Summer is over. There’s no denying it. No more soaking up the sun’s warm rays or sleeping in until noon everyday.
So if it is next to impossible to find time to get a tan from the sun (or even find the sun), why are people coming to school looking darker than when school first started?
Tanning is unhealthy as it is. Cancer can result as well as premature aging.
And there is no doubt that it looks fake. There’s no way of getting a natural tan from the actual sun, in a short period of time, in the Illinois Valley. Especially in the middle of winter.
So if it’s dangerous and everyone knows that it’s fake, why do it? What’s so wrong with pale skin?
Maybe it’s a way of coping the other seasons because many people are also wearing pictures of beaches with setting suns and the word California on their clothes. (Although some of that may be trend following rather than nostalgia.)
What is the point though in wearing a shirt that says California when that shirt wasn’t made or bought in California? Hardly anyone is going to walk around this area wearing shirts that say Illinois sprawled across the sleeve unless it’s for a sports team. No one’s goal is to look like a tourist. And it’s doubtful that people in California are wearing long sleeves.
Not that there is anything wrong with wearing long sleeves or even the Sunshine State. The East Bay Area produced Green Day, Rancid, and My Chemical Romance and of course there is Disneyland in Anaheim.
The problem is Hollister.
California is great, but not so great that it has to be written plainly on shirts and purses and everything else. Sure the suns may look pretty on some of their shirts, but the words printed on them tend to look pretty ridiculous. And why not just buy a band t-shirt or one that has Sleeping Beauty on it in order to promote the state.
So the conclusion: we live in the Illinois Valley, not California. And it’s not summer anymore so deal with the fact that pale skin happens during the winter.
Hollister and Fake Tans
By stbede_dreamer924 - Posted on March 23rd, 2008
What the funniest thing is is how you always see the fake tan and Hollister shirt combined. I personally don't understand it. I used to live in California and I am one of the whitest people anyone will ever see, short of an albino. And no one in California actually shops at Hollister. In fact it is kind of weird to walk around in a shirt that says California on it in California.
The worst fake tans are the ones that come from a bottle. Isn't our society just turning oranger and oranger. I mean it just isn't natural.
Actually I have a correction for you, we are the Golden State (Florida is the sunshine state). I know that people do that HERE too and I live in sunny San Diego! People (guys are completely included) go get spray tans and then go to the beach. What is the point?!
Don't even get me started on Hollister. I hate that store. I cannot see or hear for my life when I go in there, and it is way over priced. Some people just don't understand that naturalness is okay, and Holliester isn't that great.
So don't think Illinois is alone... Californians are doing it too.
Nice write up. I would have added about 100 obscenities and some vulgar analogies.
That kinda rhymes,...
Read and learn. http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/simmons
I totally understand where you're coming from, but for me? I considered "tanning" for prom. It just helps you feel better about yourself. I don't see the problem with it if you only do it once in awhile. I understand obsessive tanning may be a little extreme, but the world and the people in it are getting more and more shallow. It's just one more thing our generation is going to add to the world.
-Samantha
Yea I did that for prom a couple years ago too because I had an X on my back from swim team. But we are talking about the orange girls.. the ones who tan even if it is sunny out kind of girls. Haha, don't feel bad about every once in a while! Sun/UV can be good in very small amounts especially for acne. I just don't get Californians who tan.. I mean we live in California.. go outside!
How does it help you feel better about yourself?
I personally sport a nice healthy bronze during the summer/early fall months, but due to my locale and profession, I usually end up becoming very pale during the winter months. I have no problem with either one, I like emphasizing my tan (from the sun-no tanning beds or spray cans) with white shirts and shorts during the summer and playing up my "classic beauty" look with more saturated greens, blues, and reds in the winter months. You can have a healthy looking tan and sun-bleached blonde hair or pale cream skin with dark hair and eyes and look just as beautiful either way.
It makes a lot of people feel better. Personally, I think I look healthier tan, and in better shape. I like being tan although I don't go out of my way to be tan. I would much rather be tan than pale because my pale isn't pretty like everybody elses, in my opinion.