The 20-something girls on my social media feed have no problem glamorizing skin damage for the sake of being tan. Most of them are lathered up in Carroten, laying on a pool float in UV 10, and tracking the status of their tan lines every hour. The deeper the difference, the bigger the flex. “See, my problem when I go tanning is that it doesn’t feel like a successful tan if I don’t smell my own skin burning and if I don’t come home with a burn,” one TikToker says. Another captioned her video: “Propaganda I’m not falling for: sunscreen.” Even more alarming is the wildly false narrative that sunscreen is somehow “toxic." (A word to the wise: it's very safe and FDA-approved).
The concerning thing about tan-maxxing—the latest viral trend encouraging Gen Zers to maximize their tan through whatever means necessary—is that nobody involved appears particularly confused about the risks. They’ll lie in tanning beds despite the well-established link to melanoma. They’ll spend hours baking in direct sunlight despite dermatologists' warnings. They’ll slather on tanning oils that, according to board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD, can increase UV exposure and skin damage. It's all worth it in the pursuit of being tan—and no, self-tanning doesn't count. "I use [self-tanner] in the winter, but it just doesn’t hit the same in the summer," Bella, a 22-year-old pre-med student, tells me. "I just love feeling the sun on my skin, and not having to deal with the mess."
