It happened at the beginning of every summer.
My sisters and I, ashamed of our "shoobie" winter whiteness, longed to "get some color." We'd wait for the first sunny day, apply gobs of baby oil on our skin to attract the rays and before nightfall we'd have ourselves a nice case of sun poisoning. I'm not talking about a little sunburn, I mean honest to goodness, slap-your-mama sun poisoning with burnt skin, puffy eyes and an overall body ache that would render us motionless for days.
Flip forward a few decades and I have wretched proof of that sun exposure: arms and legs with so many brown spots that they look like polka-dotted limbs and "age spots" on my face that have to be burned off by a vigilant dermatologist.
I think of my polka dots when I see the young girls and women who are packed in the waiting room of the local tanning salon, especially during prom season. Under the assumption that tanning beds are a "safer" means of developing a glow, these ladies flock to the place and emerge with a color that seems awkward, artificial.
Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a unit of the World Health Organization, put tanning beds on its carcinogenic list. The medical journal The Lancet Oncology, reported that using tanning devices before the age of 30 increases skin melanoma risk 75 percent. And, I'm sure no thanks to the increase in tanning beds, the CDC says that skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States.
Thems is some scary numbers, ladies.
But if that info isn't enough to run you out of the tanning salon, make a list of five famous women whom you consider gorgeous. Then take a look at their skin. Do they look they have been frying in a tanning bed? Not a chance.
And if you need further proof that a tanning bed is a no-no and a premature wrinkle-maker, feel free to take a look at my polka dots. (Or just watch the movie "Something About Mary" and pay attention to the neighbor - you know which lady I mean!) Then grab an SPF 45, love yourself for what you are, tell skin cancer to fughetaboutit and call it a day!