Are the Irish addicted to fake tan?
While the summer has seen some sunny periods, much of it has seen Ireland bathed in its usual grey drizzle.
Step forward fake tan. There’s no need to jet off to the Mediterranean when you can head down to your local chemist and pick up a bottle of fake tan.
On Lunchtime Live, The Kind Brand Company CEO Noelle O’Connor said the popularity of fake tan continues to grow.
“If I look back, when I went on Dragon’s Den back in 2010, I think I created my own monster,” she recalled.
“There’s been a new tan brand nearly every year since.
“We do like a glow; sometimes I wish people didn’t go as dark as they do.
“We’re not an advocate of that.”
Women with fake tan on. Picture by: Alamy.com. Ms O’Connor added that she even meets people who “want to look fake”.
“I struggle to understand why they want the take to look fake when you can have a tan that looks natural,” she said.
One possible reason, she believes, behind the popularity of fake tan is that most Irish people struggle to tan naturally.
“We want to look browner and the eastern world, they want to look paler,” she said.
“There’s a psychology to wanting what we can’t have.”
Whatever the reason, health experts are clear that using fake tan is much better than using sun beds - the use of which is extremely dangerous and linked to a significant number of skin cancer cases in Ireland.
Main image: A woman gets a fake tan. Picture by: AP Photo/Anne Ryan.
