Sunscreen Not Sunbeds, Natural Not Orange

Earlier this week I had a feeling we may be jinxing the weather if we decided to run a special offer on sun screen. Now looking out the window on this chilly overcast day I can safely say never trust a weather report. Although they do believe it's going to be a nice weekend.

What prompted us more than sitting out in the garden for the first time in months was the news reinforcing the importance of protecting your skin (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1375602/Teenage-girl-fighting-cancer-using-sunbeds-age-12.html). We support the ban on under 18's using sun beds, but can appreciate the hit to small business owners who have invested huge sums of money in the machines. However is the bigger issue surely, why do people want to be orange?

This phenomenon of people trying to change their natural skin colour isn't unique to the western world. Women in East Asia have for centuries been bleaching their skin, in the false belief that paler skin reflects a pure soul. The blame cannot lay with media celebrity either, just because certain idiots on the television are starting to look more like Morph than human beings doesn't mean we should all follow blindly.

The good news? The natural beauty movement has been picking up serious pace in the past few years. No longer do you need to look like you've been tango'd to appear naturally gorgeous. As the song goes:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience