Summer: tanlines?

Hi friends!

If you know me in the slightest, or can see my picture you know that I have very fair/ pale skin-- I am Irish and German-- which means that I burn. A lot. And I hardly get anything to show for it.

I am going to the beach in July, and my mom (who is not that fair) told me to get a base tan before we go. She was just trying to help me so that I did not burn as bad, and in her mind, this would help. But really it doesn't.

I got burnt 4 times in May alone this year-- none of those burns were "good tan lines," or intentional. I realized that although I have gotten burnt and I did not peal, I was still not getting "tan," I got some color, but to anyone else I just looked too pale.

I swear I am tan. Really I am. (this was taken this year, 2015)

If any of you are fair-skinned you know what sunburn feels like. 15 minutes can make you as red as an apple, and you basically have two different states-- lobster or ghost. And you are most likely used to the pain of sunburn by this time in your life.

I used to lay out with no protection to try and get a tan, but I only burned. I would then hold out and hope that my burn would turn into a tan. And out of the 20 years I have been alive, there was only one summer where I was really tan.

This is my only "real tan" from 2010.

 

 

Now compare it to the picture taken this year (see above). There is a BIG difference. And sure, I like the 2010 picture better, and I wish my complexion could be that dark all the time, or at least every summer, but it has happened once, and I am sure that it will never happen again. Like I said, I am Irish and German.

 

 

We all know that the sun is bad for our skin and can lead to skin cancer. It is proven-- in many, many, many studies. But even so, when summer rolls around, society tells us that we should be tan. And that pale is bad. If you are too pale you just do not fit in. Everyone comments on that, "Wow, you are SO pale!" or "Hah! I am tanner than you. I am never tanner than anyone!" or "You are so pale! Why don't you lay out for a while, or go to a tanning bed? It will definitely help!"

 

This summer I have really been thinking, I put sunblock on all of my tattoos so the ink won't fade-- if the sun can fade the color of tattoos, what is it REALLY doing to my skin? What is so bad about pale? So bad about not getting skin cancer? Not having aging spots when I am 20? What is so bad about that?

 

Sure, I don't "fit in" with society, and the pale comments will never really end, but I have come to peace with my paleness. I have fair skin. I will not tan. I will burn. Either way, I am damaging my skin. I am pale. And if nothing else, I will not damage my skin as much, and on the bright side (literally), my legs almost glow in the dark, so in the summer cars will see them before they hit me. They practically glow in the dark! (: