Why don’t the soles of my feet or the palms of my hands tan in the sun?

Achieving an elegant, shiny, and balanced tan is the summer goal of millions of people. For many, the beach is the prime location to accomplish this goal, with the most common method being to find a small patch of sand, spread out a towel, and sprawl out. The risk is that if you aren’t careful, you can end up with a painful sunburn, making you look more like a lobster than a bronze deity.

Another issue to consider is that there are some areas of the body that it is harder for the sun to reach. No matter how much you bring out your best contortion skills, there are always nooks and crannies that remain entrenched. To a certain extent, this is unavoidable. And here’s why.

It’s common knowledge. No matter how bronze your tan is or how olive your skin tone is, the palms of your feet and hands remain as if they were painted with condensed milk. There is no human or extraterrestrial way of transferring the tan to these spots. The reason is, in reality, more physical than anything else. The skin is three times thicker in these areas than parts of the body. Therefore, it is much more difficult for the desired chromatic alterations to occur.

Your summer goal might have long-term health consequences

Sun in moderation

But that’s not the only explanation. Because of their position, our palms tend to receive much less sunlight than other parts of the body. Unless you have the strange habit of walking down the street as if high-fiving the fireball that fills our sky, it’s unlikely that you see the color of your palms change.

So, for the vast majority of humans, it’s mission impossible to achieve a skin tone even close to the one that Sophia Loren still has - and even those lucky few who do get the hue have to face the fact that they’re still not Sophia Loren.

So, now that summer is here, with the heat, the sweat, the umbrella, the shovels, the waves, and twice as much sun on the terrace, we must bear in mind that a bird in the hand is worth two in the hand. Sunbathing in moderation, measuring the time well, and taking the pertinent precautions so as not to damage the skin. This is not a competition to see who looks more like an Apollonian athlete from ancient Greece.