We do it for beauty. We do it so we can have a certain “glow.” Whether you are blessed with an olive or peaches and cream complexion, you might have asked yourself why tanning is so important. Why do we bake ourselves under the sun for hours on end, while applying our brand new bottle of Banana Boat SPF 4 Tanning Oil every hour or so? Why do we find ourselves searching for the best Self-Tanning Lotions that will appear natural to everyone else? Who did this to us? Who created this madness which we call “tanning?” I blame Coco Chanel.
According to The Guardian, Coco Chanel was once spotted in 1923 coming home from a Mediterranean Cruise with a noticeably darker skin tone. Of course, this was accidental, but it is what started it all. Then, in the 1960s, Commercial Air Travel opened opportunities for more people to take vacations. This led to an increase in the darker looking skin. In the early 2000s, the majority of people said that the most important thing to return home with from vacation was a tan. Now, you are expected to come back home from vacation 10 shades darker. We post Instagram pictures on the last day at the beach, not necessarily because we want everyone to know how much fun we had, but we crave the comments similar to, “OMG! You’re so tan!” or a simple heart-eyed emoji. You aren’t fooling anyone. Everyone knows that is the reason. We want to show off our “glow.”
I blame Coco Chanel. This is not in a bad way. I do believe there is some reason out there in the world for why the idea of being tan has endured for this long. It is a trend that hasn’t died, yet. For instance, right now I am admiring the tan I got from the pool yesterday and that’s okay. I have accepted the fact that I will no longer just go to the pool to swim. In fact, most of the time I don’t swim even swim anymore and if I do it is to cool off from tanning. The truth is, I want to be tan. I want to spend an extra couple of dollars for a better self-tanning lotion or tanning oil. I want to waste my precious time laying out under the sun to achieve the perfect skin tone. And for that very reason, I will forever blame Coco Chanel.
