This might be a strange thing to say, but I totally don’t understand the tanning craze. Here in the South, girls tan almost every day and it’s all they talk about. I think it’s asking for skin cancer. I can somewhat understand tanning outside, but why go to the tanning bed? It’s like paying for skin cancer.
I’m a Southerner. I’m very pale, too. I don’t tan. Get over it. I’ve been made fun of for years because of this, but I’m hoping it pays off when I’m older. It already has, when I run into people I went to high school with. They already look years older than they are. And they know it. Yet they keep going to the tanning bed. I don’t get it.
My sister-in-law and myself are the only women under 35 I know who haven’t ever been to a tanning bed. I think everyone thinks we’re weird. I’ve used the self-tanning lotions, but they just make me look worse. I don’t even want to bother with it. What’s so bad about being pale? I do admire a pretty tan on other people, but I sure don’t want to pay for it.
I had a friend in elementary school whose mom was addicted (literally) to tanning. When I first met her (the mom), she was still in her twenties, but looked ages older. I actually thought it was my friend’s grandmother at first. I’ve never seen anyone that young that wrinkled. That pretty much destroyed any tanning for me!
My husband & I talk about this. We’re in the 35-45 age group, and thought that tanning went out of style a decade or so ago. Lately, it seems we see many people tanning again. I suppose people stopped caring about skin cancer?
We were behind a mom (with her 3 pre-teen sons) in a restaurant Friday, and not only was she overly tanned, she was wearing a skin tight litle white t-shirt and those extra short shorts with a cute word on the rear, and it was obvious she had had some chest & rear implants. Besides being a spectacle, she was downright cartoonish. I think more people felt sorry for her than thought she was attractive.
I thought she was at leat 35, but you’re right – tanning makes you look much older, so who knows how old she was.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks tanning is crazy. I used to work with a lot of high school and college-age girls and their main topic of conversation was when they were going to the tanning bed. I would ask them if they cared about skin cancer and they all seemed to think I was insane.