With the change of seasons, summer begins to fade away. Unfortunately, tans begin to fade too. Each fall, an epidemic of fake-tanning teenage girls strikes B-CC. The hues of unnatural skin tones match the color of the changing leaves, orange to yellow. Long summer days of laying out in the sun turn to rubbing in foam on a tanning mitt. Bottles of Tanoligist, Loving Tan, and Bondi Sands are added to cart on Amazon as the cold air hits. But what is the hype about? Is a tan that only lasts a week worth the money that adds up each year? To get to the bottom of this, B-CC’s very own fake tan enthusiasts have given their input.
Ariella Klugman, a junior at B-CC, has had her own share of battles with fake tan: “It started last year with the Tannologist tanning drops; it never worked very well but I still did it.” Klugman said that she only does it when she feels like she’s “super pale.” Similarly to many other young girls, Ariella shares the idea that being tan is the ideal look — but it wasn’t always this way. In the 16th century, during Queen Elizabeth’s rule, it was the beauty standard to be pale (The Masters School). It wasn’t until the 1920s, when French fashion designer CoCo Chanel was photographed with a tan after her vacation, that sporting a tan was popularized.
Fake tanning should not be mistaken as a harmless trend. Isopropyl Myristate is commonly found in fake tan. This chemical binds to nitrates in the body, which can become carcinogenic (Mukti Organics). According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, using a tanning bed just once increases the likelihood of skin cancer by 58 percent. While bottled fake tan is a slightly better alternative, any sort of fake tanning is a game of pick your poison, with no great option in the mix. So why do people continue to do it?
“Fake tanning makes me feel like I have more of a glow, which is good for a confidence boost in the middle of winter,” Roxy Thompson, another member of team-fake-tan, said. But the reasons run deeper than just an increase in confidence. Part of the increase in happiness over the summer months can be directly attributed to UV rays. UV rays offer temporary feelings of calm by stimulating the bodily endorphins (The Skin Cancer Foundation). While self tan does not perfectly simulate this experience, it helps tanners grasp onto a last, glimmering sliver of summer.
Not all Barons choose to indulge in the orange-lifestyle. Junior Julia Worthington said, “[Fake tanning is] too complicated, and sometimes it’s just orange and patchy.” While hours and bottles of practice may help graduate tan-hungry teenage girls to “non-streaky,” some people choose to rock their natural skin. Another push away from fake tan can be makeup. Depending on if people tan their face or not, matching chest color to face color brings about a whole other struggle.
Any sort of tanning has its pitfalls. Actual tanning and using tanning beds are cancer inducive; self-tan is also carcinogenic and comes with the added risk factor of being orange. Despite this, all self-tanning Barons should have the right to feel confident in their skin, or maybe put confidence on their skin via a mitt and some foam.
