Teenage tanorexics and natural pale skins take note: your days sizzling on the sunbed are numbered. Yesterday, the NSW government announced that it would follow the lead of Victoria and South Australia by imposing a ban on solarium tanning for the under-18 and super fair ( skin type 1) as of next January. Word is, WA is set to follow suit.
It’s been the hot topic since anti-solarium campaigner Claire Oliver succumbed to cancer last year. So what’s your take on solarium tanning?
I’ve actually never so much as sat on a sunbed. The only time I’ve seen one in real life it wasn’t even switched on – and still I slapped on SPF and my biggest, chicest shades, just to be sure. I’m just not into baking to bronze – when tans in a can be such a cinch and look so back-from-the-Bahamas flawless, I just don’t get why anyone would take the risk.
But I haven’t always had skincare smarts. I’ve done my share of summertime peeling after long days on the beach and, to be honest, it’s likely that the only reason I didn’t fry in the salon with my friends at 16 was that I had a bigger addiction to gloss and shoes – I was always too broke.
So I get why the new under-18s ban is a good (if long-time-coming) call. And it’s a huge step forward that all solarium operators will have to be trained and display health warnings. But I can’t help but wonder whether, given Australia’s appalling rate of skin cancer, regulating solaria like this is enough. Is anyone ever really old or naturally golden enough to risk of melanoma acceptably? Or is it just like cigarettes and being able to buy whatever you like at the bar: when you’re a big girl, it’s your responsibility to know the details and decide whether to make your sunbed and lie in it?
