In Short

The BBC's recent feature on sunbed harms has put adolescent tanning back in the spotlight, alongside continuing parliamentary work on UV safety in the UK. The harm data is well established. 

The less examined question is why teen girls are tanning in the first place: the social and aesthetic cues that sit upstream of the choice.

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What luna's community is saying

luna ran a four-week series of polls on tanning across April 2026, with each poll attracting between 921 and 1,878 responses from girls aged 11 to 18. 

In a luna poll of more than 900 teen girls: 

• Only 18% said a tan definitely makes someone look healthier or more attractive
• A further 40% answered "sometimes"
• 33% said no

This shows that most teen girls don't hold a fixed "tan equals healthy" belief. However, a decent number of teens still link the tanned look to health and attractiveness.

Pressure

In a separate poll in the same series, just over half (51%) reported feeling pressure to have a tan. 

According to those polled, the source of this social pressure is:

• Peers (19%)
• Social media (13%)
• Upcoming holidays or events (11%) 
• Other reasons (8%)

A further 17% said they didn't think about tanning at all, and 28% felt no pressure.

The peer mechanics show up directly in anonymised user questions. 

One girl wrote to luna: "Some girls at school call me 'pale' and 'too white' and just play it off as jokes. However, this has made me insecure about my skin tone, and now I want to buy fake tan."

Social media 

Social media is the other major channel that influences tanning in teen girls.

In a luna poll of more than 1,400 girls: 

• 65% said they see tanning or sunbeds promoted on social media often or sometimes
• 38% reporting frequent exposure

That tracks with emerging content on TikTok and Instagram in which sunbeds are framed as offering acne improvement, vitamin D, or other wellness benefits, with no clinical basis. 

One luna user described actively searching online for guidance, saying she had "tried to look at a lot of fake tan videos" but couldn't find tutorials for face application.

Beliefs

Beliefs about sunbeds specifically are striking. In a luna poll of more than 900 girls:

• Only 42% identified sunbeds as very harmful and said they would not use one 
• 16% considered them a little harmful but not a big deal
• 16% acknowledged harm but said they might still use one
• 3% thought them not harmful at all
• 23% were unsure

The ambivalence shows up again in user questions. 

One girl asked luna: "I got a really bad sunburn today, do u know anything I can use on it to help it turn into a tan or to stop the pain?" 

UV damage, reframed as a route to a desired look.

Why this matters

Most current sun safety messaging addresses the what of UV risk: skin cancer, premature ageing, and photodamage. 

luna's data suggests the why is being missed. If a tan functions for teen girls as situational social currency, modelled by peers and amplified by social media, clinical warnings on their own are unlikely to shift behaviour.

Instead of focusing on health, focusing on pressure may be a better route. 

What we'd like to see

Some directions for clinicians, educators, and media engaging with this age group:

• Ask about social context as well as sun exposure: upcoming events, peer comments, the wellness narratives teens are encountering online
• Take the social media vector seriously, including the wellness framing of sunbeds on TikTok and Instagram, when designing UV safety content for adolescents
• Be cautious in editorial coverage about reinforcing the aesthetic value of a tan, even unintentionally, when reporting on sunbed harm

About the data

luna regularly polls its community of girls and non-binary teens aged 11 to 18 on topics raised by users themselves. 

Participation is voluntary and all data reported is anonymised and aggregated. The polls referenced in this piece were run across April 2026 and attracted between 921 and 1,878 responses each.

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