Here Comes the Sun...

Heyylooo!  I hope everyone is enjoying the heat wave that has ripped across the country.  I know that personally, I love this warm weather.  I am a cold person by nature so I love being able to throw on a cute and easy sundress or a tank and cutoffs and still be perfectly temperate.

To help ring in the summer season, my boyfriend and I celebrated Memorial Day by driving down to the beach for the day.  Now, I love the beach as much as (if not more than) the next girl; I love walking on the warm sand, running and playing in the ocean (unless its cold), and of course, the bright shining sun.  However, the sun turned out to be my worst enemy this Memorial Day.  Though my boyfriend and I dutifully applied our SPF 30 Banana Boat Sport to our pale skin before basking in the warmth, we still managed to get some of the most awful sunburns I have ever seen.

I don't mean to be all preachy and PSA-y, but I have spent the past few days in so much pain and agony that I feel obligated to warn others of the sun's dangers.  I know everyone has seen the notorious "Tan Lady" and those awful horror stories in various magazines, with headlines along the lines of "I Didn't Know that My Tan Could Kill Me" and "I Got Cancer from Going to the Beach".  I don't mean to dramatize this post in that fashion.  I just want to warn everyone about how much the sun's rays are intensified while on the sandy seashore.  I did use sunscreen, and I managed to be burnt everywhere on my body that was not covered by my swimsuit or sunglasses.  My hips are burnt to the point of swelling and blistering (so sitting down is painful) and I am currently embarrassed to be seen in public, my face is so red.  My siblings cringe in empathy whenever they see me, my mom has gotten me an arsenal of SPF 1,000,000,000,000 sunscreens (apparently Neutrogena's Dry Touch Sunblock is near invincible), and I have been limited to wearing only loose cotton dresses (which thankfully, I happen to own quite a lot of).

As a college girl, I definitely know and understand the sense of community tanning brings (whether outside or in a salon) as well as the pressures felt to develop a tan each summer and thus, be "gorgeous".  As fair as I am, I do know how much better I feel I look when I am tanned: my skin is no longer translucent, my hair looks blonder, and I look thinner and more "beachy".  I have dealt with these pressures my entire life, especially since my sister has black hair and is much more dark complexioned and naturally tans in the summer, no matter how much sunscreen she wears.  However, being so pale and having a family history of melanoma, I know how at risk I am for skin cancer.  I really do not want to develop any sort of cancer, especially if its due to my own vanity.  I definitely promote the alternatively safe faux glow movement that is sweeping the beauty culture.  I personally have never tried a faux tan (there were too many orange-skinned oompa loompas parading around my high school as a result of a overage of self-tanner), but I know and have seen many who have and they feel more confident and beautiful in the knowledge that they have been safely bronzed.  The way I see it, no amount of vanity is worth your health, or potentially, your life... you also probably don't want to end up looking like the Tan Lady.

Doesn't she look awful?

If you do happen to be badly sunburnt like I was, I have been discovering a number of wonderful home remedies over the past few days that really do help with the pain and discomfort a sunburn or sunpoisoning can bring.  First of all, aloe is essential to apply.  It helps to restore moisture deep into the skin so when the fried skin peels off, you have a healthy moisturized layer of skin underneath.  I have been using Banana Boat Aloe Aftersun Lotion, and it definitely helps to cool and moisturize the skin, as well as relieve some of the sting.  Another remedy that I have found to work quite well in conjunction with the aloe is cocoa butter.  It provides a really nice soothing relief when I apply a thick layer.  The bottle says it "heals and softens rough, dry skin" which is what sunburnt skin is.  I have been using Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E Body Lotion but like the aloe, I'm sure any brand will do.  Another (strange) remedy that I have found to be extraordinarily helpful was applying tea to the worst of my burns to soothe the sting.  A doctor told me to make some cool-room temperature tea, dampen some rags or old towels or pillowcases with the formula, and rest these makeshift compresses on my burns.  I made some strong tea with four different types of tea bags (I don't think the type matters) in a Gatorade bottle and poured it on some old sweatpants scraps.  The relief was instantaneous and absolutely heavenly and lasted for a few hours after I removed the compresses. My boyfriend's mother also suggested that he use Noxzema Cream on his burns and he says it felt great and definitely helped to relieve some of the pain he felt.  Other sources online also recommend applying vinegar to the burn to soothe the biting pain a burn can give; this did not work for me this time but it did another time last summer when I had a lesser burn.

All in all, the old adage of "beauty is pain" should not apply when it comes to your skin coloration.  Everyone, no matter how tan or pale or otherwise, is absolutely beautiful in their natural state.  That being said, don't be afraid of applying a little bronzer or body bronzing color or creating that faux tan.  Do what you need to do to feel beautiful without sacrificing your body and health.  You do not want to end up in the excruciating pain due to cancer treatments or looking like a lobster.  Trust me.

Love, Leaza