I admit that I’ve always loved being in the sun. Growing up, I felt as though I needed to have some kind of tan because I never felt like myself when I was pale. But I can pinpoint when my mole changed. Last year, I went on a few sunbeds before going on vacation to get a ‘base tan‘, which I thought would help me tan better and faster in the sun. [Editor’s note: Dermatologists say that a ‘base tan’ provides negligible protection from the sun. It is equivalent to about SPF 4, which is far from the minimum SPF 30 that experts recommend.] Thinking I’d be totally fine, I booked in for 10 sunbed sessions before I went away, starting with six minutes, upping this to eight minutes and then 10 minutes each time. When I was on vacation, I was out in the sun and tanning every day. Though I used a high-factor sunscreen on my face, I used a tanning oil containing just SPF 8 on my body. Basically, the SPF was nonexistent.
