Suntan

[ilanga]

I heard that rubbing normal sunflower oil onto your skin was a sure way of speeding up your tan, but other people say that this is literally frying your skin. Does anyone have some info?

[templeman]

Some suntan / sunscreen products contain sunflower oil. Used on its own it will probably have the same effect as butter, olive oil or lager. It may well speed up your tan but won't give you any protection so, as you suggest, you may well fry your skin if you spend too long in the sun.
It was probably a Snake Oil salesman who suggested using sunflower oil.

[Gef]

There is nothing that can speed up the effects of U/V radiation. The rate at which you tan depends on your skin type and the intensity of the U/V. What you must remember is that U/V radiation can cause skin cancer no matter what your skin type so please take semsible precautions. Bob Marley died of skin cancer which started in his big toe although I'm not sure if it was due to U/V. Rubbing sunflower oil onto your skin will make you a bit greasy but you certainly won't fry.

[Gef]

Sorry, it would have been better for my first sentence to say, "There is no product which you can apply to your skin to make it tan faster.".

[Hippy]

I think the idea of the oil is to make the skin translucent and allow the UV into the lower layers of the skin and therefore make a longer lasting and deeper tan.

That's the theory, I am not convinced it works though. A little and often seems to be the best and safest way to get a tan. The mediterranean people seem ok on it.

[OnlyMe]

Although Marley's cancer did start in his foot (it was discovered when a football injury failed to heal) I can't find any information on him that says it was skin cancer.

[Gef]

Thanks for the info OnlyMe. Hippy, I don't mean to offend but your answer is just nonsense.

[melandraf]

No - that would be really BAD news for your skin. A tan IS damage that the sun does to skin to try to protect it - use ANY sort of coooking oil and youreally will cook your skin. There are no UVA or UVB filters in ANY cooking oil. Please, please don't do it to yourself.

[ilanga]

thank you for all of your comments, i think i'll take the safer option!

[Perkreidy]

Of course your going to fry your skin. It's really dangerous putting oil on your skin unless it has UV Protection and you tan very well. My friend put Baby Oil on her skin before to speed up her tan and boy was she sorry. BURNT TO A CRISP. Not a good idea.

[Gef]

You cannot fry your skin! Sunshine can have a devastating effect on skin if you do not protect it but putting oil etc on the skin will not make it any worse.

[Chappers]

I heard somewhere that Bob Marleys football injury was caused by none other than our very own Danny baker, that 'orrible podgy geezer that used to hang about with Chris Evans and gazza on their infamous pub crawls! Apparently the injury was caused by Baker during a celebrity football match...any truth in this?