I was giving blood on Sunday and looked down at my arm. I had a leftover canned tan and didn’t look nearly as summery as I thought. I told the lab tech that I wasn’t jaundiced but just had a bad spray tan. He laughed a little nervously, I think. Anyway, I want to know how you all do it. Do you have naturally glowing summer skin, or do you stick with the story that Nicole Kidman and you are obviously sisters with her perfectly milky white skin? Or do you defy nature and bask in the sunshine and claim the health studies that sunshine is good for us again with the vitamin D? So, this won’t be the most profound thing you read all day, but this takes up room in the brain lately so I thought I’d ask.
Walking On Sunshine – Katarina & The waves
annette geffert 
Now this is the depth and breadth of cogitating that I thrive on. I have posted about it several times in the past. I’m all over the board. I’m fair, but I mostly tan and don’t burn. I swore it off a couple of summers ago, but I have agree with the Ma-ha-ree-shee of fashion and style, Big Mama, that fat looks better tanned. I wanted some color before the conference. (Oh good grief. The world revolves around the conference, doesn’t it??)
Well..I LOVED the sun as a teenager…we laid out on trampolines with baby oil…GROSS!
Now, I’ll be outside and do the sunscreen thing on face and body.
I’ll get some sun bc of being on the ballfield all weekend. But, sunscreen is my friend.
And..I used to love that song!
Have a great day Miss Annie!
Love you,
Fran
Hi Annie:
Your post made me think of Beth Moore’s story of getting a spray tan just before she and Amanda went to the public swimming pool. The fact that there was chlorine (a.k.a bleach) in the water completely escaped her and she sat with her feet in the water while talking with Amanda. You guessed it, she got out of the water with white skin wherever the water touched her. She was mortified.
I’m naturally fair complected in spite of the fact that I have Italian and Spanish heritage. I tan beautifully and love having a tan but I have had some pre-cancer spots show up so I’ve resigned from tanning my hide:) I mostly used a tanning bed. I’ve never tried the spray tan, but I have used a mousse that works well. The feet are the hardest no matter what is used. I really like Vaseline Intensive Care’s Healthy Body Glow but haven’t been able to find it anymore. It’s better than Jerkins. I’m happy if I can just take reduce the ‘blinding’ white.
You’re right, health studies do claim that we need approximately 20 minutes of sun each day (morning is best) for the benefit of the vitamin D. However, we do have a tendency to overindulge don’t we? Good luck on your search. Do tell what you decide.
Sherry
ok – gonna have to go out to itunes and download that song.
We have a little bit of cherokee I think in my family line, so I tan pretty easy. In fact, we went to the Valley once when I was in grade school on a mission trip to do backyard VBS… we went across the border to do some shopping and my mom was concerned that they weren’t going to let me back over… 😉 However, with a daughter that has peaches’n’cream skin that burns at the drop of a hat, I’ve toned it down quite a bit on the amount of time I spend in the sun and have become very adept at using sun screen.
Perfectly reasonable question as we begin summer. 🙂
Annie,
I just smiled as I read this post… I am white skinned, but no matter what if I go out I tan, I have been burned a few times but with in a few days i’m tanned… Now when I was a teenager inSouthren Cali I looked like a blonde Mexican is was so dark, now I don’t tan I just darken up just being out side…
I have one daughter that is really dark skinned and she tans so easy its not funny, and then I have my son and one daughter can tan but it isn’t easy for them, and my youngest is milky white and if she gets in the sun she doesn’t do anything andif she burns, it peels and goes back white…
I pray that you are having a great week…
Connie
GBU
I was born lily white, spent my teen years lobster red (trying to get that Arizona summer tan that never happened), spent the next few years having “suspicious” looking moles and spots removed, the next few years I walked around sporting orange (from many various products that promised and did not deliver a natural looking glow), and have now given up and gone back to the lily white-ness of my youth.
Too many cancer scares, bad spray ons, worse rub ons and even WORSE sunburns. I am all about the natural look now! Guess I just wasn’t meant to be tan!
I am very fair…used to bake myself until I was 21 or 22…as a result a new spot or bump appears almost daily.
Thank the Lord for Prescriptives Foundation and all their shades of nearly albino!
I know that I am scary-white, but I haven’t had the nerve to venture into the whole tan in a bottle or spray yet. I don’t tan anymore but did when I was young. My dad had several skin cancer places removed and I have his fair skin so that stopped me from tanning anymore.
Blessings
Michelle
By the looks of the my neck lately I’ve overdone it just a bit over the years. Plus having skin cancer at age 18 I should be smart! If the muffin top isn’t bad enough, I don’t think saggy skin looks good white or suntanned but that’s a whole other story. I do buy the whole vitamin D thing and it definitely helps my mood. Bronzers are my new best friend and I was going to put the Jergens glow lotion on my grocery list. Aren’t you glad you asked? I’m walking on sunshine because my office doesn’t have power again today and there is not a cloud in the sky!
Enjoy your day!
Love,
Angie xoxo
My skin is far from perfect but it is milky white with the occasional freckle thrown in. I do not tan. I burn and then go back to white. With a few more freckles. It is my hope that one day my freckles might band together and provide me with a nice brown glow. Except I think they call those age spots.
I hope your day is blessed!
love you,
karen