No one likes to be pasty during the summertime, especially at the beach. When surrounded by tanned, sexy bodies, you almost feel as if a ghost is among you, except that ghost is you in your half-naked, sour cream-white glory. But tanning beds can be dangerous and if you’re of Northern European descent, and therefore lacking in the melanin department (like a certain collegiate life editor and fashion columnist I know), pretty much ineffective.
Enter the wondrous world of self-tanners: Packed with dihydroxyacetone (or DHA, for the sake of not inducing headaches from just looking at the word) which essentially browns the dead layer of your skin like a butter biscuit, these lotions and sprays can help even the ghastliest ghost-pale people achieve a crisp, healthy-looking bronze. It’s hard to call any product perfect, though, and this is especially true for self-tanners. Let’s weigh the pros and the cons.
Back in the day, self-tanners left a noticeable orange tinge on the flesh of their users, leaving the product with a bit of a soiled reputation. Although the stereotype persists, modern self-tanners have mostly advanced to the point where tans achieved through artificial means look almost as natural as an actual tan.
As previously mentioned, it can be extremely difficult for very light-skinned people to tan naturally. Self-tanners allow these people to see what they would look like tan, which is a pretty eye-opening experience. Clothing colors look different with the new skin tone, confidence may be boosted and some people claim that being tan even helps one look slimmer or more muscular.
Perhaps the most positive point about self-tanners is that they are UVA free. No lobster red sunburns, no itchy splotchy sun poisoning, no skin cancer or ugly moles, nada. In fact, it can be argued that the only true healthy tan is a fake one.
These miraculous fake tans come with their fair share of downsides, though. For one, tans acquired through artificial means typically don’t last as long as their natural counterparts. When they start to fade, better layer on the long sleeves, as they can leave you with very unflattering white spots where the browned dead skin cells have naturally sloughed off.
Also, it is incredibly, impossibly difficult to get the tan even. You must apply a fair amount to all the visible parts of your body, and even then, it won’t be perfect. It’s ideal to recruit a buddy who isn’t weirded out at the idea of slathering tanning lotion all over your back to help you out, but that isn’t always reasonable.
Another pitfall of self-tanners is the smell. While some people (like myself) are not particularly bothered by the scent of DHA, there are many horror stories online of first-time self-tanner users who found the stench so sickening that they couldn’t even sleep. Whether or not this applies to you is entirely subjective—it is best to smell the product and test it out on your skin first to see if the odor is something you could live with.
So where do you turn if these downfalls are enough to keep you from using self-tanners? How will you ever look hot at the beach without that deep, sultry tan?
Just don’t tan.
That’s right. In recent years, many people have begun to embrace their pure pale glow as something unique and beautiful. Look at stars like Scarlett Johansson or Anne Hathaway, who look stunning in spite of—or perhaps because of—their striking paleness.
Although Jersey Shore has overtaken the TV world and tanning for proms and other rites of passage are still commonplace, the trend is actually beginning to lean toward “natural.” In other words, if you’re naturally very dark-skinned, embrace it. If you’re naturally tan or olive-skinned, embrace it. And yes, if you’re naturally pale, embrace it.
