Summer wouldn't be summer to me if I didn't get at least a little tanned. I don't lay out in the sun for hours at a time like I did in my youth, but I still like to catch a few rays. I tend usually to try to lay in the sun for thirty or forty minutes after about four-thirty in the afternoon before swimming. And I like to read while I'm tanning. I never have been one to use a tanning booth, either. I know a lot of people who do that on a year round basis and I think it must not be very good for them because it seems to age people even more than the sun does. That might be, though, because they do tan all year round instead of just for the summer season.
I need to tan. I'm very fair skinned so I'm way too pale (which is really bad because sometimes it's easier to freak out and think I'm sick) and tend to burn easily. I'm not interested in doing too much around here but I hope to get some sun this summer. In moderation I know sun is good for you.
^ I'm similar in the sense of being really pale and people questioning it. I do NOT tan, though. I do sometimes burn accidentally, but I don't intentionally try to get a tan. I don't want the additional sun damage and it makes my freckles worse.
I don’t actively tan, but because of where I live I can get quite a bit of incidental sun. My shoulders are darker than the rest of me for this reason, haha. But I’m pretty fair-skinned naturally, so other than my shoulders I don’t go much darker than MAC NC25-ish, maybe pushing NC30. And I kind of don’t think I’d look like myself if I did go any darker than that, considering I used to be quite a bit paler).
It is nice to tan but it really is bad for the skin. We do need an ample amount of sunlight but we don't have to bathe in the sun for how many hours just to get that needed amount of sunlight. A walk in the neighborhood during mornings can let you get that enough sunlight for your whole body. Tanning is good but please don't go overboard.
I love to tan, but only natural tanning. They say tanning in the sun is bad, but in my country everyone is used to sun tanning and you rarely hear of it causing any issues. I have never spray tanned before and I think it looks too unnatural and orange. I will sun tan wearing sun block and only early morning and late afternoon.i think if gives the prettiest tan!
I used to, but I don't see the need for it now. My skin is a lighter olive anyway, I don't really need to and I find paler skin more beautiful anyway. I do my best to keep a handle on the preventable diseases through controllable means, such as diet and exercise; avoiding the obvious contributors. Slathering chemical soup on my skin and baking it in doesn't seem healthy to me, I'd rather take my chances with the sun. We ALL will end up with the something that will take us.. I'm doing my best as it is; I will not hide away from the most natural thing we have left. Besides.. I'm in Canada, I already spend more than half the year waiting to feel it on my skin again lol.. no way am I hiding from it.
I honestly try to avoid any sense of tanning as much as possible. I tan really easily and I don't enjoy having my tan marks on my body. I am also pretty dark, so it just makes me look darker. Like Josie, I am also from Canada, but I am the opposite, I hide from the sun. I do know some individuals who try very hard to tan though.
I love laying in the sun, I find it very relaxing and comforting. I always make sure to wear sunscreen so I don't burn and I get very little of a tan which sucks because I am so fair but my goal isn't to tan its just to relax.
My skin is too sensitive, and I can only handle the sun for fifteen minutes or so, or I start to burn and then my skin peels. For this reason I am never purposely directly in the sun, but I do get a little natural tan from just coming and going in the sun.
I don't do tan. I am asian and I think "going tan" is more of a trend there in Western countries than in Eastern countries. Here, we are more concerned about having whiter skin so we use various kinds of whitening products: soap and lotion.
To be honest I really don't care about the tan, what I do care about is the health of my skin, that is why I always protect it carefully. For me the beach is to enjoy myself with my family, not be be laying down for the tan.
Last month, we went to a beach resort. That was the first time I got to know of the tanning lotion. My 25-year old niece was applying it on her body. She said that she wanted a tan. But I was really dismayed because her bikini was so skimpy. Fortunately, there were only few people on the beach.
In the Philippines, people usually do the opposite: We want to have really fair, white skin! Tanning isn't a goal here, most girls are so concerned about having light skin and tend to avoid the sun at all times! Filipinas are very conscious about skin color, probably because beauty in the Philippines is equated to having light-almost pale-skin. It's the exact opposite of Western culture.
I don't have any use for tanning lotions because my skin is already tan. Well the shade is a little lighter compared to synthetic tans (particularly the orangey variants) and it's become that way due to frequent sun exposure. Free, natural tan is one of the perks I've been able to enjoy as a resident of a tropical country. The weather's always hot for the first 6 months of the year before rain starts pouring in until December.
So that's really interesting @ellajanelle , I think that you have nailed it exactly, because to many is not just an health concern, but also a fashionable situation. In my case where I live, it's highly fashionable to have a big tan, I simply don't care about it.
Isn't it funny how we are never satisfied with what we have! Westerners are paler and want to be darker, Easterners are the opposite. We never seem to be simply satisfied with what we have!
Haha I’m caught somewhere in the middle, especially as I’m half-Filipino/half-white. People have commented on my complexion, and I’ve noticed it’s usually Asians who compliment me and white people who tell me I need to go to the beach!
That is very true, paler people usually want to be tanned while darker people not really of course. For me it's still a matter of health, I just want to enjoy myself and don't get a sunburn while doing it.
Very true. Those are my sentiments as well. I guess people will never be satisfied. I don't know if it is a good thing or not.
