If, like me, you grew up in the ’90s and early ’00s, you might be watching the Y2K resurgence with a mixture of fondness and mild amusement. Between the cargo pants, crop tops and frosted lips, Girls Aloud being back on stage, and Mean Girls being on at the cinema, you could be forgiven for thinking it was 2004, not the start of 2024. But one thing from that period I definitely didn’t foresee making a triumphant comeback? Sunbeds. If, as it turns out, they ever went away at all.
The world’s first tanning salon opened in the late 1970s, but the early Noughties were arguably its heyday, with bronzed (or oranged) celebrities like Paris, Lindsay, Tara and Nicole leading the charge. With little to no knowledge of the risks, I frequented tanning shops for a period at that time myself. I was desperate to maintain a year-round tan like everyone else of my age and skin tone – even during dreary British winters, when it was clear my bronze glow could have come from nowhere besides a sunbed or a bottle.
Back then, fake tan wasn’t the obvious choice if you wanted to avoid being pasty: the formulas on offer were definitely more “you’ve been Tangoed” than St Tropez. So sunbeds were the “done” thing, we felt no shame about waltzing into a tanning shop to bake ourselves just that little bit more. So addicted to tanning were large chunks of society that the word “tanorexia” entered the lexicon, until we finally cottoned on to its dangerous effects.
@kimkardashian
We now know that sunbeds are “proven to increase risks of developing skin cancer, eye damage and premature ageing”, and that “regular use is associated with a higher risk of developing melanoma and other skin conditions”, outlined here for Vogue by Louise Walsh, a dermatology nurse practitioner and a skin cancer specialist. Melanoma UK states that there are currently more than 400 non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed every day in the UK, which is more than breast, prostate and lung cancers combined. Since 2010 it has also been illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to use sunbeds in Britain, and the fad has seemed to slip away as people grasped the severity of the risks over time.
That’s why it was so baffling this week when Kim Kardashian – a skincare brand founder who is famously extremely preoccupied with anti-ageing and health – proudly showed off that, not only does she currently use sunbeds, but that she does so frequently enough to warrant having one installed in her office.
Kim proudly posed on her sunbed during a tour of her SKKN HQ, in a video jumping on the viral “of course” TikTok trend this week. “I’m Kim Kardashian, of course I have a tanning bed…” said the reality TV star. The clip is, of course, a tongue-in-cheek glimpse at the insane things one of the richest and most famous women in the world chooses to spend her millions on, so there were bound to be some eyebrow-raising items featured. But it’s not the lavishness that’s perplexing (she also showed us a mannequin built to her own custom measurements, 3D models of her brain and plane, an entire hallway of magazine covers of herself, and revealed the entire space was designed by Rick Owens), rather that, in 2024, knowing that sunbeds are extremely bad for your health, increase your risk of skin cancer and speed up signs of ageing, and knowing that anything she promotes is likely to influence her vast audience, she would frame them as aspirational.
Of course, Kim has spoken about how she suffers from psoriasis, a skin condition that causes flaky patches of skin, so it’s very possible she uses her tanning bed in a bid to help with her symptoms rather than solely to bronze herself (especially as the red light therapy bed placed next to it can ease psoriasis). But the National Psoriasis Foundation states that it does not recommend tanning beds to treat the condition. Walsh, known as the Skin Nurse, wouldn’t recommend sunbeds for this reason either. She tells Vogue: “I’ve never met anyone who works in medical dermatology who’d advise a sunbed to treat psoriasis or any skin condition. There are too many risks. There are light treatments available (including on the NHS) but these are highly managed (treatments are literally a few seconds long each time), with controlled light waves, and are nothing like a regular sunbed. Holidays are often recommended, tongue in cheek, for more sun exposure, safely with SPF, but also for the opportunity to rest and destress, which is highly linked to psoriasis.”
Whatever Kim’s reasons, she’s the original influencer, incredibly influential in the wellbeing sphere, and promoting something we know to be dangerous for our skin and health, which seems fairly wild. But it isn’t just her. A quick look at TikTok reveals sunbeds are enjoying a boom, with the term “sunbed” racking up an astonishing 615 million views to date. There are videos of twentysomethings giving out sunbed hacks and tips, while Gen Z-ers are sharing clips of themselves trying sunbeds out for the first time.
Walsh points to social media, fashion trends and celebrity culture as driving the recent surge, and suggests that sunbeds may be seen as a “quick-fix option”, given we’re all craving more sunshine as we’re not outside enough anymore. But make no mistake, we may be 20 years on from when they were a “normal” part of many beauty routines, but sunbeds haven’t evolved to somehow tan you without the risk of skin cancer. The risks are still there, like they always have been.
The NHS website states that the risks are also greater for young people, with evidence showing that people who are frequently exposed to UV rays before the age of 25 are at greater risk of developing skin cancer later in life. With these astonishing facts being public knowledge, I would have expected tanning shops to be closing down and sunbeds to be obsolete – not trending online or something to show off about.
It’s even more bewildering that sunbeds are still so popular when there are good – and safe – alternative options for achieving a natural-looking glow. Fake tan has come such a long way in the last couple of decades – gone are the orange streaks and suspect scents of my youth. There’s now an endless and sophisticated selection to choose from, suitable for various skin types and tones, that offer an immediate glow with just one application. The best bit? Zero risk of skin cancer. Sunbeds might be popular again, but the bottle is the only option I will be reaching for. I just wish other, more influential people would consider the risks as well.