JESSEN CURPEN
Global Training and Biophysics Manager, BioPark Mauritius, Socota Phoenicia, Phoenix, Mauritius

Protection against the harmful effects of sunlight dates back to ancient times, the main reasons related to prevention against sunburn and most importantly, against tanning. For a very long time (till the 1900’s), having a pale skin was considered as a sign aristocracy, tanned skin being associated with outdoor or manual work. In ancient Egypt civilization, pale skin was considered as a sign of purity, leading inhabitants to protect their skin through the application of a mixture primarily based of rice bran. In the Greco-Roman civilisation, a mixture of olive oil and clay was used and even nowadays, some tribes are still using natural ingredients to protect the skin, such as the use of a mixture of herbs and tar by the Tibetan people, the use of herbs by some tribes from Guyana and the use of clay by the aboriginal people from Australia.

However, in the western countries, the trend has been reversed as from the 1900’s and people still having a pale skin following holidays in a sunny region is considered as suspicious. Indeed, in western countries, tanned skin is an external sign of wealth related to holidays in expensive exotic destinations.

Experts in the f ...