Since May I have been using the tanning bed at our local gym once a week for ten minutes at a time. Since I am naturally blonde, I don't want to be too tan. I not only think that it looks fake, but I honestly don't think my fair skin could handle it. However, I feel that I look healthier with a hint of a tan.
I have often thought that in the skin department I live in the wrong century. If I would have lived in the 18th or 19th centuries, I would have had the skin that all of the damsels envied. When I have no tan, my skin is so white that you can clearly see the blue veins underneath. Many European Aristocrats and Southern Belles spent hours soaking their skin in buttermilk, carefully shading their faces under mammoth hats, and dusting themselves with rice powder for the skin that comes to me naturally.
But alas, I live in the 21st century and even with a tan I have to choose the lightest shade of foundation at the makeup counter and it is still too dark. I told a friend of mine about a month ago that I had been tanning. Until I showed her my visible tan line, she didn't believe a word of it. But I know. I see it when I notice that the blue lines on my shoulders aren't nearly as visible anymore. I enjoy it when I am able to be outside all day in the sun with just a minimum of sun protection.
One day while I was surfing the Web I quite accidentally came across a very interesting article concerning skin tone in the earlier centuries versus today. (Sorry, I read this long ago so I no longer have any idea where the article was located) The article discussed how western society's ideas of the beautiful shade of skin have changed in the past hundred (or so) years.
Once it was fashionable to have lily white skin because it was a sign of wealth and leisure. During that time it was the working class who had to be (i.e., work) outside and, as a result, ended up with tanned bodies. Obviously, for a person of leisure the thought of having to work outside was highly undesirable. Therefore, any sign that he or she did so (like tanned skin) was also unwelcome. Consequently, fair white skin was an indication that the person did not have to be outside or work.
Fast forward to the last half of 20th century. Suddenly working people had to spend the majority of their time indoors. Everyone* developed white skin per default. People wanted to be outside surfing, gardening, swimming, or a thousand other things that would, unsurprisingly, result in a tan during their hard-earned free-time. This shift to favoring a golden brown tan over lily white skin indicated not only that being outside was a good thing, but also communicated that the person in question had time and money to spend outside enjoying these things. And what better way to prove that you can spend time relaxing on the beach or smelling your well-groomed roses than with a tan?
Today we all know the dangers of skin cancer and some listen more carefully than others, but it still doesn't prevent a large majority of people from thinking that a person with a slight tan looks healthier than someone with lily white legs poking out from underneath his or her shorts.
* = Allow my indulgence here for the sake of argument.
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