It's summer, which means that everyone is obsessed with having the perfect summer body. This means working out a lot, eating tons of healthy foods, and, for some, tanning. Girls spend all day in the sun practically baking their skin. It's unhealthy, unnatural, and just plain painful to see. No one wants to be covered in head to toe sunburns, yet these girls will do anything for the perfect summer body.
My skin is extremely fair, so I don't tan. At all. I just burn up and become covered in sunburns within minutes. I even have to wear UV protective clothing when I go out on my boat because conventional sunscreen isn't enough. There are some summers when I've tried to convince myself that I can tan, but it only hurts my skin and my body (I am currently writing this article with a massive burn across my entire back). I learned the hard way that I need to take care of my skin and take extra precautions in the sun.
If you can't tan naturally, cooking your skin isn't going to help anything. This increases your chance for many different cancers and skin diseases. No, you won't get skin cancer from one sunburn, but long-term damage by UV rays can be devastating to your overall health. We have to protect our skin and learn how to take care of it.
There are so many harmless ways to tan your skin without sitting out in the sun and baking all day. Many skincare brands have begun making gradual tanners (Jergens has the best), in addition to spray-tans and other sunless-tanners. These methods may require you to reapply and touch up every few weeks, but it does little to no damage to your skin. Even tanning beds, which are not in the direct sun, are so harmful to your body. Spend a little extra money every month restocking on gradual tanner and spray-tan. Your skin will thank you.
While we all want to be tan and gorgeous all summer, we also want to be healthy and safe. It's always better to be a little pale and tanning safely than to be completely burned all over your body. No one will ever make fun of you for wanting to protect your skin, trust me.