Skin covers us. It comes in all colours from white to black. The colour of skin depends on where your ancestors came from. If they came from Africa, you probably have a dark skin colour. If they came from northern Europe your skin colour would be white.

Red Face

When you stay in the sun too long, does your face turn red? If your face turns red  it is because you have been in the sun too long. Your skin goes hot so the capillaries dilate to cool down the hot area. Since your capillaries are red, the colour of your skin is also red. This is not that viewable with people with a dark skin colour.

Tans

Skin is healthier when it is a darker colour or has more melanin. Melanin is produced by the melanocyte. Melanin protects your skin from harmful UV rays. Melanin is a brownish colour. This gives people a tan. People who are born with a darker skin colour are lucky. They have large amounts of melanin in their body already so they are more protected from the sun.

Skin Cancer

When your skin is exposed to the sun. UV rays will penetrate your skin. The skin cells in your body that are not protected by melanin will be more at risk with getting skin cancer. This occurs when some of the UV rays penetrate the nucleus of you cell where your DNA is stored. When UV rays hit the DNA, you DNA within that cell will “mutate” and will split multiple times. When that happens you will get a skin cancer. Some skin cancers may spread to other parts of the body when not treated immediately.

Protecting from UV Rays

It would be good to protect ourselves from UV rays. There are 2 options. Sunscreen and sunblock. Sunscreen is most used. It absorbs the UV rays. Sunblock reflects it.For sunscreen, the higher the SPF, the larger the protection. If you would like a tan, but would not like a large exposure to UV rays, then a lower SPF would be better. Remember, a tan is not healthy to get but it is healthy to have.

All images from wikipedia.

Hope this was useful for you,

Cheers!