First Time Tanning!

My mom is going to think I'm crazy for blogging about tanning first thing right when I get home. This is because it was a new experience for me, and I have all these details in my head that I'm going to forget if I put it off. Have you ever been tanning? It's kinda weird. If you've read my blog for a while, you'll know that last summer I burned a TON in order to get tan (it wasn't always intentional, though), and by September I was probably the darkest I've ever been. Mom and I are trying to prepare for vacation by tanning a few times in the less than two weeks we have left, but personally I had already wanted to go tanning just to have my skin dark because I like it better that way. But of course neither of us knew what the heck we were doing - whenever tanning comes to mind I just think of the scene in Final Destination 3 where those girls get trapped in the booths and something random falls over, turning up the temperature so high that they pretty much boil. And die. It's kind of gory. But anyway, thankfully the pretty sunkissed girls who worked at the salon were blessed with a good amount of patience as they walked us through all the explanation and helped us figure out what package to get. It took about 15 minutes just to get all figured out. So kudos to them!

The actual tanning part was kinda weird. I didn't know there were so many different beds that give you different amounts/kinds of UV rays. They put me on the "Turbo" bed, which only uses UVB rays I think ... for 5 minutes, since it was my first time and I have Type 1 skin, which is the whitest and easiest to burn. If it were up to me, I would've stayed in at least another 5 minutes; who knows if I would've gotten burned or not. My skin looks exactly the same as it did before, so maybe next time I'll do 6 or 7 minutes if they don't think that's too dangerous. Immediately upon turning on the bed I sensed that familiar feeling of stuff going into your skin. It brings back happy memories of lounging out on the boat directly under the hot sun, knowing for certain that my skin was changing by the minute because the absorption feeling was so intense. I had always wondered if the tanning beds were actually hot like the sun is, and my observation was that it probably would've been a little toasty if not for the fans - good thing they have those.

Final Destination: This chick dies, but I won't.

For all my five minutes in the bed I basically just stared at the "ceiling" in an almost stupor, as I was a little freaked out by the whole thing. Looking through the goggles was similar to having your vision limited to a tiny round window in a submarine. I didn't bother turning my head because there was nothing to look at. It was silent except for the loud fans, because I knew 5 minutes on my ipod would've only given me one song. I really hope the next few times we go, I can stay in for longer and gradually build up to the 20 minutes, which would mean about 5 songs. I'm still bummed that nothing happened today, but I read in a pamphlet that you need to be patient, and I guess it is safer to go a lot more for shorter times than damage my skin from being in too long just once. I really hope this works.

The other thing I'm hoping is not a bunch of bologna is their tanning lotion, which we did buy - one of the cheaper bottles, for $25. They said it helps your skin absorb the rays better. I don't know if that's true or not, but if you're gonna put it all over your body each time you go, that stuff is going to run out fast. I think it kinda smells good, but they said you end up stinking a little bit after you tan. Maybe that's why I thought I smelled something funny when I walked in the house, unable to identify what it was. My brothers didn't smell it though, so then I thought, "Oh yeah, maybe it's just me." Does this mean people who go tanning usually just go home afterwards? Because I wouldn't want to be walking around in public places if I smelled funny.

I did appreciate the tasty candy they put on my towel, the privacy of each room, and the helpfulness of the girl at the desk who answered our butt load of questions. The facility was nice, too, so I'll be happy to go back again the day after tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers this tanning thing actually works on my ivory skin, and I'll give ya'll an update in the next few weeks, because I know you're all dying to know how it turns out. Actually I bet the only people I know who would care probably don't read my blog, so whatever. I write for me most of the time. And that's it for today. See ya!