One of the best ways to show how good of a summer you had is by how tan, yet still healthy, your skin is. Whether you spend some time on the beach, playing sports, or going on a grand tropical vacation, you are bound to get a nice summer glow. But why do we get tan and why don’t our tans stay the whole year? By the time it gets to winter break I know I always feel like a ghost, and then I look at pictures from a few months prior and see the tan me, so I wonder why I’m not still tan. Also, how do I work on my summer tan without getting burnt? I know it’s important to use sunscreen, but what else can cause and prevent a dreadful sunburn?

The moment you step outside into the sun, your skin is getting tanner. In simple terms, the sun gives off UVA radiation. This radiation hits the outer most layer of your skin, also known as your epidermis. Once the radiation is absorbed by your epidermis, cells known as melanocytes produce melanin. The melanin adds a brown or black pigment to your skin, making it appear tanner. According to Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD, “Melanin is responsible for determining skin and hair colour and is present in the skin to varying degrees”.

With this in mind, people have to be very careful as to how much sun they get. Too much melanin may make your skin appear burnt. Melanin’s main job is to protect your skin from damage. Therefore, as your skin takes in more and more radiation, the amount of melanin may increase. People with darker skin tend to generally appear darker, where as people with light skin tend to appear redder. Other effects of too much radiation may include the increased appearance of freckles and uneven patches of color, as well as, increased chances of wrinkles and skin cancer. With this in mind, it is important to protect yourself from the sun. According to WebMD, you can wear hats that cover your neck, ears, eyes, and scalp, sunglasses with UV ray protection, and wear lots and lots of sunscreen.

Now that we know how and why we get a healthy tan, why don’t they last? According to Wonderpedia, we lose around one million tanned skin cells everyday. This is mainly because, melanin is produced to protect our skin, when our skin temporarily doesn’t need the cells, they will slowly leave. Usually the epidermis renews itself every 28 to 30 days. So, by the time winter comes around, our tan cells are all gone.