The process of skin tone change, in Northern California, is slow and extremely seasonal. For office workers, it mainly takes place on their way to and from work, as well as their weekend excursions. Factors to consider: precipitation, dress code, quality of sunscreen, and interest in outdoor activities.
In the bay area all the rain comes in the coldest months of a year. Warm weather coincides with endless sunshine; a blessing for some, a curse for the others. For our girls who are too shy to carry around an umbrella, they’ll find their arms one shade darker than their torsos in early May. Then their calfs are destined to turn dark unless they can deny the temptations of a short skirt. The same thing apply to guys. On any August day, strip naked and carry some bamboo shoots and you are good to go to a Halloween party. Very exotic, indeed.
I could understand the love for a healthy looking complexion: be it dark or fair. The ancient fetish for pale skins doesn’t work for me at all as it represents nothing but a sedentary life in the modern world. It relates vaguely to something cold and stale and those big houses with labyrinthian corridors. Something is possibly dying inside. Nevertheless, it equally irritates me that people pay big bucks to get tanned. Highly deceiving is the nature of this business: you get in there, become a guinea pig under those ultraviolet rays, imaging yourself surfing in the Hawaiian wakes or sunning on a Cancun beach. It is so on par with fake boobs or stuffed buttocks. And at least those last longer…
It is extremely entertaining to observe people’s tan lines. On streets, in locker rooms, or… in porn. I find it hilarious that those veteran skier’s have white circles around their eyes: reverse pandas on the make. You can also tell who wore what this past summer. Their choices of bathing suits may tell more stories than you dare to think.
What I learned about tanning, if any, was that you need to keep it symmetric. A sunburnt back from sand volleyball is tolerable, whereas two hours of right-side grilling in a Venice beach bar made me so upset… Fortunately I got it even from my drive home the next day. During the whole trip on highway 1 the sun was baking my left cheek.
I personally had two tanning disasters. One happened last fall in Boulder where I took it for granted and wore my sandals when walking around. It was no California: an upside-down “V” mark appeared on the back of my feet the next day. The other disaster dates back to the summer two years ago, when the four of us rented a convertible for a ride around Oahu. Yes it was my first time in a convertible. And yes it was such a nice day and I got excited head over heals and had on me nothing but a tank top. (That’s a lie I wore shorts as well!) I couldn’t have been more careful: SPF60 on my face, neck, arms, calfs… But I forgot about my shoulders. As a result they were so badly burnt that the mark of the tank top straps were ingrained there for almost two months. If you ever ask, nah I wasn’t wearing sports bras…
on tanning
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mirrorflower
- Posts: 1263
- Joined: 2008-11-04 17:26
好象是菱形格子纹的？