If You Can Smell It, It's Killing You

I would say, "I'm from Canada - we don't tan" - but that's not entirely true. In fact, when I was a precocious teen there was a lot of pressure for me to get a healthy, golden tan. I think my mum especially was convinced that if I got a tan, my skin problems would magically disappear [spoiler alert! i just ended up having a bad tan to match my bad skin]. So off I went with one of my dear friends - the one who wore the most makeup and therefore was most trustworthy in this type of situation - to the only tanning salon in my hometown. Its name - Tropical Inspirations Tanning Studio [that's right - TITS]. For an amazing price we were able to buy "limitless sun" [hey, in a town where we regularly had snow from October to May - we will take what we can get] for an entire month. I was actually a bit hesitant to get into the tanning bed as I struggled with claustrophobia and an addiction to urban legends [I felt like I was going to get cooked]. But the stuff that I sprayed to help aid in quicker tanning smelled so good and I liked the way those creepy eye-covering things made me look...plus, I could listen to my cool walkman as I tanned...I was sold. Truthfully, I didn't ever get much of a tan - I guess I didn't go for marathon sessions and also, since the tanning studio wasn't conveniently located in my house I was too lazy to go very often.

But still, I did do this tanning bed tanning before age thirty - which apparently means I'm a possible cancer target. We were all told that tanning beds were a safer alternative to regular sun tanning, but of course, that's the message that Big Tanning wants you to believe [for the record, they are still saying that - and that the report saying that tanning beds = cancer is a big fat load]. I don't tan anymore - sun or bed. I'm extremely pale, although if I choose to tan, I can do a remarkable job of it, much to my mum's dismay [she is pale and freckle-ish, like me, but just turns red lobster and then peels after about four minutes in the sun...but bless her heart, she does try]. I just enjoy paleness [I would say I enjoy looking natural, but I wear too much makeup for that to be legit - but I do think people should just embrace looking as natural as possible] and I do avoid the sun and take a lot of precautions. I'm optimistic that this will prevent premature aging...and that I am healthy enough to enjoy my minimal wrinkles...and not all cancer-having due to teenage indiscretion.