It is possible to build up, and maintain, a beautiful sun tan during your winter holiday. Take an evening out for a real pampering session and give your skin a refreshing exfoliation treatment before you start your tanning process.
Snow reflects the sun's rays, which is why seasoned winter sports enthusiasts often wear sunscreen. So technically, you can get a tan naturally in the winter. If you spend enough time outdoors with exposed skin, UV rays will do their work.
Winter Sunlight
However, UVB rays can burn and damage your skin year-round, especially at high altitudes and on reflective surfaces such as snow or ice. Snow reflects up to 80 percent of the sun's UV light, so the rays hit you twice, further increasing your risk of skin cancer and premature aging.
If you are returning from a holiday in the sun to a colder environment with little sun, you may notice that your tan will fade even faster. This is because, as the tanned skin cells are shed, the production of melanin (which causes a tan) decreases due to the lack of UV radiation from the sun.
UV radiation is generally highest between 10 AM and 3 PM, during the summer, on a cloudless day. Some countries broadcast a UV index for each day on the weather report. However, this does not mean that a scorching hot sunny day is the best day to get a tan.
Moist skin will tan better and more evenly than dry skin. Your skin knows that moisture is important and uses a variety of methods to retain moisture in its surface. Your skin retains water within its natural oils to help them maintain an ordered structure around each skin cell.
Summer: Peak Tanning Season
It is great because you can control your tan and reduce the risk of sunburn. The trick is moderation. Overdoing it on the tanning bed can be just as harmful as overexposure to the sun.
This means that less blood is in the periphery to give it colour, thus making people look paler in the cold. When the body senses that you are in a warmer environment after being in a cold environment, it induces vasodilation in the periphery to return blood to the periphery.
Sunlight is good for our health and wellbeing even during winter. It's important that we harness its benefits. Sunlight is vital for many reasons – sleep, concentration, mood and wellbeing.
Winter is one of the harsh seasons to skin. It sometimes brings dryness, redness, and darkening.
Indoor tanning speeds up skin aging
Indoor tanning is known to cause wrinkles, brown spots and thick leathery skin. Indoor tanning ages your skin 3 times faster than sunlight: indoor tanning can emit up to 15 times more UV radiation than sunlight.
The reason behind dark skin can be anything related to the production and distribution of melanin in the skin. However, in winter, dry weather decreases the humidity due to cold temperatures, which causes dark patches on the skin.
Snow can also magnify the strength of UV rays. Fresh, white snow reflects the sun's rays, and can up to double your UV exposure. The UV index is a bit lower in winter, but when doubled, it can be on par with summer levels. This exposure is common during activities like ice fishing, tobogganing, or skating.
Sunless tanning products can give your skin a tanned look without exposing you to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Most sunless tanning products contain Dihydroxyacetone which reacts with dead cells on the skin's surface to temporarily darken the skin and give the illusion of a tan.
The winter color season skin tones are cool, like fair, light, medium, tan, dark, and deep. Winters will usually have a much higher level of contrast between their features than the other color seasons.
Microscopic appearance. Melanin is brown, non-refractile, and finely granular with individual granules having a diameter of less than 800 nanometers. This differentiates melanin from common blood breakdown pigments, which are larger, chunky, and refractile, and range in color from green to yellow or red-brown.
You don't necessarily tan faster in water or laying out. This is because water reflects UV rays, so you may not be getting as much exposure as you think if you're actually in the pool.
This happens because “Each of us produces a different quantity and quality of melanin. Melanin is a pigment produced by our cells found in the basal layer of the skin,” explains Dr Puig.
Your Sunscreen Doesn't Have Enough UVA Protection
However, it's the UVA rays that cause tanning. In North America, look for the words “Broad Spectrum” as an indication that the sun filters used in the formulation protect from both UVB and UVA rays.
It is possible to build up, and maintain, a beautiful sun tan during your winter holiday. Take an evening out for a real pampering session and give your skin a refreshing exfoliation treatment before you start your tanning process.
Hydrated skin will not only tan better but will also keep its colour for longer. Moisturise your skin twice daily to prepare your skin for the sunshine and get that long-lasting tan. Dry skin can lead to a peeling and uneven sun tan and so is effectively the enemy.
The best time to tan in the afternoon is between 4 PM and 6 PM. During these hours, the sun's intensity decreases, but there's still enough UV light for tanning. The sun sits lower in the sky, which reduces direct UV exposure.