Headline in the USA Today online news:
"LONDON (AP) — International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas."
Really? Because I'm pretty sure if I inhaled mustard gas or came in close contact with arsenic I would be dead within a week, if not a day or an hour. And now you're telling me that the tanning bed that I have frequently visited as a child and young adult is now going to knock me over dead because they are in fact just as deadly? RIGHT. IF this story is true, and I have no reason to doubt their research, then 7/8ths of my high school friends should all be dead right now. Or at least dying. I wouldn't know, because I ditched my 15 year reunion tonight. (For way better reasons I assure you.) My sister Kelly is, in fact, counting down to her last days. I love you Kelly!
Growing up with a swimming pool in your back yard pretty much guarenteed a tanning competition between me and my sisters. Kelly would go out for an hour and be as tan as I would be after 1 month in the sun without ever going inside. BUT- This article isn't talking about laying in the natural sunlight.... NO, this is talking about the actual tanning beds that I regularly visited to get myself a "base tan" before we went on any family vacation or at the beginning of the summer season. We reasoned it because we didn't want to get burned badly the first time we went out in the sun! I had tanning passes. My passes had passes. I bought the super duper this-lotion-will-make-you-look-like-you-just-stepped-off-the-plane-from-Tahiti. I also took that free heart sticker they have there and put it on my stomach to get a tantoo. Boy I was freakin awesome!
I wouldn't say that I have been into tanning at all since Brendan's been born. I am more worried about pre-mature wrinkles and age spots than I am cancer. There was an old Oil of Olay (or other skincare line) ad and it went like this (yes, I remember it word for word) "I do not intend to grow old gracefully. I intend to fight it every step of the way!
Now I use a self tanner that I absolutly love and I don't have to waste time laying out to be tan. Although, now and again it's nice to relax and soak in your Vitamin D.
So, are any of you going to be dead soon? Do tell.
I'm the same way--I used to tan in high school and college, but quit. Not out of fear of cancer, but out of a horrible fear of wrinkles, LOL.
ReplyDeleteis this a good time to say
ReplyDelete"I told you so" ?
pop
I am surprised you could tan at all being a red head. I can't tan just burn and then it peals leaving the same pasty white. So I never bothered paying to get burnt. Lucky me looks like I am going to survive!
ReplyDeleteYes Amanda #1, I too have a fear of wrinkles and have the super duper face care products to help prevent those. Jessi- I initially burn but I don't peel and it turns into a tan that will get darker the more I'm out. One time when we got home from Hawaii I was actually darker than Kelly- and she has olive skin! Now, Nicole on the other hand is like you. She never participated in the tanning wars. And dad- you are very much apart of this whole thing being as you were the one who purchased the pool. But yes, you may have mentioned once or twice about cancer.
ReplyDeleteWhat self tanner do you like? I'm in the market for a new one.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am going to have to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteThis is from the harpie mother. What she didn't mention is that I insisted to go with her to impress upon the doctor that we seriously needed something for Addy. Mom was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I know because I was there 33 years ago with a screaming baby. It is not one of those times when I say to Mandy, "I hope you have a baby just like you." Wanting to be heard is now 5 generations of females on my side. Those that know Mandy, me and my mom know what I'm talking about. hee hee
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