I will admit that I am a very pale person who must reapply sunscreen every hour on the hour. A lot of my friends though do not burn as easily as I do, but sometimes they get carried away in their pursuit to become a tanned beach bum. One of my friends once sprayed Pam cooking oil on her skin to get tan (and then I slapped her sun burn to teach her a lesson). Coconut oil has become a health and beauty craze, and now there is now tanning coconut oil.
The Rise of Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has been praised for its moisturizing properties in the beauty world. Many, including myself, use it as a make up remover and a lotion. For a long time, coconut oil was thought of to be healthier alternative to cook with as well. However, those claims were recently busted.
Coconut oil and all of its different uses quickly climbed to the top of grocery stores. Every health and fanatic would buy jar after jar and it was featured in every health company's Facebook videos to be shared among other health obsessed fans.
Why You Should Not Tan With It
With summer upon us, coconut oil has now reached the beach business. Many people are using it to tan with, thinking that they will become golden and soft. Many vanity websites are preaching that coconut oil will soften your beach skin and leave you glowing. They also claim that coconut oil will create a barrier on your skin to reflect UV rays, though this is not true.
Tanning with coconut oil, is bad for you. A study that was published in the 2016 International Journal of Cosmetic Science refutes claims that say that coconut oil has an SPF of 7 by proving that it actually has an SPF of 1. Do you really think that an SPF of 1 is going to reflect UV rays?
Skip The Coconut Oil for Sunscreen
I may look like a dork lathering on sunscreen every 60 minutes, but at least I am protecting my skin. Coconut oil is not going to protect you from harmful UVA and UVB rays that lead to sunburns that harm the skin. Sunburn will also raise your risk of skin cancer on top of making it damn near impossible to wear clothes because of your bad burn.
The Skin Cancer Foundation, says that you should be using a sunscreen that has at LEAST an SPF of 15 and the higher the better! Some other great tips on helping your skin stay healthy are to wear those cute, floppy hats, staying under a beach umbrella, wearing sun glasses, and wearing some cute cover ups to give your skin a break.
Coconut oil does not even meet that SPF requirement, so the beauty craze of tanning coconut oil is a bust that will just leave you looking like bacon. Though you might rather be red than pale, really give your skin's health some thought and don't get caught up in beauty fads. If you really want to seem like your are glowing, just smile.