by Marie Hutchison

Created on: July 14, 2009

Sunlight can be amazing for a number of obvious reasons; and let's face it, one of those reasons is because it can make us look extremely tan. When we are tan, our imperfections, blotchy skin, broken veins, etc. are somewhat hidden. It is wonderful in the moment, BUT it is not worth the long-term negative results.

I am in the process of accepting my pale skin and trying to find the beauty in it; I know that I feel better about my appearance when I am tan, but I am trying to change that. I am very pleased to see celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Anne Hatheway, who look great in their own skin. Both actresses can be seen on the red carpet with a skin tone that is not bronzed; they look great!

I recently spent a week at the beach, and I was proud of the fact that actually did apply sun block on a regular basis and did not burn. (There were days when I hoped to get some color, but in the end I was glad the sun block worked and that I remained pale.) One of the most surprising observations I made while at the beach was how seriously sun exposure can age a person. I visited the fitness center while at the beach met a handful of women (mostly between the ages of forty and sixty) who resided there. The majority of the women were VERY tanned, but one woman was pale in comparison; she obviously used sun block on a regular basis.

The women who were tan looked nice because they had color, but wow did their skin wrinkle and sag to a degree. These were women who did yoga and cardio at this fitness center on a regular basis, but despite their efforts, their skin was no going to look good. The woman with the natural pale skin looked wonderful! She had skin that looked smooth and healthy. Yes, she was older and her skin correlated with her age, but it was not wrinkled and dry looking like the women around me who were tan. It was a wonderful sight because it demonstrated the long term effects of sun exposure, which was something that I never really got my mind around before that visit. I knew that the sun was bad and harmful to the skin, but I never visualized how drastically it could influence my future appearance.

I think that it is wonderful that sunless tanning products are becoming such a big market in our society. I know that they are not perfect, but I think they are great. Regardless of whether one goes tanning on the beach or with a bottle of sunless tanning product, he/she will probably get a tan line somewhere; but I would rather have a tanning line from a bottle because it is not going to ruin my skin in the future.

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