There are few things in life more ridiculous than a man who has been under office lighting for months suddenly deciding, two days before a holiday, that he is going to become Mediterranean. The result is normally a face the colour of a fire engine, and a hotel-room aloe-vera rescue operation using Solarcaine.
The "utes" (youths) have apparently solved this. They call it solarmaxxing, which sounds like an app that promises to make your teeth whiter and your attention span worse. Underneath the silly name is a reasonable idea: stop treating sunshine as either a mortal enemy or a once-a-year endurance event. The sun was not the enemy for hundreds of thousands of years, and it's not now. What we've really been doing wrong is in the kitchen, not outside the kitchen.
🔨 BUILD: Build & Defend Your Tan
A tan is not a personality, although from my recollections of the 70s and 80s, back then you'd have had to really try to convince some people. It's a health outcome, like many other things. Want to get it? The useful place to start is the same place most things start: food, sleep, hydration, and yes, taking a break between calls.
Eat actual meals. Get protein. You don't even need to eat fruit and/or vegetables! We as a family don't eat vegetables at all, and very rarely fruit. We've all turned out just fine. What you SHOULD skip is anything that changes the lipid structure of your cells, like seed oils. That will absolutely make a difference in how you can act outside, and I'm anecdotal living proof of that. If you have strong views about seed oils, it's usually one way or the other. However, the evidence points to people who don't eat them being able to "solarmaxx" on a regular basis, whereas those who eat them tend to burn.
Make Outdoor Time Normal
The least clever way to get colour is a sudden full-day blast because somebody invited you to the beach. The more durable version is a small, repeatable amount of outdoor life. Twenty minutes on a lounger by the pool to start, and gradually increase it. It helps if you live in a place where there's regular sun; I'm sorry to say that my former neighbours in London will have a harder time of this than my current neighbours in Dubai. If you don't have access to a pool regularly, take a walk in the morning. Have coffee outside. Take calls while moving. Play football with the kids. Eat lunch outdoors when the weather permits. The goal is not to turn yourself into a rotisserie chicken. It is to stop living entirely indoors and then expecting one Saturday to do six months of work. You can use technology to help with this. Weather is obviously a big factor, but you can also set timers, etc., take notes on how you feel at the pool, etc.
Do You Need SPF?
The conventional wisdom is to never go in the sun without SPF50 or the like. I'm not a doctor, and don't play one on TV, but I know what your doctor would say. Your doctor would say you need SPF. I would disagree with your doctor on that. Do you want to take medical advice from me? I can tell you what works, and what lots of people experience, but you still need to make up your mind as to whether to run your own experiments that go against conventional "wisdom" or listen to some guy on the internet who sends you a weekly email. A lot of the weekly emails I've gotten have made me think twice about a lot of things, and I hope this is one that does that for you, but you still have to take into account that it's against the conventional that I will say you don't need sunscreen (or for the Norwegians out there, "solkrem").
Start Slowly
You can't expect to skip seed oils in one meal and then relax in the sun by the pool for two hours. You have to work at it, cutting the bad things out of your diet, and then over time, increase sun exposure. You will get to the point where you can spend 40 minutes to an hour lying in the sun, but you have to BUILD (see what I did there? 😉) up to it over time.
🛡️ DEFEND: Defend the Tan You Have Built
Get Colour Without Drama
UV exposure accumulates over time, and your skin naturally wants to react over time as well. Therefore, the best way to continue to defend your solarmaxxing is to do it regularly. It's not always possible all the time - the earth's tilt is responsible for that (or the proto-planet Theia if you want to get REALLY technical about it) but the sun is healthy for you and you can and should get out into it. That's true of the outdoors generally, and there are hundreds of thousands of years of human history to prove it.
I've been doing this myself lately. I used to burn, which turned into a tan. Once I got my diet straight, and started eating responsibly, hydrating properly, and getting reasonable sleep, it was simple to then add in the solarmaxxing, and now I've gotten myself a tan. It's something I look forward to doing most mornings. My son and I go to the pool, and we can be there for an hour and a half or more at a time, with no sunscreen, and I come back with a nice healthy tan. I will even lie in the sun for two twenty minute periods (back / front) and just relax. (There's a reason living in Dubai is much less stress than a lot of other places.)
Keep Your Tan Longer
That said, you also defend your tan by treating your skin well. Don't be afraid to moisturise it occasionally (yes, even the guys), and avoid scrubbing the hell out of it in the shower. When you get out of the shower, pay yourself dry rather than rubbing yourself. (This is also helpful to avoid wrinkles generally!) Also, a massage (from a professional) every so often goes a long way as well.
The "CYA" Portion of Things
You do have to use adult judgement doing these things: if a mole or patch of skin is new, changing, bleeding, itching, or simply looks wrong, get it checked by a qualified clinician. No drama. No Google-image search at 1 a.m. Just handle it.
💰 STACK: The Solarmaxxing Starter Kit
You do not need a cabinet full of influencer-branded tubs. Start with the useful bits.
Food you will actually eat: ordinary whole foods, adequate protein, and enough water for your climate and activity. Skip the seed oils entirely. Seriously. (When you do ANY research on this topic, you become absolutely appalled that these things are legal.)
A daily outdoor ritual: a walk, swim, school run, coffee, or family activity that gets you outside without needing a special occasion.
A plain moisturiser: consistency beats a luxury price tag.
A note on your phone: record what works for your skin and what does not. This prevents buying the same terrible orange lotion every summer because you have forgotten its crimes.
🔗 LINKS
Chocolate Can Help Your Skin
Dietary antioxidants contribute to endogenous photoprotection....
Omega 3 May Help Your Skin
Macronutrients such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) are attracting attention as potential agents for maintenance of skin health and treatment of skin disorders....
Self-Tanning
If you still want to avoid the sun after all the above wisdom!
A Less-Biased Look At Seed Oils
"And if you want to stop consuming seed oils entirely, she says there are no downsides to doing so."
Solarcaine (Affiliate Link)
When I used to burn, this was a God-send....
ONE THING
For the next seven days, make one ordinary outdoor ritual non-negotiable: a 20-minute walk, coffee on the balcony, a swim, or kicking a ball around with the kids.
You are not trying to win summer in a weekend. You are building a life that contains more daylight, more movement, and, yes, slightly better colour.
Thomas
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