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For me, this goes back to image. Tans are now considered a status symbol implying that you have a lot of leisure time (and therefore a lot of money) to lounge on the beaches and cruise ships of the world. Well at least for the last 25 years, this has been the case.

So instead of sun protection, we have sun damage. While self-tanners have been on the market for years, I always hear comments about how they make your skin orange, too much ends up on your elbows and ankles and how much it stains your clothes, so apparently, if you follow such trends, that's out as well.

It's funny how things like this change over time. I remember reading an article a year ago, how in Asia, where white skin was favored as dark skin symbolized peasantry, tanning is gaining in popularity. China apparently got its first tanning bed about this time last year. I imagine they'll experience the same trends in cancer.

I am naturally pale, but I tan well in the sun. I choose not to tan anymore, since I don't want to look like a walnut (picture the old ladies in Florida) and I don't want to risk cancer. I baked in the sun for several years before I realized (or accepted) what I was doing to myself.

However, I don't like being white, I love to look tanned and I use the daily body moisturizers that turn your skin to tan over a few days. I use them year round.

The problem with them is you have to use body scrubs (I use a scrub glove every other day) to exfoliate your entire body or you'll end up gross and patchy! This takes time in the shower but it's worth it for me. It doesn't come off on anything other than bath towels and I launder mine every other day anyway and it all comes off in the washing machine. I just love to have that light tanned look, minus the haggard results of the real sun, or the risk of cancer.

It's a shame the tanorexic disease is showing up in new countries. Can they not learn from our mistakes?

Actor George Hamilton is probably best known for his tanned looks and he seemed to set the standard for "the Hollywood" image for a generation. How he achieves that deep tan, who knows!

Then, we went through the Marisa Berenson "period" when pale was the new look. I remember a magazine photo of her, years ago, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and fashionably covered limbs while basking on a beach.

Tanned skin hasn't always been the badge of an affluent lifestyle, the sign that you've enough time and money to bask on the beach or on a yacht. It was once the badge of hard labor in the fields and unthinkable that a proper young lady would be exposed to more than enough sun to just put a little pink in her cheeks, too pale being a sickly appearance.

Nowadays, we regard tanned skin as a healthy image, as long as it's not leathery. When I worked for a leading skin care/cosmetics firm for a few years during my professional career, we were continually reminded that there is no such thing as a healthy tan - meaning sun-induced. Hence, the marketing of self-tanning lotions, and now "gentle tanning" lotions that gradually add color with continued use (versus the near-instant impact). These are a far cry from the old orange dyes (although some are still rather intensely oddly colored).

I admit to using a self-tanning lotion - to even out my tan lines from my running clothes, and to balance my right arm with my left (exposed to sun while driving my car). Fortunately, mine is olive skin that gives me a little "head start" on the tan look, lol!