I’m Glamazon Margo and yes I’m a black girl who tans. But how can I not?! I live in Florida and I’m a Pisces so on any given Saturday, you can catch me beachside or poolside happily soaking’ up the sun like Kelly Rowland pictured above. (I bet you thought that was me pictured above, right?! hahaha)
I know that I’m not the only black girl who tans because several of my black girl and guy frineds also enjoy catching some rays. I know you’ve probably heard the myth that black people don’t tan or that we don’t sunburn because our skin is already dark, but it’s totally not even true.
There are misconceptions about whether or not people with dark skin tones need to wear SPF or not. SPF measures how long skin covered with sunscreen takes to burn compared to uncovered skin. (This definition alone made me realize that even if we’re wearing SPF our skin is still burning, it’s just happening at a slower rate!)
It is true that people with darker skin tones don’t sunburn as easily as those with fairer skin colors because they have an increased amount of epidermal melanin, which provides a natural SPF. Some people with very dark skin have a natural SPF of 13, and filter twice as much UV radiation, but at the end of the day they’re still susceptible to skin cancer, sun spots and wrinkles.
According to research from the University of Cincinnati, when discovered in African Americans, Latinos, and Asians, melanoma—a malignant tumor —is usually fatal because they are not using sunscreen or they wait until it’s too late to see a doctor for dark spots. Health experts advise everyone, regardless of their skin color, to apply an SPF of at least 15. I love to keep a caramel/bronze glow to my skin, so I always make sure that I lathered up in sunblock before laying out.
Here are some of my fave sunblocks to use:
Are there any other black girls out there who enjoy tanning as much as I do? If so, do you always wear sunscreen? If not, then I hope that you will after reading this!
Ciao Bellas,
Glamazon Margo
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