Why Chinese love sun protection so much

China News Weekly

2024-06-27 07:23China News Weekly official account

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01 Chinese pay great attention to sun protection, and even if they go out for ten minutes, they will be equipped with complete sun protection equipment, such as sun-protective clothing, sun hats, sunglasses and sun-protective gloves.

02However, people in Europe and the United States pay more attention to sunburn protection than suntan, and they prefer products that take into account sunburn protection and tanning functions.

03 Different skin tone aesthetics also affect people's sun protection behavior, such as China's aesthetics of fair skin, while European and American countries gradually accept the aesthetics of different skin tones.

04 Whether it is suntan or the pursuit of healthy skin tone, people should pay attention to safety while pursuing beauty, and healthy skin is the most beautiful.

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Covered from head to toe with a blanket and a pair of sunglasses for the eyes that were already covered......

If you don't say it, it's hard to imagine that this friend is on vacation on a yacht, and her mummy-style sunscreen has also caused heated discussions and ridicule among netizens, and some netizens said that "Chinese who love sunscreen all their lives are really right."

In the matter of sun protection, Chinese may not lose, even if they only go out for ten minutes, many people are equipped with sunscreen clothing, sun hats, sunglasses, sunscreen gloves, etc.

Source: Xiaohongshu @ ordinary iris, has been authorized

However, after taking our friends to some European and American countries with conventional sunscreen operations, we found that the locals hardly had any sunscreen equipment, and they became "outliers" when they were fully armed.

Some foreign netizens also asked on social media: Why do Asians in tourist attractions like to gather in the shade of trees as soon as summer arrives?

Different sun exposure vs. sun protection

It makes sense that we pay more attention to the "tight" degree of sun protection.

An important reason is that our sun exposure is different from that of most countries in Europe and the United States.

If the sunshine intensity of different regions of the world is divided according to the internationally used measurement standard - ultraviolet index, most regions of the world, including China, have a peak UV index of 11+. In Canada, as well as in Europe except for some countries in southern Europe, the peak UV index is even lower, about 5~10.

UV Index Map|Source: References[2]

What is this concept?

The World Health Organization's definition of different UV indices is: when the UV index is between 3~5, 6~7, 8~10, if exposed to sunlight without protection, there will be a lighter, greater, and extremely high risk. For these three levels of sun exposure, the World Health Organization's protective recommendations are: wear sunglasses, a hat, and use sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 or greater.

For areas with a UV index greater than 11, the description is that exposure to sunlight is extremely dangerous. There are also more and longer protection suggestions: take all protective measures, including wearing sunglasses and sunscreen, protecting your skin with long-sleeved loose-fitting shirts and pants, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and avoiding the sun from two hours before noon and three hours after that.

Looking at it this way, we always like to wrap it tightly, and we do it quite right.

Although the UV index is a relatively common unit of measurement, some scholars have pointed out that this unit is too general to highlight more subtle differences. As a result, the method of measuring the UV index with the numerical values of the chroma card appeared:

UV index map with chromaticity card|Source: Reference[2]

As can be seen from the figure, almost the whole of Canada is in the area of chromaticity value 6~10, and the overall value in Europe does not exceed 10 except for a few countries in southern Europe. The blue color makes people feel cool when they look at it.

The value of our country is between 10~18. Among them, the southwest region has the highest UV index, even surpassing most of Africa. It seems that the "return to Africa for summer vacation" that everyone sometimes jokes about is not without scientific reason.

The level of sun exposure we have determines that our sun protection measures must be in place.

Sunscreen is applied, but it's hard to determine how effective the sunscreen is, and in order to ensure this elusive sun protection effect, you have to reapply it every once in a while, and you have to apply enough ...... All things considered, you still have to rely on physical sunscreen, sunhats, sun-protective clothing, sunglasses, etc., all of which are arranged!

Even in the era when there was no sunscreen, we were also trying to protect from the sun, for example, the Jin Dynasty's "Ancient and Modern Notes" mentioned the "rattan mat for it, bone for the silk" mat hat.

Source: References[8]

Therefore, even in areas where ultraviolet rays are not so strong, we will wrap ourselves tightly to avoid being exposed to the sun, which is probably our habit engraved in our DNA.

So, are Europeans and Americans who walk in the sun really not afraid of the sun?

Of course not, they also do sunscreen, but they are more accustomed to wearing sunscreen, and they pay more attention to sunburn protection than tanning. To be precise, they are not afraid of being tanned at all, and even feel that they are not tanned enough and need to use tanning oil to add fire.

We randomly opened a tanning oil with a weekly sales of thousands on a foreign shopping platform, and we could see that the first article on the product introduction page read: "Dark tanning oil with a sun protection factor of 15." For those who love to reveal golden brown skin while wanting their skin to be nourished, smoothed and protected, our dark tanning oil is flawless! ”

That said, they prefer products that combine sunburn protection and tanning functions. In some webpages that recommend tanning oil products, bloggers will also remind everyone to remember to look at the sun protection factor of the product.

In the face of the scorching sun, it is still necessary to do some protection.

Different skin tone aesthetics

In addition to different sun exposure, there is another important reason that affects our sun protection behavior, that is, our aesthetics and pursuit of different skin tones.

Traditionally, the mainland and other East Asian countries have been beautiful with white skin. In the earliest collection of poems in the mainland, the Book of Songs, there are verses praising women as "skin like clotted fat, hands like soft wattles", to praise the whiteness and softness of women's skin, and there is also a folk saying that "one white covers a hundred ugliness".

Until now, fair skin has also been the standard of beauty that many people aspire to.

On social platforms, there are thousands of posts sharing whitening experiences, reviewing whitening products, etc. In addition to the whitening function, the product introduction page will also mention the functions of anti-dull yellow, anti-dullness, anti-dryness and roughness, etc., guiding the public to associate fair skin with the concepts of youth, health, and good complexion.

In recent years, there has been no shortage of dark skin aesthetics in Asia.

For example, the Shibuya Spice Girl style, which emerged in Japan at the end of the last century, girls used dark foundations to contrast with other makeup as a way to express their rebellion against traditional aesthetics. There have always been girls in the mainland who take the black skin route, and some people regard this as a healthy and free skin color, in order to express the rejection of the white and thin aesthetic and the acceptance of themselves.

But in general, there are more people who are looking for fair skin.

In the early days of Europe and the United States, white was also beautiful.

In medieval Europe, white skin was the trendsetter. Europeans at that time believed that white skin indicated that the person did not need to work outdoors or do any gardening work. At that time, people were also fighting for whitening, and some people would bleed to make themselves look pale, or apply usually toxic lead-containing cosmetics directly to the skin.

In 1923, the fashion pioneer Coco Chanel went on vacation and came back tanned, and Coco Chanel's skin tone gradually attracted people to follow suit. As a result, people who follow traditional sun protection and those who want to catch up with the trend in the sun appeared at the same time on European beaches in the 20s of the 20th century.

Paintings from the time show some women holding parasols on the beach, but there are also many people with their waists crossed and facing the sun.

Source: Reference [7]

Fashion magazines are also keenly aware of this aesthetic change and are increasingly actively promoting the tanning aesthetic trend in their magazines.

This was the beginning of the American and black tide in Europe and the United States, and it continues to this day.

The number of times fashion magazines advertise tanning in different years|Source: References[7]

On a cosmetics-related commercial website in Europe and the United States, there is an article entitled "Why does tanned skin look better?" "The positive effect of tanning is mainly that it provides a uniform reflection of light, creating a continuous interplay of light and shadow, in contrast to white skin, which is often accompanied by pigment differences and sharp changes in light and shade. ”

On another advertising page for tanning products, the merchant also claims that "a more tanned skin tone can even out skin tone, cover skin imperfections, and make clothes look better."

Source: Reference [6]

The merchant also made a black and white skin tone comparison map, however, I feel that the left and right sides are very good-looking, maybe the aesthetic is a matter of benevolence and wisdom.

Because of different aesthetic trends, when we are in various sunscreen whitening, Europeans and Americans have also made many crazy efforts to darken. In addition to tanning oil and sunbathing, they also do not let go of the time they spend indoors, irradiating themselves with various ultraviolet irradiation tools to make themselves dark indoors.

1930年荷兰的日光灯|图源:Image Bank Amsterdam City Archives

However, excessive UV exposure can damage the skin.

According to the statistics of the American Academy of Dermatology, in 2013~2018, the global prevalence of indoor tanning among adolescents was 6.5%, and that of adults was 10.4%. The prevalence of indoor tanning has decreased in recent years due to mandates in some states to prohibit unhealthy tanning practices such as indoor tanning, and information about healthy skin is becoming more widespread, but about 7.8 million adults in the United States still practice indoor tanning.

Let's just say, whether it's tanning or wanting to tan, it's everyone's free choice for beauty, but we should also pay attention to safety while pursuing beauty.

Healthy is the most beautiful.

Resources:

[1] Drissi, M., Carr, E., & Housewright, C. (2021). Sunscreen: a brief walk through history. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), 35(1), 121–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2021.1966602

[2] Liley, J. B., & McKenzie, R. L. (2006). Where on Earth has the highest UV? National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Lauder, Central Otago, New Zealand.

[3] Shoemaker, M. L., Berkowitz, Z., & Watson, M. (2017). Intentional outdoor tanning in the United States: Results from the 2015 Summer ConsumerStyles survey. Preventive medicine, 101, 137–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.06.003

[4] American Academy of Dermatology Association: Indoor Tanning

[5] Perfect Blue: Why we look better tanned

[6] Tropicoco: Best Spray Tan For Pale Skin

[7] Martin, J. M., Ghaferi, J. M., Cummins, D. L., Mamelak, A. J., Schmults, C. D., Parikh, M., Speyer, L. A., Chuang, A., Richardson, H. V., Stein, D., & Liégeois, N. J. (2009). Changes in skin tanning attitudes. Fashion articles and advertisements in the early 20th century. American journal of public health, 99(12), 2140–2146. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.144352

[8] Museums|Exhibitions: Ancient Sun Protection Guides

Header image source: Xiaohongshu @ ordinary iris, has been authorized

Author: Min Min Yan Zimeng

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