Very soon, I am going away for a week to warmer climes (hopefully). It will be before the real tourist season and before the real warm weather starts, but hopefully it will still be warmer than here (actually last year it wasn't - we froze in the spring rain in Crete at about 12 degrees and it was 26 degrees in the UK).
After an English winter deprived of sun (whetever they say at the Meteorological Office, I haven't noticed it being much warmer than usual) I look incredibly white and pasty. So I am considering whether to get a spray tan so that at least if I strip off on a sunbed, they don't think some new variety of great white whale has been beached.
I had a spray tan last year and it was rather good. Quite subtle, but giving that nice sunkissed look you get after a few days in the Mediterranean. But things are a bit tight this year, and twenty five quid on that is twenty five quid I can't spend on cocktails or meals out. So it's a tough call.
At least spray tans are better for you than sunbeds. My youngest daughter uses a sunbed occasionally and no matter how many times I nag her about the dangers she won't stop. It's made even worse by the fact that naturally, she has lots of moles on her skin which apparently makes you more vulnerable. But now she's got her job back, perhaps she will get sprayed again as she will have some money, and stop using the beds. Let's hope.
An alternative is of course to 'do it yourself', and some of the brands on the market at the moment are very good. I did try DIY tanning last year and had OK results, although I don't think I exfoliated enough and after a while the dry skin on my shin flaked off leaving me with a snakeskin type effect - very interesting! It's also quite difficult to do your own fake tan on your back and I ended up twisting and turning like Houdini trying to get 100% coverage, and failing. But you live and learn, and I won't make the same mistakes again, and I will use more moisturiser.
Definitely, I look healthier with a tan and my ever blonder hair also looks more attractive with a tanned face. It's better to pay a little more and get a brand which turns you a nice golden colour and not orange, and if you are naturally pale like me not to try and go too dark, which makes you look like a refugee from the Black and White Minstrels (now that's showing my age!).
So I shall have to fork out for a decent brand in a week or so's time to apply it every few days and let the colour slowly build up. By the time I get on that plane I will look lovely and healthy and regardless of whether the weather is rubbish or not, at least I will look like I have been in the sun. And I won't match the Easyjet corporate colours either!
Can't wait - roll on holidays, here I come!
Fortunately, i am very lucky , being olive skinned, i only have to look at the sun and i go brown. after only a few days in the sun up the mountain, i look really tanned, lovely! However, whatever you ,it doesn't last! Skin just continues to rejuvenate itself and by doing so, off comes the tan!the other down side of course is that the longer you spend in the sun, the more the sun has an ageing effect on the skin, hence you lose the tan but keep the wrinkles!
ReplyDeleteDon't know what to advise re; spray tanning, wouldn't spend £25 on it myself, but if it makes you feel better do it!