RUBBING IT IN

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33783, 4 March 1975, Page 21

RUBBING IT IN

introduced their function! was entirely therapeutic.! The patient endured the rather unpleasant and faintlv sinister smell, and; the harsh light, to ease a? specific medical condition, or at least to give the body a general toneup in the depths of winiter. The cosmetic attraction of the sun-lamp came later. It is thought to have started with the; women. Ski holidays helped, too. Once nobody could ,>e -,ure that the mahug-' any face with the white J central slash that normally appeared on greeting was not the result of ; hours on the snow slopes in July, the great decep- ■ tion was ready to be . practised. A tan developed on the snow was for a long time regarded by others as obscurely her-j

Our surf and sand correspondent is a great, hulking fellow of almost 6ft. No jacket off the peg will fit those shoulders.: He's almost 6ft wide as well. During the recent summer he had a lot to do with how people dressed for the beach, and he said that by far i the most popular wear , <s sun tan. We assured 1 m that this style hadn’t c taneed since the early 19305. He said that he knew that but was thinking of more than noses and knees. It is well known that a t-.n these days may have: nothing to do with the beach and even nothing to do with the sun. We refer, of course, to the sun-lamp, a device always used indoors' and often with considerable secrecy vi>heii sun-lamps were.

, oic; the sun-lamp tan was dismissed as only some kind of electric scorch. Hence the secrecy [if the effect was to be valued. Our sun and surf correspondent then told us of a man with very fair skin who had a lot of bother getting a tan and !who hated starting the beach season looking like the underside of a slater. He found he could borrow a sun-lamo from a first-aid man. But, vanity ■being what it is. he had !to spin a great long story about an excruciating pain in his shoulder. He made his case for a lamp to be used — of course, in the privacy of his own home. The firstaid man was sympathetic. He produced an even better answer. It was a tube lot limmenl. to rub in.