The Layers of Your Skin
Your skin includes three layers known as epidermis, dermis, and fat. Some health issues, such as dermatitis and infections, can affect how these different layers work to protect your internal organs.

Your skin is your body’s largest external organ. It provides a barrier between your body’s essential organs, muscles, tissues, and skeletal system and the outside world. This barrier protects you from bacteria, changing temperatures, and chemical exposure.

Your skin continuously communicates with your brain about what is happening around you: touch, texture, temperature, tingling, pleasure, and pain. Your skin, in cooperation with your nervous system, is the primary organ for your sense of touch.

Your body couldn’t perform the functions that keep you alive without the protection of your skin.  And remember:  no matter how light or dark your skin is - it's ONLY THE TOP LAYER (epidermis) that is that colour.  ALL "blacks", for example, have "white" skin on worn body parts (bottom of feet, inside of hands).  It wears off faster than it can be replaced.

 



Epidermis
The epidermis is the top layer of your skin. It’s the only layer that is visible to the eyes. The epidermis is thicker than you might expect and has five sublayers.  The epidermis is composed of keratinized, stratified squamous epithelium. It is made of four or five layers of epithelial cells, depending on its location in the body. It does not have any blood vessels within it (i.e., it is avascular). Skin that has four layers of cells is referred to as “thin skin.” From deep to superficial, these layers are the stratum basale**, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, and stratum corneum. Most of the skin can be classified as thin skin. “Thick skin” is found only on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. It has a fifth layer, called the stratum lucidum, located between the stratum corneum and the stratum granulosum

Your epidermis is constantly shedding dead skin cells from the top layer and replacing them with new healthy cells that grow in lower layers. It is also home to your pores, which allow oil and sweat to escape.

What is the layer of skin pigment ("race")?  The TOP LAYER - no other layers of skin!  As stated above, this is why black people have "white" hands and feet.  And although many brag about juvenile things that actually ARE NOT differentiated by any "race", if they only knew - it's the top layer of skin - not even 1mm thick!!

Also know:  we are all the same "race" - the "human race".  All other differences are only melanin - pigment - in a very thin, most external layer.  Yes - that is what all the wars and gangs are about!!   Maybe it's time to:
1)  grow up!
2)  educate ourselves
3) find out what are the "pros" - and the "cons" of being lighter/darker.






**  The stratum basale
Three cell types are in this layer: the basal cell, and two other cell types are found dispersed among the basal cells in the stratum basale. The first is a Merkel cell, which functions as a receptor and is responsible for stimulating sensory nerves that the brain perceives as touch. These cells are especially abundant on the surfaces of the hands and feet. The second is a melanocyte, a cell that produces the pigment melanin - which gives skin it's colour.

The color of skin is influenced by a number of pigments, including melanin, carotene, and hemoglobin. Recall that melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes, which are found scattered throughout the stratum basale of the epidermis. The melanin is transferred into the keratinocytes via a cellular vesicle called a melanosome (Figure 5.1.7).
This figure consists of two diagrams side by side. The right diagram shows development of light colored skin; the left shows development of dark-colored skin. In both, a brown melanocyte sits at the border between the dermis and epidermis. The melanocyte has a large nucleus and six finger-like extensions. These reach between cells of the stratum basalis. Sections of the extensions detach and travel through the skins. These are melanosomes. In the left diagram, both the melanocyte and melanosomes contain melanin particles, shown as dark dots. Melanosomes travel upwards to outer skin layers, releasing melanin. As a result, keratinocytes in the left diagram contain several melanin particles that darken skin color. In light colored skin, the melanocyte contains no melanin. It still releases melanosomes into upper layers of the skin; however, these melanosomes contain no melanin. Therefore, the skin does not darken and remains light.
Figure 5.1.7 – Skin Pigmentation: The relative coloration of the skin depends of the amount of melanin produced by melanocytes in the stratum basale and taken up by keratinocytes.

Melanin occurs in two primary forms. Eumelanin exists as very dark brown, and brown - whereas pheomelanin provides a red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale skin. Exposure to the UV rays of the sun or a tanning salon causes melanin to be manufactured and built up in keratinocytes, as sun exposure stimulates keratinocytes to secrete chemicals that stimulate melanocytes. The accumulation of melanin in keratinocytes results in the darkening of the skin, or a tan. This increased melanin accumulation protects the DNA of epidermal cells from UV ray damage and the breakdown of folic acid, a nutrient necessary for our health and well-being. In contrast, too much melanin can interfere with the production of vitamin D, an important nutrient involved in calcium absorption. There is a dynamic interplay between the amount of protection from UV radiation that melanin provides and the amount of vitamin D produced. The amount of melanin produced, and therefore UV protection, is directly correlated with the amount of sunlight exposure. The more sunlight, the more UV protection, but the compromise is that with increased melanin there is a decrease in vitamin D produced.

It requires about 10 days after initial sun exposure for melanin synthesis to peak, which is why pale-skinned individuals tend to suffer sunburns of the epidermis initially. Dark-skinned individuals can also get sunburns, but are more protected than are pale-skinned individuals. Melanosomes are temporary structures that are eventually destroyed by fusion with lysosomes; this fact, along with melanin-filled keratinocytes in the stratum corneum sloughing off, makes tanning impermanent.

Too much sun exposure can eventually lead to wrinkling due to the destruction of the cellular structure of the skin, and in severe cases, can cause sufficient DNA damage to result in skin cancer.



Dermis
The dermis is thicker than the epidermis and contains all sweat and oil glands, hair follicles, connective tissues, nerve endings, and lymph vessels. While the epidermis covers your body in a visible layer, the dermis is the layer of skin that really enables the function of pathogen protection that your body needs.

Since the dermis contains collagen and elastin, it also helps support the structure of skin that we see.


Subcutis
The layer of skin beneath the dermis is sometimes called the subcutaneous fat, subcutis, or hypodermis layer. This layer provides insulation for your body, keeping you warm. It also provides a cushion that works like a shock absorber surrounding your vital organs.

There are plenty of blood vessels contained in the hypodermis. This is the layer that attaches your skin to the muscles and tissue below it. This layer can be thicker in some parts of your body than others and tends to be determined by genetics.

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All the positives first
The high melanin concentration in the skin cells protects the skin against harmful UV rays and melanoma (skin cancer). Reportedly, skin cancer in black people is 25 times lesser compared to white racial-ethnic groups.

The Stratum Corneum (the protective outer layer of the skin which acts as a barrier between our skin and the outside environment) of the black dark skin is very solid. It doesn’t allow unwanted materials & bacteria to enter the skin & excessive loss of water to exit from the skin which results in delayed wrinkles and fine lines compared to fair-toned skin.


Well, that sounds very pleasant but let’s see the flip side of dark skin too

All the negatives of dark skin tones!
Hyperpigmentation issues in darker tones are a big common problem. Tyrosinase (the enzyme which handles the production of Melanin) activity is more active in darker skin than Caucasian skin. Because of this, any bumps in the skin like acne, cuts, or bites can leave potential scarring or pigmentation.

Melasma, Vitiligo, Keloid, Pseudofolliculitis barbae, and Dermatosis papulose nigra are all really annoying skin conditions that mostly target black or dark skin types.


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Skin color is the first thing you see when you see someone. Skin color has many uses, and the color of one’s skin can give you a general idea of the type of climate one’s ancestors evolved in. The lighter one’s skin is may tell you that their ancestors evolved in low UVB radiation, whereas the darker one’s skin is may tell you that their ancestors evolved in high UVB places. So this tells us that as migration occurred out of Africa, skin needed to lighten in order to synthesize vitamin D in low UVB climes. Note that I won’t make any claims about any skin color being an adaptation to any climate; I will just state that there is a strong association between UVB and skin color—the higher the UVB the darker the skin and the lower the UVB the lighter the skin.

The skin comprises about 16 percent of the human body, making it the body’s largest organ. The outermost layer of skin—the epidermis - is the point of contact with the environment. Then the number of UVB rays in any given environment will dictate the color of one’s skin - in an ancestral manner.

So the most important factor in skin color is melanin, which is produced by melanocytes, but it accumulates in the keratinocytes of the stratum basale (the deepest layer of the five layers of the epidermis) and the stratum spinosum (the layer between the stratum granulosum and the stratum basale). Two forms of melanin exist:

• eumelanin (which is dark brown) and
• pheomelanin (which is reddish-yellow and contains sulfur).

In his textbook Anatomy and Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function, professor Ken Saladin writes:
    People of different skin colors have essentially the same number of melanocytes, but in dark-skinned people, the melanocytes produce greater quantities of melanin, the melanin granules in the keratanocytes are more spread out than tightly clumped, and the melanin breaks down more slowly. Thus, melanized cells may be seen throughout the epidermis, from stratum basale to stratum corneum. In light-skinned people, the melanin is clumped near the keratinocyte nucleus, so it imparts less color to the cells. It also breaks down more rapidly, so little of it is seen beyond the stratum basale, if even there.

    The amount of melanin in the skin also varies with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays of sunlight, which stimulates melanin synthesis and darken the skin. A sun-tan fades as melanin is degraded in older keratinocytes and as the keratinocytes migrate to the surface and exfoliate. (Saladin, 2010: 194)

Skin color is one of the most significant factors involved in colonizing a certain, new, area where the skin color the group has is not conducive to life in that clime. So, when the out of Africa migration occurred, skin color needed to lighten as to better confer survival in the new, colder climes. Though, there is an anomaly: Arctic peoples. Why is their skin dark—at least relative to other peoples who live or have lived in colder climates?

Think about life in the Arctic. It is pretty much all white. Food is scarce, and they eat a lot of animal fat and protein. Now, think about the ice. The ice reflects UV rays onto the skin of the Arctic people, making it not as light as, say, Europeans and East Asians.

A term I’ve heard a lot over the years is “Black don’t crack”, speaking to the fact that a lot of black people look young, even into old age. What, if any, is the physiologic reason behind this?

We also know that skin color and UVB radiation are strongly related. We know that there are numerous differences in skin biology when comparing different peoples whose ancestors have evolved in different climates.

Are blacks more oily? [yes]
Darkly pigmented skin tends to have larger sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands are the tiny glands that blanket the scalp and skin to secrete a thin layer of oil as lubrication. The larger the sebaceous gland, the greater the oil production. As such, many people with darker skin have oily skin. Unfortunately, oily skin is often acne-prone and acne-prone dark skin may suffer from post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (e.g. those dark spots that form and remain at sites of inflammation, typically after a pimple has cleared).

On a positive note, oily skin has a skin cell turnover rate that is 2.5 times faster than that of lighter skin. A faster skin cell turnover rate helps reveal younger, healthier-looking skin. Moreover, darker skin has a lower pH than lighter skin. A lower level of skin acidity means that darker skin is highly antimicrobial and capable of inhibiting bacterial, fungal and other parasitic infections of the skin.

To address the overproduction of oil, darker skinned individuals should utilize products that are oil soluble.



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Common Skin Conditions in Black Skin

Skin is so various when it comes to colors and types, from the dark brown to the pale ivory and so many shades in between. Unfortunately, skin problems are typically all the same therefore most skin conditions may happen in all races and all skin types.

Nevertheless, some skin conditions seem to be more common to the dark skin or to be more severe in the case of dark skin. Additionally, many treatments for regular skin conditions may actually cause other problems in the case of dark skin. In order to know how to take care of your face and body, it’s fundamental that you get to know one or two things about the biology of dark skin.

The basics on dark skin
The melanocytes refer to the color of all skin stems from cells and they’re the one producing melanosomes as they’re all packed with the natural chemical melanin.

What we’ve learned from research so far is that all people have pretty much the same number of melanocytes in skin tissues, no matter the color of the skin. What separates us from each other is the size and the distribution of the melanosomes. The larger and more they are, the darker your skin is. You can navigate here for more about Lasting Impression Medical Spa.

Melanin in the skin is responsible for absorbing and scattering energy from the UV light, therefore a dark complexion is going to lower the risk for sun damage, which is the main cause for skin aging and skin cancer formation. Aging is a process that can be slowed down by a healthy lifestyle, proper diet, and the proper skin products. There are tons of products that can help in lessening the development of pigmentation and wrinkles. The latest anti-aging ingredient is NMN powder that can be found in so many of the best anti-aging products like NMN bulk powder.

The chances for dark skin to develop pigmentation issues are quite high and even a minor skin injury (a bug bite) may cause a slight change in skin pigment, offering the dark spots (hyperpigmentation) the opportunity to happen. Most girls freak out when they hear the words Brazilian wax. This is mostly because it is associated with pain or discomfort and because of the actual procedure itself, which kind of exposes your most private parts to a complete stranger. Anyways, this post is for those of you who haven’t got a Brazilian wax before, or who don’t know what a Brazilian wax is. So, to keep it short and easy a Brazilian wax is the process of waxing off all your pubic hair, back and front. And by all I mean all. A Brazilian wax is different from a bikini wax or a French wax which takes off only the sides around your bikini line. Brazilian wax is a very good alternative to shaving. Everybody hates shaving, especially in that area, so this is one good reason. Another benefit is that it lasts a lot longer. This is because the hair is removed from the follicle (or the root) instead of being cut at the skin level. A Brazilian can last as long as 6 weeks, so there you have it. You only need to take four or five of them during the summer. You will get the best review of the what is a Brazilian wax here.



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The uniqueness of "black" skin

ONE of the most popular questions I get asked is, ‘Is skin not just skin? Bar colour is it that different? Really? Really, really?’

Yes really, really. There are similarities, but "Black" skin is physiologically different to white skin in a few ways. There are also cultural differences in the way we treat the skin.

Melanin
Everyone – be you of "Black", "white" or mixed-race heritage – has melanocyte cells, living in the very bottom layer of your epidermis. Within these melanocyte cells are the melanosomes granules which contain the pigment called melanin. At this very early stage, the granules are actually transparent with no colour at all. As they migrate through the layers of skin, they then take on their distinctive colour.

There are two different types of melanin pigment: eumelanin – a dark brown pigment, and pheomelanin – a red or yellow tint. Black people and those with darker skin tones have more eumelanin, hence our different shades of brown skin colour.

The key factor when it comes to skin colour is the size and the amount of melanocytes and melanosomes. Some studies have shown that Black skin produces twice as much melanin as white skin. Together, with the more even distribution of melanin in Black skin, it gives some protection from premature ageing caused by UV radiation from the sun. On average, research points to Black skin having an approximate natural sun protection factor (SPF) of 13.4. White skin sits somewhere around 3.3.

But before you run amok with no sunscreen, remember that the increased melanin levels in Black skin also make it more vulnerable to discolouration, be it loss of colour (hypopigmentation) or patchy,uneven deposits of colour (hyperpigmentation).

Water retention
Another point of difference between Black and white skin is the rate at which water is lost through the skin. One of the functions of the skin is to provide a barrier against water loss and to help the skin stay hydrated. Anything that disrupts the skin’s delicate barrier can cause increased water loss, which we in the business refer to as TEWL: ‘transepidermal water loss’. A significant number of studies show that whilst Black skin has on average a higher sebum content and a more compact stratum corneum than white skin, it also has lower ceramide levels (fatty acids that waterproof the skin), so it is prone to increased water loss. This contributes to increased dryness of the skin and the increased likelihood of us experiencing dry, flaky and ashy skin conditions. Ever get that dry, itchy feeling on your pins after removing your tights? That is TEWL in action.

See MUCH more about melanin, Africa, and SCIENCE below!


Scarring
They say too much of a good thing isn’t good for you, and that can be the case with collagen. Black skin is more prone to what’s known as ‘hypertrophic’ and ‘keloid’ scarring, both caused by the overproduction of collagen after injury.

A keloid scar forms when an injury penetrates the epidermis through to the upper portion of the dermis, stimulating collagen production. If the collagen doesn’t receive a signal to stop regenerating, it continues to be produced at a higher rate and this accumulates as keloid scar tissue into the surrounding skin. Some people can be so prone that even a pimple can cause a keloid scar and they have to be especially vigilant about treatments and products that work on the basis of controlled injury (e.g.micro-needling) to the skin as it is difficult to predict how their skin will react.

Differences in collagen
The statement ‘Black don’t crack’ is often used as a compliment because Black women tend to have a later onset of fine lines and wrinkles compared to white women of a comparable age. There is a reason for this and it’s all to do with collagen and the effect of UVA rays on the skin.

Black skin has thicker, tighter, and smaller collagen fibres, formed into bundles, and melanin acts like an overcoat protecting these bundles from the damage that UV causes when it penetrates the skin. So they stay intact for longer, firmly propping up skin. In comparison, collagen in white skin is much more susceptible to UV damage due to the lack of readily available protective melanin.

The collagen construction in white skin is under much more stress and strain from extrinsic ageing factors because it is not as robust. Whilst skin may be ‘just skin,’ understanding the differences between Black and white skin is crucial in knowing how best to look after yours.

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Everyone – be you of "Black", "white" or mixed-race heritage – has melanocyte cells, living in the very bottom layer of your epidermis. Within these melanocyte cells are the melanosomes granules which contain the pigment called melanin. At this very early stage, the granules are actually transparent with no colour at all. As they migrate through the layers of skin, they then take on their distinctive colour.
Not to be confusid with "Melena" - a form of blood in the stool which refers to the dark black, tarry feces that are commonly associated with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.  There are 5 basic types of melanin: eumelanin, pheomelanin, neuromelanin, allomelanin and pyomelanin. Melanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino acid tyrosine is followed by polymerization.

Melanin is skin pigment.  Now it is very common for "black" people (there is no such thing as "black" melanin - like squirrels, rodents, black bears .... it is DARK BROWN, never black) actually use methods to  _decrease_  melanin production or deposits in the skin, such as laser therapy, ayurvedic or topical creams (which bleach)!   (Also, blue contact lenses, hair bleaching and straightening)

Most people associate Africans with dark skin. But different groups of people in Africa have almost every skin color on the planet, from deepest black in the Dinka of South Sudan to beige in the San of South Africa. Now, researchers have discovered a handful of new gene variants responsible for this palette of tones.

The study, published online this week in Science, traces the evolution of these genes and how they traveled around the world. While the dark skin of some Pacific Islanders can be traced to Africa, gene variants from Eurasia also seem to have made their way back to Africa. And surprisingly, some of the mutations responsible for lighter skin in Europeans turn out to have an ancient African origin.

“This is really a landmark study of skin color diversity,” says geneticist Greg Barsh of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Researchers agree that our early australopithecine ancestors in Africa probably had light skin beneath hairy pelts. “If you shave a chimpanzee, its skin is light,” says evolutionary geneticist Sarah Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania, the lead author of the new study. “If you have body hair, you don’t need dark skin to protect you from ultraviolet [UV] radiation.”

So, black people want to me "whiter", and white people want to be black.  Again, why don't people just accept themselves the way they are????

For example, a “depigmentation gene” called SLC24A5 linked to pale skin swept through European populations in the past 6000 years. But Tishkoff ’s team found that the story of skin color evolution isn’t so black and white. Her team, including African researchers, used a light meter to measure skin reflectance in 2092 people in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Botswana. They found the darkest skin in the Nilo-Saharan pastoralist populations of eastern Africa, such as the Mursi and Surma, and the lightest skin in the San of southern Africa, as well as many shades in between, as in the Agaw people of Ethiopia.
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At the same time, they collected blood samples for genetic studies. They sequenced more than 4 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—places where a single letter of the genetic code varies across the genomes of 1570 of these Africans. They found four key areas of the genome where specific SNPs correlate with skin color.

The first surprise was that SLC24A5, which swept Europe, is also common in East Africa—found in as many as half the members of some Ethiopian groups. This variant arose 30,000 years ago and was probably brought to eastern Africa by people migrating from the Middle East, Tishkoff says. But though many East Africans have this gene, they don’t have white skin, probably because it is just one of several genes that shape their skin color.

The team also found variants of two neighbouring genes, HERC2 and OCA2, which are associated with light skin, eyes, and hair in Europeans but arose in Africa; these variants are ancient and common in the light-skinned San people. The team proposes that the variants arose in Africa as early as 1 million years ago and spread later to Europeans and Asians. “Many of the gene variants that cause light skin in Europe have origins in Africa,” Tishkoff says.

The most dramatic discovery concerned a gene known as MFSD12. Two mutations that decrease expression of this gene were found in high frequencies in people with the darkest skin. These variants arose about a half-million years ago, suggesting that human ancestors before that time may have had moderately dark skin, rather than the deep black hue created today by these mutations.

These same two variants are found in Melanesians, Australian Aborigines, and some Indians. These people may have inherited the variants from ancient migrants from Africa who followed a “southern route” out of East Africa, along the southern coast of India to Melanesia and Australia, Tishkoff says. That idea, however, counters three genetic studies that concluded last year that Australians, Melanesians, and Eurasians all descend from a single migration out of Africa. Alternatively, this great migration may have included people carrying variants for both light and dark skin, but the dark variants later were lost in Eurasians.

To understand how the MFSD12 mutations help make darker skin, the researchers reduced expression of the gene in cultured cells, mimicking the action of the variants in dark-skinned people. The cells produced more eumelanin, the pigment responsible for brown skin, hair, and eyes. The mutations may also change skin color by blocking yellow pigments: When the researchers knocked out MFSD12 in zebrafish and mice, red and yellow pigments were lost, and the mice’s light brown coats turned gray. “This new mechanism for producing intensely dark pigmentation is really the big story,” says Nina Jablonski, an anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University in State College.

The study adds to established research undercutting old notions of race. You can’t use skin color to classify humans, any more than you can use other complex traits like height, Tishkoff says. “There is so much diversity in Africans that there is no such thing as an African race.”

https://www.science.org/content/article/new-gene-variants-reveal-evolution-human-skin-color



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Why You Need to Reconsider That Sunscreen You’re Using
Even if you buy a European brand from an America drugstore, it might not be as good as its international counterpart. National regulations for ingredients and effectiveness vary across the globe, causing products manufactured in other countries to be different, even if they’re from the same brand.

While Congress enacted the Sunscreen Innovation Act in 2014 to modernize and streamline sunscreen ingredient approval in the United States, American products still seem to lag behind.

Sadly, this often means our sunscreens tend to be greasier, less pleasant to put on and wear, and potentially less good at protecting our skin and preventing signs of aging. So what’s the difference between the sunscreen you buy in Tallahassee and the one you ordered from Tokyo? Let’s take a closer look.
Other countries are way ahead in quality

There’s not a simple reason that places like England, France, Japan, South Korea, and other countries have better sunblock products. It comes down to a combination of three large factors.

1. American sunscreens work with fewer (and “older”) ingredients
At the moment, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved 16 active ingredients for sunscreens. Europe has 27 approved substances. Not only does this difference limit the range of products in the United States, it can also impact effectiveness.

There are seven approved chemicals in Europe that protect against cancer-causing UVA light rays. Meanwhile in the United States, we’ve only got three approved chemicals for the same purpose.

Sunscreen manufacturers in the United States have limited ingredients because we treat sunblocks as over-the-counter medical products. Every active ingredient used in the United States must pass a rigorous process through the FDA before we can use them, which is great for our health, but also a reason things are moving so slowly.

Just look: The Sunscreen Innovation Act was enacted three years ago, but no new ingredients have passed the medical trials since, according to the FDA. Even when the research checks out, trials can also be expensive. So if there’s no demand or financial benefit to developing new products, there’s no incentive to create newer and better products.

On the other hand, other countries treat sunscreen products as cosmetics. Although the ingredients go through different testing processes, other countries’ regulations allow for faster approvals as well as the ability for companies to combine ingredients without restriction. As a result, these brands offer more options that don’t just protect your skin, but they’re also much nicer to apply.


2. The FDA has lax regulations for UVA protection
Just when you thought the FDA was slow to introduce new ingredients, they’re also not that strict about the amount of UVA protection required. A recent study found that many of the American sunscreen products labeled as “broad spectrum” block UVB rays but don’t block UVA rays as effectively as European brands do. UVA penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB.

In fact, the study, which comes from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, found that only 11 out of 20 American sunscreen products met European standards of protection.


3. The culture of tanning in the United States
A third reason our sunblock might lag behind the rest of the world’s is simply because Americans are still not as serious about sun protection as other cultures are. Despite extensive findings that UV exposure contributes to skin cancer, about 10 million American men and women regularly use tanning beds. Tanning, in many ways, is part pastime, part sign of luxury, and part identity.


Skin cancer: Get the facts
Even with evidence that sun exposure suppresses the immune system, accelerates aging, and raises the risk of cancer, changing a culture can be difficult. When consumers don’t demand something, it affects the market and its interest in innovation. Here’s where Asian cultures, such as in Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines, differ. These cultures are similarly enamored with pale skin, which contributes to their wide range of high-quality sunscreen products. Because the market is so competitive, the products are not only better, but cheaper as well.
Ready to try a sunscreen from across the border?

You might initially be overwhelmed both by the choices and the language barrier when you’re looking for sunscreens from other countries. Luckily, online shops like Amazon stock many choices. As popularity grows in the United States, it’s easier to find clear and helpful reviews of the best products.

Here are three popular Japanese sunscreens, trialed and suggested:
Bioré Sarasara
Aqua Rich
Watery Essence