this in a negative way but I have been tanning for over 18 years and I still try to be very careful with the advice I give people, and I get asked a lot.
Thanks for listening, Bird
Hi Roberta,
Thanks for your comment.
I agree that there is a lot more you might want to know about tanning.
This post comes from my own experience. I’m the classic Scandinavian, blond, blue eyes with very pale skin. For me it was an eyeopener that I was able to tan without lotions which I really wanted to limit. At least before I found the certified organic version. In addition this happened when I moved to the US where the sun is MUCH stronger.
I’ve used the methods I describe in this post for years. And I’ve used it on my blond kids since they were babies.
Short regular exposure is the key. If we’re going to the beach for several hours in the middle of the day my kids wear sun protective clothing. Sure I have to keep on eye on their skin and if I see any reaction I put aloe vera on there from my plant. And do you know..my kids never had a sunburn. Neither did I after I started to tan this way.
Before I knew all this I just put on sunscreen and went out in the sun, then I got burnt on regular basis.
Thanks,
Carolin
[...] when it comes to sunscreen your first option should always be NOT to use it. I figured out how to suntan naturally years ago . It works for me and it works for my kids. It’s great! You can also eat foods that [...]
Remember those tablets that used to be available…only they turned your skin orange….LOL
I must have missed that. You don’t need a tablet to turn orange. A lot of carrots is enough
Wow, it’s good to know that there is a natural way to get a tan! Now, i don’t have to spend so much on lotions and tablets to get a nice natural tan on my skin. thanx