I used to spend a lot of time in summer riding in other people’s cars. Since their cars were rarely air-conditioned I usually had my right arm draped out an open window, which resulted in my right arm being noticeably darker than the rest of me.
Heck, I find the heat here in Florida in the summer unbearable, so I try to stay out of it… but I walk to and from work, since it’s only a mile away. And since my walk is more or less north-south… my right side is tanned and my left side is not. Very embarrassing!
Walk backwards for a few days.
Dude - I’m a red head. I think I have the “Sun is bad for you thing” pretty much down pat.
I wear sunscreen, but if you spend a week in a sunny local, unless you never leave the house yer gonna get some sun. There’s just not a hulluva lot you can do about that. (And it’s no fun to swim in long pants and a turtleneck, just in case you were going to suggest that).
How about a wetsuit? 
Now I’ve got this picture in my head - sort of a barber pole alice: red white red white.
I’m a red head as well, and the fact that I rarely expose myself to the evil burning orb that is the sun only compounds the problem. Even with sunscreen I burn in an entirely inadequate amount of time.
Oh well, pale skin does have it’s advantages, at least I don’t need to turn on the lights to wander around at night. 
I know how you feel, alice, another fair irish lassie here. A couple of years ago I decided to find out what it was like to have a tan, and spent the money to go to a tanning salon with a special UV free bed. It was super intense, and you hit max tan after three sessions. I loved it, however, my budget did not. Oh well, now I’m back to my tanless self. My boyfriend is naturally darker than I am when I am tanned, and he gets darker with any sun exposure, so, it’s pretty darn noticable. He likes it though, says that he thinks the contrast of colors pressed up against each other is neat. 
~V
Actually, I’m always sort of pleased with this asthetic as well.
He actually suggested that perhaps I should hang my butt out the window so I could get to to match the rest of me.
He’s so helpful…
I don’t tan. I stroke.
- Woody Allen
Just remember something:
Even when the sun is at its weakest in January, you can get all the vitamin D you need by being outdoors for about 10 minutes.
He might need hours.
(The New York Times recently discussed this in its health column - obliquely, it answers why white people exist. Of course I can’t link to it, but a pretty good discussion starts on this page, about half-way down. Essentially, a lack of melanin allows white people to create lots of Vitamin D from very little sunlight. The more melanin you have, the more sunlight you need for the same effect. Apparently doctors are finding that rickets is a problem among dark-skinned people in Northern climates - vitamin D supplementing is very important. And ironically, the most vitamin-D-supplemented food in the US is milk, which many people with melanin can’t digest…)
Alice, if you’ll show me your “tan lines” I promise not to laugh. Although I will smile!
WEll, I’m not quite so pink now, but my ass is starting to itch. (Well, I guess it’s my thigh/ass, really - the part that wasn’t covered by my Modest Enough to Wear in Front of My Mom swimsuit).
… and to yer “Toto.”
Most underpants go around the front too, sweety.
As to my “tomatoes”. Well. Now. Lets just say that the girls are a smidge itchy too.
I’ll get you my little pretty…
Sun
I, too, am a red-head, and traditionally nervous of the sun. I found a great new sport this spring, though, which will get me outside regardless of my Victorian avoidance, and burn me to a crisp every Saturday. (Dragonboating - I’m the drummer, and I get to yell at people really loud.)
You are most excused, p@cific@812. On the basis that freckles that stay for a year or more are moles, I am wholly moley. I honestly believe it is the only way I will ever have a decent tan.