Remember that old advertisement where a puppy is tugging at a little girl’s bathing suit bottom, revealing her distinct tan line? The ad, for “tanning lotion,” belonged to a time when we all thought a suntan was fabulous to have. Guys ran around without shirts, thinking of that first summer sunburn as the launching pad for a handsome, “healthy” tan. Girls swabbed on baby oil or held metal reflectors under their chins to speed and deepen their tanning. They also used tanning lotions with a low sun protection factor (SPF) of say 2 to 4 which blocked just enough of the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UVR) to enable them to build their tans without burning. Brown was beautiful.

Today, we know there’s no such thing as a “healthy” tan. Although advertising once conditioned us to see tanning as attractive, studies have proven that both sunburns and tanning assault the skin’s DNA. As this knowledge has become accepted, so has the importance of high-SPF protection. While low-SPF formulas enhanced tanning, modern broad-spectrum sunscreens with high SPFs are designed to prevent tanning as well as burning. It has been a total revolution in the way sunscreens are used.

The Skin Cancer Foundation led this revolution. The original concept of SPF (which signifies how many times longer it takes for the sun to redden your skin when you’re using a given sun protection product, versus how long it would take to redden without protection) was developed in 1962 by Swiss researcher Franz Greiter. However, it was the late 1970’s when the Foundation’s Photobiology Committee (a panel of experts on the damaging effects of UVR) established strict requirements for sun protection products, calling for (among other things) SPFs of 15+.

“Those who use products offering ‘minimal’ or ‘moderate’ low-SPF protection may harm epidermal cells including the melanocytes and keratinocytes, increasing their risk of photoaging and both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers,” declared the Photobiology Committee’s first chairman, Madhukar Pathak MB, PhD (who remained chairman until he passed away last year). “Everyone over six months old should use sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15.”

Sealing the Deal

This standard was an essential element in the Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation program for sun protection products, created by the Photobiology Committee in 1979. “The terrific thing The Skin Cancer Foundation did was to begin certifying sunscreens for safety and effectiveness,” says Calvin L. Day, Jr., MD, a private practitioner in San Antonio, TX, who worked closely with the Foundation in its early years. “Patients were getting horrific burns from the early tanning products; but with the Seal of Recommendation, you could just look at a product, see the Seal on it, and know you were getting good protection.” (as long as you apply enough—about two ounces worth all over your body 20 minutes before you go in the sun. For safety, reapply 30 minutes later and every 11/2 hours after that, as well as immediately after swimming or sweating heavily.)

Thanks to the Photobiology Committee’s efforts and the Seal’s international impact, the concept of high-SPF protection has spread far and wide. SPF 15+ is now a universal standard for proper UV protection. It has been adapted for many other sun protection items beyond sunscreen, including clothing.

The ad with the little girl is now part of history. You can still find it in the manufacturer’s website archives. However, the girl has no tan anymore. For years the company has conscientiously promoted sun protection and tanning avoidance, using high-SPF sunscreens that prominently bear the Seal of Recommendation. We live and learn.