A HEADTEACHER has outlawed fake tans, urging parents not to allow their daughters to come to school in `varying shades of orange'.
Carol Robinson, of Lancashire's Baines School has written to all parents advising them on uniform and appearance standards ahead of the new school year in September.
The acting head of the Poulton-le-Fylde school said: "The current trend for fake/spray tans does little to enhance the appearance of our young ladies.
"We ask for your support in ensuring girls do not come to school looking varying shades of orange."
Mrs Robinson explained the school strived to "promote natural beauty and contentment with one's own looks".
The school has drawn short of a complete ban, with Mrs Robinson stating: "We're simply asking for parents' support in ensuring that it isn't over-the-top.
"Of course we appreciate a false tan is probably much healthier than lying out in the sun for hours."
Some pupils have backed the move but experts say if the alternative is a sunbed tan then the letter could give the wrong message.
Consultant dermatologist Dr John Kellett said: "Fake tan doesn't do any harm at all to health.
"If the alternative is for young girls to go on the sunbed then it is preferable."
Some pupils at the school spoke up in support of their teachers.
Alison Taylor, a 17-year-old sixth former, said: "I agree fake tan should be banned. I think it looks a lot nicer to be natural than bright orange."
Friend Sarah Clark, 17, added: "I think the rule is a good idea. "Fake tan can be OK, but some people go a bit over-the-top and then I think it looks quite tacky. It isn't nice if somebody looks bright orange, especially for school."
One parent of a year seven pupil, who asked not to be named, added: "I see the girls walking past when I take my daughter to school and their legs are all orange. "I think the school is right to clamp down and try to drive up standards because there are other issues like the length of skirts the girls wear which are miles too short and the lads having their shirts all hanging out."
A spokesman from Teenage Cancer Trust, the national charity which helps teenagers fight cancer, added: "We would hope that pupils would never revert to using sunbeds, which can cause skin cancer."
A spokesman for Lancashire Education Authority said dress code and appearance were matters for individual schools.
Is the school right to ban fake tans? Have your say.
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Those young ladies are taking an interest in their appearance. They are taking pride in themselves.
Surely that's better than them using a sun bed?
I think it's wrong to start telling people what colour or shade of skin they should have. If you do that, where would it end up?
So long as they are clean and healthy, why shouldn't they want to look nice?
School shouldnt be a place for fashion its a place of education end of story.all schools should set a uniform for the girls to wear collots or trousers. this way they cannot shorted their skirts etc.
Not a fan
but a fake tan is better than cancer causing UV sunbeds.
This ban is not unique- other schools are banning orange tans.
Theres one in Rochdale doing the same thing.
People laughed at tango man....why do they want to look like him ?
I hope the head also bans this forever stroking their hair........it makes me so...........angry !
I agree - self confidence and self worth are best being promoted. Excess in anything should be discouraged.
Would we have the same comments if it was boys that were using fake tans?Why do we think it's OK to tell girls/young women how to dress?
School's out now for SIX weeks so let's drop this none subject.
Totally agree with this ban, but surely some of the blame has to be with the parents letting them go to school looking like an Oompah Lumpa
Oompah Lumpa.....is she in a band ? I knew a Lumpa Oompah, big girl, worked in a chippy, you dont think this is her ?
My 14 year old daughter had to miss two days of school recently, as she wouldn't go out of the house for three days because of her wanting to try this fake tan... When she got up the monday morning she was orange and blotchy. Ooh it was funny but she was devastated... At least I know she won't be trying it again in a hurry.
If it was banned in her school she wouldn't of tried it out in the first place. It was her own fault anyway for wanting to be orange.
So i'm in favour of a ban.
They don't look nice, orange tans look terrible, plus encouraging an unhealthy obsession with their appearance is wrong.
Leave the kids alone - better that than sitting in the sun all day, if these kids are happy to be orange let them be at least they are taking care of their appearance albeit it not to everyones liking.
my 14 year old stepdaughter is obssessed with this stuff. its revolting and it gets everywhere - on towels, wallpaper, in the cats food bowl, over the computer monitor. blech!
Really, if these people want to grill themselves, they really should. That will kill off the last few brain cells they have.
It was the St. Tropez look a few years ago, now it's the St. Tropicana.
Youth of today: the lemon-face look is awaiting you once you hit your 30s. Mark my words.
Terry Turnip - did your daughter have a severe allergic reaction to the fake tan, in which case you would have been justified in letting her stay off school? If she simply 'wouldn't go out of the house' as you put it, because of how she looked, you shouldhave dragged her kicking and screaming to the school gates. A fake tan not going on evenly is no excuse for staying off school and I'm amazed you've admitted it on this forum. If she gets her haircut and doesn't like it, does she get to stay at home then too?
If they want to look like Dale Winton, let them!
If they get in the training at looking orange and hideous now, they will be in a prime spot for a job in Lewis's flogging perfume when they leave school!
Promote fake tan for school girls; keep the dole queues down when they leave school.
Jobs a gudun!
I think a good thick layer of fake tan really gives a young lady a bit of class.
I encourage the Countess to daube herself heavily before leaving the house - otherwise her ghostly countenance frightems the local children.
i agree that warpaint can give a woman a certain kind of mystique and power. it worked for Boadicea.
Marc: ultimately, it failed for Boudicca (alt spelling). The romans hated the tanned looked - they got enough of it around the sushy piazzas of home. They wanted their British girls white and flabby - they'd love it now.
Allheart, perhaps we need a new Roman Empire to do away with the scourge of fake tan. what do you think?
Manchester Born & Bred, Manchester.
Nothing to do with you wether I let her stay off or not, but as she had already done her exams and been a great pupil all year round... Why would I send her to school and let her look a right fool in front of 900+ pupils in an all girl school?
Did your dad use to send you to school looking like a pillock or something, so now you wish it on others?
By the way she starts back next september in all the top sets apart from spanish...
Religious Bracelets, earrings. headscarves, haircuts and now fake tan have all been subject to school bans.
Question is what on earth does this have to with either the ability to learn or teach?. Is anybody unable to learn becasue of how they look or who they are? no? then why on earth all the to-do?
If you go to any thirld world country you will see different style of clothes jewellry and ornaments, come to Britian and you see suppression of indivalualty, repression of religious identity and opression of difference.
What is worse is are our school results better for it?, are they what.
Schools should be there to educate, not there to decide whether someone is different or has a tan, or has a different hairstyle whatever next?
Oh! and advancement of The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie and the support of fascist dictators ????
I wonder...... but it would figure
School's for education.
Applying fake tan is on the whole to make yourself look attractive to the opposite (or same) sex. School is about education. I agree with an earlier post that girls' uniforms should be trousers or culottes. That way their legs wouldn't be on show so they shouldn't feel the need to dye them orange!