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The Worst Ways To Tan

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter.

Now that summer is over, we still need a tan. Fall is coming, which means cooler weather, which means less beach weekends, which means pasty white skin. WOW. That’s almost too much to handle. The point is that even though the UVs will be at a lesser value, we still need to be bronze babes. Having a tan makes us all look just that little bit better. We have a glow and we are radiant. Sounds good, right?

There are ways to keep our color without compromising our health. So I have made a list of everything NOT to do. Use my list as your guide of situations to avoid. Hopefully it will lead you towards the path of a healthy and beautiful glow.

Number One: Tanning Beds
We have all heard this one plenty of times. Tanning beds cause skin cancer and wrinkles – blah blah blah. But would you like to know why we have all heard it before? Because it is true. Tanning beds are dangerous. Even though you may not see the effects immediately, when we grow older the worse our wrinkles will be from those dangerous UV rays. Not to be too blunt, but tanning beds are practically laying on the sun for 10 minutes.

Number Two: Spray Tan in a Can
Just go ahead and spend those extra couple of dollars on an actual spray tan. Doing it yourself from the can it almost always comes out streaky. It is super embarrassing and slightly tacky to have those orange lines around your ankles and hands. Save yourself the humiliation and make a trip to the salon.


Number Three: What Ross Did on Friends or Kramer on Seinfeld 
Both of these hilarious men were victims of the previous offenses. These are both perfect examples of why not to take part in these tanning situations. They both suffered consequences mostly involving being made fun of.

Now that I have listed everything not to do, here are some healthy alternatives. First and foremost, it is a possibility to avoid tanning all together. Gasp! I know that it’s difficult to believe, but we all have gorgeous skin as it is. Option 2 is the use of gradual tanning lotions. I have heard many praises for these products. Even though they take longer to see the results, it is an easy way to get that subtle glow we all crave.

Like I said before, being a bronze babe is what we all want. There are ways to achieve that in a healthy yet still affective way. Just avoid everything on my list.

 Keegan is a sophomore at UCF majoring in Environmental Studies and is part of the HCUCF team as an editorial writer. Keegan is obsessed with all things Disney and is currently training for a marathon. If she survives, she will attend law school and dedicate her life to making the hospitality industry as environmentally friendly as possible. 
Nicholas Osler graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2014 with a degree in Interpersonal/Organizational Communication. Connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasosler