It’s Time To Can The Tan

By Rupert Truscott-Hughes on March 24, 2013 in Other

My name is Rupert Truscott-Hughes and I’m a recovering tan-aholic.

Back in my youth I thought nothing of coating my olive skin with olive oil and baking beneath that burning ball of gas in the sky for hours on end.

Then, when winter came around, if I wasn’t able to get on the first flight to St Tropez I could be found prone beneath the artificial ultra violet light of the tanning bed that my father had bought my mother as a 50th birthday present.

Why did I do it? One word: women. And I must say my tanned skin certainly helped secure the affections of a number of young females, which in turn did wonders for my self-confidence. And it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not possessed the confidence that my tan afforded me.

But before you start berating me for being irresponsible and ignorant, let’s not forget that these were they days when cigarettes were thought to be good for you, asbestos was still a suitable building material and thalidomide was seen as a viable solution for women suffering from morning sickness.

Unfortunately now, all too late of course, I am seeing first hand the error of my ways. Not only does my skin look as weathered as a lighthouse keeper’s wind vane, I was recently forced to go under the knife to have a number of suspect legions removed and as such my back has an uncanny resemblance to the cratered surface of the moon. Despite these aesthetic aberrations, I was thankfully given the all clear when it came to the ‘Big C’ but I fear my luck will soon end as I seem to be finding new sun spots every second week.

When it comes to sun safety, kids are meant to be smarter in 2013 than I was in my youth. Numerous campaigns have hit our television screens delivering the sun safe message, from Slip, Slop, Slap and Me No Fry, to the current Cancer Institute of NSW summer melanoma campaign featuring a young bloke named Wes Bonny, whose life was taken at just 26 years of age.

Wes, a resident of Clovelly, just so happened to be a very close mate of the publishers of The Beast (i.e. my employers) so I find his story all the more moving. It’s hard to believe that a fit and healthy 23 year-old bloke could be diagnosed with melanoma and be dead by the age of 26. Surely this message is compelling enough to make young Australians everywhere cover up the sun?

Sadly it seems that this is not the case. Every day the sun has shone this summer Bondi Beach has been packed with people in minimal clothing, and far too often I see them leaving the beach looking like lobsters.

If I’ve learnt one thing in this life so far it’s this: if someone cares about something as superficial as your tan, they’re really not worth your time. It took me quite a few years and a couple of wives to realise this and ultimately it could cost me my life (on top of most of my assets). I suggest you take care of your skin so that you don’t suffer the same fate.