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SCMP Reporter

ONCE they looked so obviously out of a bottle. They used to stain clothes and were not suitable for putting on faces. And they had an unpleasant smell. They were the fake tans of yesterday.

  Real sun-lovers avoided them except, perhaps, for the early days of summer when they were just starting to build up a tan - when bare legs and short, summer fashions called for immediate colour.

  Then a shadow fell over the bronze age.

   With a thinning ozone layer, the risk of contracting lethal skin cancer caused by too much sun increased and sent smart people running for big beach umbrellas, colourful pareos and tubes of sunscreen.

   Many turned their backs completely and set out to whiten tans and bleach out freckles.

  There were others who ran a little more slowly than others, lingering a little longer, to catch those last tanning rays which would really set off that white dress or make them look like they were on a permanent holiday.

  It has been a long haul and at the forefront of the fight have been countries such as Australia, where the incidence of skin cancer is probably highest in the world.

  This is not only because of the long days of sun, but a liking for the outdoor life and many years of unprotected exposure to ultra-violet rays.

  This liking is not always a vanity thing. Winter blues - as Scandinavian people will testify - really do exist and the cure is found in sunlight.

  Even those not obsessed with having a tan to go with their summer wardrobe will seek the healing touch of the sun.

  In sunny climates, such as Australia, where people probably own more pairs of swimsuits than they do anything else (and 90 per cent of the population lives within 16 kilometres of a beach), the campaign to get people to cover up with hats, T-shirts and sun-screens has had a notable effect, which has rubbed off on to a new generation.

  Suddenly, iridescent pink, green and yellow zinc cream blocks were a fashion statement - from toddlers to teens and their parents.

  Previously, sun protection factors were concentrated in the two to four range of creams and oils, going up to a maximum of perhaps eight to 10 before getting into the sun protection factor (SPF) 15 baby blocks.

  But, over the years, this has changed. Those products offering low (SPF 2) or no protection form a small group.

  Many pharmacies, especially in countries where sun damage awareness has been a successful education campaign, promote screens with a minimum SPF 6.

   There has been a marked boom in products for SPF 8 and upwards, to 30 blocks.

  And to put the value of a sunscreen into perspective, remember a white cotton T-shirt has a sun protection factor of only five to seven.

   Those with super-sensitive skins can actually sustain bad sunburn unless they wear a sun-screen under their T-shirts.

  The advice is to wear clothes with a tight weave, rather than relying on airy linens and cottons for protection.

  There are two rays which cause the damage. The UVA rays go deeply into the dermis, and the A should be remembered as standing for ''ageing''.

  Too much of them cause skin to dry out and wrinkle before time.

  These are also the rays which give a golden glow after a few sessions on a sun bed. But, although they do not burn, they age the skin which is why too long on a sun bed is not such a good thing.

  Clinics which have sun beds usually advise short sessions and only eight or 10 are needed for a warm, healthy tan.

   Even the small daily doses to which anyone is subjected to, have a cumulative effect.

  Look at the fresh, unlined complexions of people living in Scandinavian countries where winters are long and the summer sun is not so fierce.

  Compare them with the weather-worn faces of people from Australia. That is UVA at work.

  The UVB rays are another problem and the most harmful.

  The B could be said to stand for burning. These UVB rays are absent when you bask on a sun bed.

 But we all know the results of lying in the sun for a few hours without protection.

  Sunburn stings. But a more sinister side effect is skin cancer which, if not caught early, can be fatal.

  And, often, skin cancer can be widely spread in the body, doing irreparable damage before it is even noticed.

  As the worldwide campaign to protect against sunburn heated up, researchers in the cosmetics field rose to the occasion and the market was flooded with a whole new choice of sun-screens.

  The beauty houses of Guerlain, Lancome Clinique, Clarins, Estee Lauder and, most recently, Shiseido, to name just a few, added sun-blocks and screens to their ranges of cosmetics and beauty treatments.

  Rather than concentrating on ways to repair damage, these industry leaders looked at serious ways of preventing the damage in the first place.

        Today, their lines carry greater impact.

  More than merely cosmetic, these sun protection products are taking their place as heavyweights in beauty regimens and the eternal quest for youth.

  Meanwhile, those who still sought a tan had not been forgotten.

  Along with products to block the sun's harmful rays, which also made tanning longer - though not impossible - process, beauty houses looked at ways to put the glow back into summer.

  And a new era in fake tans began.

   But even better news is that some of these products carry a sun-screen (Clarins has a Self-Tanning Wrinkle Control Cream, SPF 6-8 and a Self Tanning Milk SPF 4-6), providing daily moisturising and UV protection.

  They are a safe and attractive alternative for sensitive skins and sensible ''sun'' worshippers.



Bronze age loses appeal