Ryan ChartrandAh yes, it’s that time of year again. The sun is coming out, temperatures are slowly rising and most importantly, it’s bathing suit season. Along with banishing the wool sweaters and long underwear to the back of the closet comes the reemergence of summer wear. As I am sure you will realize the next time you get ready for a sunny afternoon at the beach that the bathing suit is not the only thing that has not seen the light of day in up to six months.
You may disrobe for the first time this season and find the majority of your torso, legs and arms alarmingly without pigment. I just want to let everyone know this is completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of. Please resist all urges to go bake in your backyard or clock in 10 hours at the nearest tanning bed.
For those who actually enjoy a fluctuation of skin tone over the course of a normal year, I envy you. Unfortunately for me, I enjoy a fine mixture of fairness and freckles that only a strong combination of northern Italian and Scandinavian heritage can truly perfect.
I personally have never known the beauty of copper skin, but my argument against tanning stems from much more than jealousy of those bronzed beauties. I just can’t get over that in the age of information, with all the knowledge on the negative effects of extreme sun exposure, our society continues to lather on the oil and hit the tanning beds.
There are so many myths that exist about tanning; like if you have a base tan and practice controlled tanning without burning that it is not causing any damage. (The pale people may not give off that sun-kissed glow now but we also won’t look like baseball mitts in 10 years.)
Tanning is ultimately the body’s natural response to help prevent skin damage from sun exposure. Every time you experience a tan, enzymes at the skins surface attempt to repair the damage, the more sun you see the less chance these enzymes will have to reconstruct the harmed areas of the skin. What is left is unrepaired tissue at a high risk for mutation and cancer . sound hot?
Call me old-fashioned, but I think a gamble with cell mutation is a pretty heavy risk for a temporary darker skin tone.
What bothers me most about extreme tans is not their insanely unnatural look, but rather everyone knows the dangers and do it anyway. Taking care of your skin is suddenly second to looking better in that dress for that one weekend or ridding yourself of tan lines. What tanning beds ultimately come down to is not only subjecting your skin to radiation, but paying for it.
As our “tanning bed” generation becomes more exposed to information and case studies confirming the damage caused by such practices I feel I look around and see not only more tanning bed facilities opening but more fake-tan people. Oompa Loompas are no longer fictitious creatures in Willy Wonka’s factory; they are out in full force and among us on campus.
We all enjoy different hair and eye colors; since when are skin tones any different? Why is having fair skin in the middle of July considered unattractive or something to be self-conscience of?
This summer, I do not plan on boarding my windows and becoming a hermit. But with some SPF 50 and nearby shade, I should do just fine. To my fellow sun lovers, I will see you all out at the beach. Look for me, I’ll be the ghost in the brown bikini.
Cassie Gaeto is a journalism junior and Mustang Daily staff writer.