The latest Gen Zer beauty trend poses a huge cancer risk

The 2000s trend of tanning beds has become fashionable again for Gen Zers.       

The comeback of Jersey Shore's 'gym, tan, laundry' aesthetic, also brings with it a huge cancer risk for the youth that has developed an affinity for it.

According to IbisWorld's research, there are 6,000 more tanning beds in the states now than in the late 2000s, and as of 2023 there's been a total of 22,000 tanning salons across the nation.

A Seattle-based dermatologist Heather Rogers, MD, has shared with Woman's Health: '[Gen Zers are] not taking care of their skin, despite having a 15-step skin-care regimen.'

Despite the multitude of studies and research that has backed up the negative consequences of tanning, Gen Z is choosing to ignore the science to achieve their personal standards of beauty.

According to the Advanced Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center: 'Tanning beds can increase your risk for skin cancer, damage and deplete your immune system, cause clinical eye issues, result in photodamage (damage to the skin from unprotected exposure to UV radiation), and accelerated photoaging, or premature aging of the skin caused by repeated exposure to UV radiation.'

Regardless of the large amount of information that is already out there, more and more tanning salons are continuously opening due to the rising trend for Gen Zers.

Co-owner Win Gruber opened three tanning salons, called Upper East Side Tan since 2023. 

Win believes the 30 to 40 per cent of his clients are between the young ages of 22 to 26, and 90 per cent of them are woman, who often partake in paying up the monthly subscription of $59.

He shared with Women's Health: 'I know that with the generation above them, there was a backlash against tanning, and I think it kind of has swung back the other way, just a little bit.'

Despite all the long-term warnings, 28 percent of Gen Z respondents, have shared in a survey for the American Academy of Dermatology in 2022, that getting a tan was more important to them, than the risks of skin cancer from doing so. 

Dr. Rogers, who removes skin cancer, such as moles, bumps or sores, has shared with Women's Health: 'The data from the survey was pretty upsetting in how much room there is for improvement in educating Gen Z about the risks of [ultraviolet light]. That gap really seems to not be filled yet.'

Jacqueline Watchmaker, MD, who is a dermatologist at U.S. Dermatology Partners, has explained: 'There is this wave of misinformation that affects younger teens and Gen Z. 

'I definitely have seen some 20-year-olds who come in not only tan, but red-brown - they’re so tan, I call it mahogany.'

Unlike the 2000s, when tanning beds would be 25-plus minute-long sessions, these days, due to technology, you can get a tan in as little as four minutes, because the upgraded beds emit stronger and more dangerous rays.