I don’t tan or freckle. I burn. When I was young and stupid and tried to get a tan, it never worked even when I’d try and go slowly. I don’t think lobster legs would look any better than blindingly white legs.
I have a nice collection of straw hats and never go out without one!
Ah, yes. The straw hat that went with the “picnic” outfit. I loved that hat!
I prefer pearlescent 
I hear you, FaerieBeth.
Yes, I’m paler than pretty much everyone I know. That’s because I’m Irish and I stay the hell out of the sun because I have family who had melanoma.
I’m also 27 and look about 20 (this is partially because of good genes, though).
Everyone nagging me about going to a tanning bed can line up to kiss my foot when we’re all 60. They’ll look 75, and I’ll look 40.
So neener on them.
PS: Just bought some Bull Frog today. Normally it’s Memorial Day before I have to start worrying about sunblock, but not this year.
My husband calls it “alabaster.”
What kills me is that it’s not exactly news that the sun is bad for you; unless these people have been living under a rock for the last, oh, 15 years or so, they know what they’re doing to themselves. Yet they still do it. Tanning is not like other self-destructive behaviors; it’s not addictive like smoking, it doesn’t give you a buzz like alcohol or drugs, it’s not something you crave like chocolate or cheesecake. The only reason to tan is for vanity’s sake. To me, the health risks totally outweigh the questionable benefits (who decided tan skin was more desirable than pale, anyway?). And it’s a risk that’s so easily avoided, too! People who will go 50 yards out of their way to avoid a smoker, say, or who carefully read labels and follow a balanced diet and exercise conscientiously will celebrate the first week of spring by rushing out and fakebaking. Amazing.
There’s nothing wrong with a little color.
It’s not always completely white vs. dried up and leathery you guys.
I don’t tan, burn, or freckle. Well, I tan a very little bit, almost unnoticeable. After that, I can stay out in the sun all day and not tan anymore, but the nice thing is, I don’t burn, either.
I went to Arizona in June once, did lots of outdoor activities, including some in Flagstaff, elevation 7000 feet. I didn’t wear sunscreen. I came home the same color as I was when I left.
I know, I am a freak. But anyone who gives me grief about my nearly-white legs can have a look at my slightly whiter ass, while they are bending down to kiss it
Heck, I get these comments from my own sisters. I can tan if I try, I just haven’t tried for the last 8 years or so. So I get lots of comments on my ghostlyness and ability to glow in the dark.
I can’t wait until my little sis and I are both in our 40’s and I look 10 years younger than her…
I knew a kid in high school who tanned all of the time. He looked about 45 years old, when in reality he was 18. He was diagnosed with melanoma, yet kept tanning anyway.
My dad tans very easily. He slathers on the SPF 50 every hour or two. He had to have a bit of cancerous skin removed (although I didn’t find out until way after the fact–he didn’t want us to worry).
My boyfriend once called me “white as a baby’s ass” (and got away with it). It’s true, I’m pale as hell. My mom tells me all the time how gorgeous my skin looks, though. She wants to paint it. I just tell myself that I was born 100 years too late.
As I read on a blog today, “What’s wrong with just looking skin-colored?” Although I will be the first to admit that no one wants to see my pale skin at the beach in a swimsuit.
Personally, I don’t think I can risk a little color. That’s just my opinion, though.
I get the same sort of garbage that I need to get some sun on my legs when I wear shorts. I tell em if they don’t like my legs don’t look at them. I don’t think lobster red is a better color than pale white. I worked for years in an unairconditioned warehouse, they certainly didn’t dress in a way I wanted to see so why should I dress for them. I at least was within the dress code guidelines.
I’ve never intentionally tanned in my life. I was no older than twelve, maybe younger, when I got my last significant sunburn, which occurred despite my mother’s committment to chasing me down and slathering high-spf goo on me all throughout my childhood. And I’m already playing spot-the-suspicious-mole at 20. (Fortunately, I think the scars look cooler than what they’re replacing.)
The sun is… not my friend.
you know what happens when a Stokerian/Hollywood Vampire is exposed to the sun, right?
that happens to me, i don’t tan, i spontaneously combust…
well, maybe i’m exaggerating a little, but i do burn extremely easily and i need to use a minimum of SPF 30 (prefer 45 or higher if they make it) and even with that level of protection, if i miss one tiny area, that area becomes bright crimson
i think i might have a little Vampire DNA in me…
With as much time as you spend on these forums, you probably can’t remember the last time you’ve been outside.
Sorry Guin, couldn’t resist.
I very much agree.
Oy- I bridge the generation of sun worshippers (I had friends who used to put Betadine and baby oil together–and use aluminum foil to really get the face) and the current use od sunscreen. There really wasn’t sunscreen around when I was a kid–a blonde, blue-eyed, Casper ghost kid in Florida(!).
Well, now I have vitiligo and HAVE to avoid the sun or risk CA, big time. I last had a bad burn when I was 17 (pre-vitiligo days) in Hawaii for spring break. I have avoided the sun ever since.
I, too, get the hostility–even AFTER I “explain” my reasons (I don’t feel I should have to explain, but what the hell).
But I also get jaws dropping and people saying–no way are you 42!
I like my way better. 
I do miss an even skin tone (the normal skin still tans slightly, despite sunscreen), but even w/o the disease, I would use preventative techniques. I do occasionally use the tanners in the bottles, but never have good success with them.
PS-I have a neighbor who starts laying out in April (in Chicago! too cheap for the beds, I guess!) and she is 5 years older than me, and looks about 20 years older-she has crow’s feet the depth of the Marianis trench! (I spelled that wrong…).
You know, if she’d only applied sunscreen just once, in 1960, for 20 minutes, she wouldn’t have that problem.
[sub]d&r[/sub]
Touche.
Seriously, though, I don’t go outside much, but that’s mostly because of my allergies. I used to be able to sit outside on the porch and read a good book. Alas, no more. I go out and after five minutes, both my eyes and my nose are running like a faucet.
Re: Allergies, I’ve always had that problem. I’m going through my own personal allergy hell as we speak. Oh well, it’ll be over with in …2 months. Yay?
OooOOOOhh! This is a pet peeve of mine. I’m very pale and have been told countless times by assorted assholes that I need to get a tan.
I don’t tan, I burn. If I burn bad, it peels and I’m pale again. If I burn a little, a crop of freckles comes up. No tan. Ever. My dad had skin cancer a few years back so I really have to be careful.
But, when I’m older I’ll have the satisfaction of having nice, smooth skin while the “you need a tan” people will be walking around looking like alligator leather.
Excellent rant! I, too, am very pale and I like it that way. I burn in the sun. Maybe, possibly, after I burn and let it fade, I end up slightly tanned. My arms tan a little bit, so that in the summer I have a watch line, but my legs do not tan. I slather myself in sunblock out of self-preservation. I have a family history of skin cancer too and I don’t want to have it by any way that I can avoid it. Don’t forget to wear your sunglasses too, folks.