This Is One Y2K Trend Kim Kardashian Should Not Be Reviving
If, like me, you grew up in the ’90s and early ’00s, you might be watching the Y2K resurgence with a mixture of fondness and mild amusement. Between the cargo pants, frosted lips, and the Mean Girls reboot, you could be forgiven for thinking it was 2004—not 2024. But one thing from that period I definitely didn’t foresee making a triumphant comeback? Tanning beds.
The world’s first tanning salon opened in the late 1970s, but it wasn’t until the early noughties that the device reached its heyday, with celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Tara Reid, and Nicole Richie leading the bronzed (or oranged) charge. With little to no knowledge of the risks, I frequented tanning salons myself. I was desperate to maintain a year-round tan like everyone else of my age–even during dreary winter, when it was clear my bronze glow could have come from nowhere besides a tanning bed or a bottle.
Back then, tanning lotion wasn’t the obvious choice if you wanted to avoid being pasty: The formulas on offer were definitely more “orange you glad to see me” than St Tropez. So tanning beds seemed to be the superior choice, and we felt no shame about waltzing into a tanning shop to bake ourselves. Some became so obsessed that words like “tanorexia” and the famed “gym-tan-laundry” mantra entered the lexicon—then, doctors finally began to weigh in.
We now know that tanning beds have been “proven to increase risks of developing skin cancer, eye damage, and premature aging,” and that “regular use is ᴀssociated with a higher risk of developing melanoma and other skin conditions,” shares Louise Walsh, a dermatology nurse pracтιтioner and a skin cancer specialist. In the United States, now more than 30 states regulate indoor tanning for those under the age of 18 as the fad seemed to slip away and people grasped the severity of the risks over time. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, an estimated 9,500 people in the United States receive a skin cancer diagnosis every day.
That’s why it was so baffling this week when Kim Kardashian–a skincare brand founder who is famously extremely preoccupied with anti-aging and health–proudly showed off that, not only does she currently use a tanning bed, but that she does so frequently enough to warrant having one installed in her office.
Kardashian proudly posed on her tanning bed during a tour of her SKKN HQ, in a video jumping on the viral “of course” TikTok trend this week. “I’m Kim Kardashian, of course I have a tanning bed…” said the star. The clip is, well of course, a tongue-in-cheek glimpse at the insane things one of the richest and most famous women in the world chooses to spend her millions on, so there were bound to be some eyebrow-raising items featured. But it’s not the lavishness that’s perplexing (she also showed us a mannequin built to her own custom measurements, 3-D models of her brain and plane, an entire hallway of magazine covers of herself, and revealed the entire space was designed by Rick Owens). Instead that, in 2024, knowing that tanning beds are extremely bad for your health, increase your risk of skin cancer, and speed up signs of aging, and knowing that anything she promotes is likely to influence her vast audience, she would frame them as aspirational.
Of course, Kardashian has spoken about how she suffers from psoriasis, a skin condition that causes flaky patches of skin, so it’s very possible she uses her tanning bed in a bid to help with her symptoms rather than solely to bronze herself (especially as the red light therapy bed placed next to it can ease psoriasis). But the National Psoriasis Foundation states that it does not recommend tanning beds to treat the condition.
Walsh, known as the Skin Nurse, wouldn’t recommend tanning beds for this reason either. “I’ve never met anyone who works in medical dermatology who’d advise a sunbed to treat psoriasis or any skin condition,” she tells Vogue. “There are too many risks. There are light treatments available (including on the NHS) but these are highly managed (treatments are literally a few seconds long each time), with controlled light waves, and are nothing like a regular sunbed. Holidays are often recommended, tongue in cheek, for more sun exposure, safely with SPF, but also for the opportunity to rest and destress, which is highly linked to psoriasis.”
Whatever Kardashian’s reasons, she’s the original influencer, incredibly influential in the wellbeing space, and promoting something we know to be dangerous for our skin and health, which seems fairly wild. But it isn’t just her. A quick look at TikTok reveals tanning beds are now enjoying a resurgence, with the term racking up an astonishing 615 million views to date. There are videos of twenty-somethings giving out tanning hacks and tips, while Gen Z-ers are sharing clips of themselves trying them out for the first time.
Walsh points to social media, fashion trends, and celebrity culture as driving the recent surge, and suggests that indoor tanning may be seen as a “quick-fix option,” given we’re all craving more sunshine as we’re not outside enough anymore. But make no mistake, we may be 20 years past when it was part of a “normal” beauty routines, but tanning beds haven’t evolved to somehow tan you without the risk of skin cancer. The risks are still there, like they always have been.
The American Cancer Society shares that young people are still at risk for getting skin cancers (especially melanoma), adding that skin cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers young women are diagnosed with. With these astonishing facts being public knowledge, I would have expected tanning shops to be obsolete–not trending online or brag-worthy.
It’s even more bewildering that tanning beds are still so popular when there are good–and safe–alternative options for achieving a natural-looking glow. At-home tanning products have come such a long way in the last couple of decades–gone are the orange streaks and suspect scents of my youth. There’s now an endless and sophisticated selection to choose from, suitable for various skin types and tones, that offer an immediate glow with just one application. The best bit? Zero risk of skin cancer.
Tanning beds might be popular again, but the bottle is the only option I will be reaching for. I just wish other, more influential people would consider the risks as well.
