Bronze Goddess

It's no secret that I have very fair skin. When I was in high school, I hated when people commented about my fair complexion. I desperately wished I had that year-round tan that most of the girls in my grade had. Since my family didn't have very much money growing up, we never had the typical "spring break trip to Florida" like everyone else did. So, the spring break of my 8th grade year, I went to my first tanning salon. I was determined to finally have that ever desired bronze glow. From that day on, tanning became a regular thing for me. I went tanning at least 2-3 times per week up until I was 22. The risk of skin cancer never really crossed my mind, even though every magazine I read had some article bashing anyone who didn't wear SPF 50 every single day. Ironically enough, I have had an extreme fear that tanning may eventually cause wrinkles. For years, buying the latest wrinkle-reducing serum has been a top priority on my shopping list. In the last 7 years, I have religiously applied wrinkle cream and eye cream nightly. I'm not sure if I hoped that obsessively applying these products to my skin would off-set the risk of wrinkles or if it just became habit.

After my 22nd birthday, I started to feel guilty while tanning. It seems crazy that being tan is something that I would feel guilty about, but maybe those magazines finally got to me after all the years of reading about skin cancer. I remember going tanning and saying "this is the last time I'll go," but eventually, I would give in and go again after a couple months. Then, I started thinking about all the extremely tan girls I've known growing up. And, then... I looked at pictures of their moms. All of their moms have skin that literally reminds me of leather. With that being said, it's been a year and a half since I've visited a tanning salon. I also made a vow to wear sunscreen every time I leave the house. When I go to the pool, I'm covered head to toe in SPF 50 and my pale skins blinds half of the pool patrons. As hard as it is, I have to remind myself that being really tan now would do absolutely nothing for me in 20 years when my chest is covered in dark brown sun spots and my skin resembles the latest chocolate brown Coach purse.


Me and my pasty pale skin :)