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 Health & Beauty | February 2005 
To Tan or Not To Tan in PV?
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
With all the health concerns versus personal vanity, what is one to do when visiting Puerto Vallarta and spending time in our sunny paradise?
 Bronzed skin was originally for the lower class, and then became a sign of success and prominence, later to a sign of healing all health ills, to complete and utter vanity. Older people who enjoyed the vanity of years of sun began to show signs of leathery and older looking skin. Then the medical profession stepped in and warned of premature aging and then skin cancer, possibly terminal.
Just last week, the medical people have produced studies stating that people who have skin cancer due to the sun could have better chances of surviving by getting more sun. Living or vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, this all leaves a big question mark on how to treat our bodies in our year round tropical sun. Do we sit under a palapa, sit in the sun with a sunscreen of SPF 60 all over us, pour oil over our bodies and bake, or catch the rays using nothing at all? Let’s first look at the history of the tanning phenomenon.
Remember when the only suntan lotion advertisement was the small dog pulling down a part of the young girls bathing suit showing the difference in her skin color? That was Coppertone, who virtually had a monopoly on the market. Actually, the first product available on the market was Noxzema, which became popular for sunburns rather than suntans in the 1940’s. But tanning has a history long before these products were developed.
Sun tanning has had its experience of ups and downs, both medically as well as socially. Before any lotions or potions were developed the first bronzed bodies belonged to manual laborers during the industrial revolution, which at the time was considered to be low class. Pale skin was in vogue, as the wealthy people stayed inside, but as the outdoor laborers began to work more indoors due to factories, the wealthy began to go outdoors more and sporting a tan meant that one had money and could afford a leisurely outdoor life. By the early 1920’s sun tanning was touted as a cure for everything, from acne to tuberculosis. In the 1930’s a golden tan stood for health, wealth and style. The 1940’s arrived and so did suntan lotion, which at the time was intended only to bake and roast one’s body, with no concern for protection. Bikinis hit in the 50’s and the focus was getting that bronze tan all over. The 1960’s brought us the sun lamp, so one could already have a dark glow even before winter had left. Then the rage became baby oil mixed with iodine. We even were able to use creams that colored our skin when we were not even in the sun (but hard to wash that orange tint off our hands from applying it.)
The 1970’s were a big turning point in tanning practices as well as the introduction to a whole slew of new tanning products. The fashion magazines promoted tanning as something to help you look younger, healthier and sexier, even though in the late 70’s and 80’s medical proof was released stating that prolonged exposure to the sun could speed up the process of wrinkles at a younger age and the “cancer” word was even mentioned.
I grew up on the beaches in the Miami area and was privy to the history of tanning as well as the development of tanning products. Coppertone at the time had a corner on the market and was made in Memphis, Tennessee, hardly a sun worshipper’s paradise. Sea and Ski and Bain de Soleil were produced, with the latter adding that French Riviera glamour to the tanning process.
Three undergraduates at the University of Tennessee decided to go to Daytona Beach, Florida for its famous spring break in the mid 1960’s looking for what most guys sought; girls, the beaches and the bars. What they did however, was start to revolutionize a tanning fad and produce profitable businesses.
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