Mine isn't as severe in the picture, and is fortunately more evenly spread on my upper arms and lower legs. It really isn't all that big of a deal, and to deal with it I typically just exfoliate my arms once or twice a week with a body scrub. It's super common, and I notice that tons of people have it. However, it doesn't change the fact that there are certain times I am a bit more self conscious of it, like, for my upcoming wedding day.
When I was younger, I used to go to tanning salons and use the tanning beds to get a nice summer glow. Now that I'm older, and feel less invincible, I actually care about what I'm doing to my body. The thought of increasing my likelihood of developing skin cancer by 75% scares the living daylights out of me. Especially after having lived through the cancer experience with someone that was very near and dear to me. I don't want to put myself at risk. Especially for something as trivial as a wedding glow.
At the same time, I'd like to do something to even out my skin tone for the big day. I don't even care about being tan so much as I do about having nice even skin. I went to the local tanning salon and asked about their non UV options. I told the girl I did not want to be orange, and was simply looking for the lightest shade they offered to even out my skin tone. She assured me that airbrush was the way to go, and I decided to buy 3 sessions on that day.
I showed up for my first session not really knowing what to expect. They basically have you strip down as much as you're comfortable, put a strange little cap on to protect your hair, and put sticky soles on the bottom of your feet to avoid tanning the bottoms. The spraying itself only took about 5 minutes, and I was ready to go.
What the did not prepare me for was the fact that my skin was going to be DARK for the first 5-12 hours. This is what I looked like when I got home.
It doesn't show as well in the photo, but I basically looked like an over tanned bimbo who should be walking around some Southern Cali beach. I was so dark that when it came time to select where we were going to have dinner, I asked him if we could do drive through, as I was to embarrassed to be seen looking like that. However, wanting to do what the professionals advised, I waited to shower until the next morning, letting the initial spray stay on for a full 12 hours.
My first shower the next morning was quite messy. The water washed away the dark color, and revealed this tone:
Much better. And I felt pretty good about the way skin looked nice and even. However, there were spots on my hands and arms that were pretty orange, and I wasn't happy with it overall. Unfortunately, the orange never really went away, rather just faded over time.
In the end, this is NOT something I would recommend to folks for something as important as your wedding. I'm planning to do airbrush makeup for my wedding, and the makeup artist says she airbrushes face neck and shoulders, but I think I may talk to her about spraying some of the to cover my arms a little too. I've done it in the past with this, and it worked so well, so I've got higher hopes for the airbrush look than this fake tan crap, haha.
2 comments:
Yikes! I lay out and "bake" a bit per say. I don't think it's great but I obviously don't think I overdo it. I always wear at least a base sunscreen. I don't spend more than an hour and a half out back if I am not doing anything. If I am doing something then I am there for a reason and don't have control over time. It's probably not great, but I also really like the Vitamin D. I feel great when I get good bits of sun here and there.
yea, I wish I had a house or at least an apartment with an outside area where I could do that. Laying in the REAL sun is never really an option for me since I've never had an apartment with a porch or backyard or pool.
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