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Tanning, in fact, became popular by
accident in 1923 when Coco Chanel, a French designer, was seen stepping
off a yacht with a deep suntan after cruising from Paris to Cannes.
Today people associate a good tan with health and
beauty, if not wealth and celebrity, but this was not always the case.
Throughout history, many cultures have valued pale skin. The Romans and
Greeks whitened their skin with lead paints and chalks. Arsenic was also
used to whiten the skin. Lead and arsenic, of course, are poisonous to
humans, and had disastrous long-term effects on their health, but they
did not know this at the time!
In Elizabethan England, women painted blue lines on their already-pale
skin to make it appear translucent, and they used parasols to protect
themselves from the sun when they went outdoors. They wore gloves, as
well, to keep their hands white. This fashion was also popular in the
United States.
Tanning, in fact, became popular by accident in 1923 when Coco Chanel, a
French designer, was seen stepping off a yacht with a deep suntan after
cruising from Paris to Cannes. Although she claimed to have stayed out
in the sun too long, it was too late. Whether she meant to or not, she
started a trend that continues to this day. A contributing factor in her
time was the new style of loose clothing worn by women that had evolved
in the Age of Jazz. Women no longer had to cover most of their body.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night also contributed to the
tanning fashion. In this book, he had celebrities tanning themselves on
the beaches of the French Riviera. From the 1930s on, tanning continued
to grow in popularity.
Bikinis!
In the 1950s, the first bikinis began to appear and the full-body tan
became popular. Tanning lotions, creams, and dyes also became available
to help simulate a tan or patch up white spots in real tans. These
products were no substitute for sunbathing, however, and tanning was
limited to the summer months except for those with the time and money to
go to warmer climates, like the Caribbean or Florida, in the winter.
From the 1970s on, most people had less time, even if some had more
money, to get a real tan in the sun.
Tanning Bed History
In the 1980s, tanning salons began to appear in response to people’s
desire to get a tan and their lack of time or resources to get one. They
quickly became popular. People could get a good base tan with just a few
sessions in a tanning bed and deepen their tan into a golden bronze look
with a few more sessions. They could maintain their tan all winter with
just a few trips to the saloon each month. By the end of the 1990s,
tanning salons were an established, booming industry that continues to
grow today. Technological advances in tanning beds have further
shortened the length of the sessions required to get and maintain a good
tan. Sunless tanning booths have been created as well for people who
don’t want to expose themselves to to ultraviolet light.
The tanning craze shows no evidence of letting up. Tanning is more
popular today than ever before in history. It has also had an effect on
dermatological advances, the skin care industry, psychology, and
medicine.
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