FASHION Magazine

By Malwina Gudowska

While most childhood memories are composed of bosom friends and pivotal events, my youthful days can be mapped out in a connect-the-dots trajectory—literally. I rarely spent serious time in the sun, but I have plenty of little dark marks on my skin, including the four moles on one side of my face that I’ve had since birth.

At seven, when I dressed up as Madonna circa 1984 for Halloween, my mother drew a small mark above my lip with her brown eyeliner to mimic Madge’s signature mole. A couple of years later, as if I’d willed it to happen, a mark appeared above my lip, just a centimetre down from where the Material Girl’s spot had been. I was no longer a fake; I was part of the Marilyn (Monroe), Cindy (Crawford) and Madonna club. Plus, my mole quintet was complete! But what I thought was a blessing—who wouldn’t like the comparison to Cindy Crawford?—became a curse when a cruel classmate took notice and used it as a source of inspiration for his playground intimidation tactics. Upset and teary-eyed, I sought refuge near the balance beams, and a teacher came up to ask what had happened. “David says that if you connect all the moles on my face, they make an upside-down house,” I said.

“Those aren’t moles, my dear,” the teacher replied. “Those are beauty marks.”

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Toddlers in tiaras take heed: a panel of scientists is warning that dihydroxyacetone (DHA), the main ingredient in spray tanning and other sunless tanning products, may have some dangerous side-effects.

In a large-scale ABC News investigation, top scientists in a range of fields were tasked with combing through the most recent research on DHA, and the discoveries they made aren’t great news for spray tan aficionados.

According to the panel, DHA, the colour additive in sunless products that creates the products’ telltale “tan,” may actually cause genetic alterations and DNA damage. Several of the 10 peer-reviewed studies found that DHA altered the genes of some cells and organisms, which could lead to the development of cancer or other serious diseases.

The FDA, which first approved DHA for external use in 1977, told ABC news that they could not have foreseen the chemical being used as a spray application thirty years down the road, and what’s more, its use as an all-over spray has never been FDA-approved. They stressed that DHA should never be inhaled or ingested. For those who do get spray tanned (or for tanning salon workers, for that matter), protective gear should always be used for the mouth, eyes, nose and mucous membranes.

Researchers have also discovered that DHA may actually permeate through more layers of skin than they’d thought. We already knew DHA binds to the already-dead top layer of skin, but apparently trace amounts of DHA can make their way down to deeper, living layers of skin, which means it can get to the bloodstream.

Will you continue your spray-tanning regime or will this news be what pushes you to just embrace paleness once and for all?

What was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon turned rather stressful after my facialist told me that a patchy of red blotchy skin was a sign of sun damage. What can I do to prevent it from getting worse?
UV exposure can show itself in different ways—enlarged pores, thick skin cells, discolouration—and it’s as equally important to care for damage already done as it is to proactively prevent it. I recommend returning oils that have been depleted by the sun (twice per day) to calm redness and reduce swelling.