Practice Safe Sun

I don't support indoor tanning. Plain and simple. If you're my friend, you're probably SUPER annoyed with what I have to say when you accidentally slip up and say you're burned/on your way to the salon. But let me tell you why ...

Last year when I went home to surprise my parents, my father was sporting a not so very cute bandage on his forehead. When I asked what was going on he said he had bumped his head when he bent down to pick up something.

Later that night when he thought I had gone to bed, I came downstairs to get a drink of water (or to sneak a beer or something) and my father had removed his bandage revealing a chunk of his skin missing the size or a quarter and about 2 inches deep. Obviously it was scabbed, but still, NOT cute. My father could tell something was up, so he called my name and told me to take a seat.

He went on to tell me that he was diagnosed with skin cancer, fortunately they caught it before it got too serious, but still, I freaked.

I'm a magazine junkie, and when I say junkie I mean I still have Cosmos and Glamour from 2006. And as the years have gone by, more and more articles have been about the negative effects of indoor tanning. Read these articles - whether your an avid tanner, or you only tan once a month:

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/tips/skin-cancer-death-1009?click=main_sr

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2010/03/the-beauty-habit-that-can-give-you-cancer

Okay. So I wasn't lying, indoor tanning, is not okay/not safe. Yes, who doesn't love being tan? I mean I do ... and I'm not going to sit here and say that I have never stepped foot into a tanning salon because, yes, I have, but I have stopped before it becomes too late.

And yes the argument always stands, anything can kill you, true, but why rush something? Life is too short to risk your life to be tan ... in winter, especially when there are a couple different options.

Tanner meet L'Oreal Sublime Bronze

L'Oreal Paris creates Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Towelettes for Body, convenient single-use wipes. An advanced skin-smoothing formula provides the perfect amount of self-tanner along with AHAs* + Vitamin E for a smooth, streak-free perfect tan. Individually wrapped towelettes are perfect for sunless tanning at home, as well as for travel or the beach.

This is my personal fave!

Also, there is always the option of getting a spray tan, Millennium supplies this service.

*To all my friends, I'm sorry if I annoy you when I give you the"lecture," but you have to understand why I say what I say. Skin cancer is serious and scary, and the last thing I want to do is find out that you weren't so lucky. Of course tanning makes you feel pretty/glamours, but will you still be saying that when your lying in your hospital bed after your first treatment of chemo?

Famous last words ... "It will never happen to me ..."

Practice Safe Sun

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/sun-safe/practice-safe-sun?click=main_sr