OK, I admit it. I'm a fake baker.
I'm not proud of it, and I don't usually like to talk about it, but I'm going out on a limb.
The other day I went to the tanning salon and signed up for 10 tans for a $20 deal. In the tanning world, this is a pretty good deal. But that's not why I did it.
You see, I'm what most would call fair skinned
the result of the ever-so-lovely combination of blue eyes and red hair. If I could be any more Irish, I would be clear.
So why are you trying to tan your illustriously porcelain skin, you ask? Let me plead my case:
Spring break is almost here. I'm driving to Orlando with three of my friends to spend the week behind the poolside bar. But unfortunately, strawberry daiquiris and SPF 45 don't mix well. Under normal circumstances, outdoor activity in Florida requires a decent amount of lathering at least every 20 minutes.
So I guess you could say I'm trying to go against nature, or
pre-tan if you will. It's obvious I won't really tan - the only two reactions my skin has to the sun are to burn and to create sporadic clusters of freckles. But hopefully 10 trips to the bed for eight minutes each (I'm starting small) will prep my skin for some Florida rays. And instead of slapping on sunscreen every 10 minutes, I'll be throwing down Captain Morgan and Coke.
But before you're allowed to use a tanning bed, you have to complete a skin test. At first I thought this meant they were going to put some kind of chemical on my skin and see what happened. I soon learned that a skin test is a questionnaire that asks you to rate different aspects of your skin. I started getting scared when most of my answers were zeros.
Question No.1: How does your skin react when exposed to the sun for more than one hour without protection? 0 - burns and peels; 1 - burns; 2 - tans a little; 3 - visibly tans; 4 - becomes grey colored. That's a definite zero for me.
No. 2: Have you ever used a tanning bed before? Yes. How did your skin react? When I went to Maui in high school, I tanned about six times before leaving and surprisingly did not burn at all while I was there. I didn't really tan, but compared to my pasty friends who didn't have the privilege of traveling to Hawaii in the height of January, I was bronze!
All this talk of burning, tanning and freckling got me thinking ... what am I really doing to my skin? Unfortunately for me, tanning is not usually an option. But is exposing my skin to more UV rays worth not getting a sunburn during spring break?
I think it is. Of course, I won't be able to tell until I'm laying poolside. And at that point, I don't think I'll care about anything.
Sun: Bring it on! I'm ready.
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Laura Withers
