| It's a national misconception that tan skin is a sign of | | | | products, notorious for looking unnatural. (In one |
| good health. It probably stems from the assumption | | | | episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Giles asks |
| that healthy people spend lots of time outside doing | | | | Buffy to describe a demon who attacked her, and |
| exciting, active things. (This assumption is problematic, | | | | she says, "Cloak, glowing eyes, and really bad fake |
| by the way. Most of the people I know who have | | | | bake." Giles looks at her blankly and asks her to |
| really great tans get them lying in a tanning bed or | | | | translate, and she replies, "Orange.") You can go on |
| by a swimming pool.) | | | | campaigns trying to convince your friends to protect |
| It's an interesting reversal of paradigms, since the | | | | their skin and be pale with you. |
| whole point of snooty objects like parasols was to | | | | I love the option of using products like Olay |
| keep women in earlier centuries from getting freckles | | | | Complete Touch of Sun. Products like this can be |
| or tans. Now tans give the same impression that pale | | | | part of normal good skin care routines, because they |
| skin used to - they are signs of prestige that suggest | | | | usually include moisturizer and sunscreen - SPF 15 so |
| long vacations in Hawaii. | | | | that it provides some protection without making |
| The truth is that sunburns and suntans are signs of | | | | anyone look like they've spent a lifetime indoors |
| irreversibly damaged skin, and the damage can lead | | | | practicing the piano. The Olay version of this product |
| to serious problems, including skin cancer. Most people | | | | also includes a little bit of bronzer, something that |
| have been given this information on multiple | | | | adds some color by "bringing out your skin's natural |
| occasions (usually by parents screeching something | | | | color" without making you look fake or orange, and |
| about melanoma) and yet the myth persists, and the | | | | without requiring you to damage your skin in a |
| approach of summer always sends people | | | | tanning bed. I'm a fan of this kind of product because |
| (particularly young women) into a frenzy to stop | | | | it doesn't require you to destroy any misguided |
| being "pasty." | | | | paradigms to avoid having leathery skin by the time |
| The alternatives to being stylishly tan aren't all great. | | | | you're 30, but maybe if people say no to excessive |
| You can wear sunscreen or stay inside all summer | | | | skin damage a little at a time, it will work it's way |
| and be pale (which is a healthy option and shouldn't | | | | down into the collective psyche. |
| be completely ecshewed). You can use fake tanning | | | | |