7 Things Women Who Never Fake Tan Will Understand

With summer coming up, I can’t help but remember when all of my friends went fake tanning for the first time for our senior prom. Everyone was so excited to say goodbye to their “pasty” skin for the next few weeks and embrace a tan, bronzy look.

Even when the trend took off, I always avoided it. Truth is, I never much saw the point in spending time and money to maintain the fake look. While I haven’t ever personally experienced fake tanning, I can understand why others might go tanning for special occasions or events in an effort to look their absolute best. Everyone is beautiful in their own skin, but to each their own.

During the summer, I tan pretty easily. But some people can’t tan at all in the sun, so it's easy to see why a tanning bed is the perfect alternative to achieving the look of glowing skin. But if you’re like me and have no plans to go to tanning appointments or sessions for one reason or another, you know that it’s not always easy to avoid fake tanning.

Whether your friends or family members go tanning, as any fake-tanning virgin knows, there are a few struggles you might experience in an effort to keep things natural.

1. You’re super paranoid about health risks associated with tanning, so you slather on sunscreen like nobody’s business

It’s no surprise that tanning and overexposure to sun can lead to some scary stuff health-wise. Even if you’ve never gone tanning before, you’re probably aware of this and do anything in your power to keep your skin out of harm’s way — even if that means applying SPF 50 every hour that you’re out at the beach. You’ve also been known to break out the SPF on a daily basis and make sure that all of your beauty products have sun protection, including your makeup. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

2. Bronzer is your best friend

To add some color onto your skin, you have a whole collection dedicated to bronzers and powders. It’s not that you’re against looking tan and sun-kissed; it’s that you don’t have the patience for all of the maintenance that fake tanning requires, so you resort to the look of an instant tan with makeup — problem solved.

3. You always find yourself awkwardly tagging along with your friends while they tan

It starts off as joining your friends to go to the movies or shopping and then halfway through, they all make an executive decision to go tanning together. It’s not like you’re just going to go home, since you already made plans together, so you just wind up going along with them and sitting in the waiting area without a purpose. For a second, you think about just caving in and buying a package, but seeing how long the process takes your friends makes you reconsider.

4. You’d rather catch some waves than lay out and tan at the beach

Laying out poolside or in the sand is fun and all… for about five minutes. Then you get antsy and give up on the whole thing because jumping in the water is so much more exciting. Besides, you burn way too easily to spend all morning catching rays so you’d rather just swim, play volleyball, run — pretty much anything to keep yourself active.

5. Tanning lotions and oils are nonexistent in your beauty regimen

These products are basically completely foreign to you and have no place in your beauty routine. When you see tanning lotions or sprays in the store, you have no idea where a person even begins using these products. You’re definitely curious, but not enough to invest money into actually pursuing fake tanning.

6. The thought of being stuck in a tanning bed scares you

Your friends always talk about how relaxing tanning beds are and how much time they have to relax and think in there, but all you can do is cringe at the thought of feeling trapped inside a tanning bed. What if it doesn’t open and no one is around to hear your cries for help? Maybe it’s the inner claustrophobic in you, but you’d rather pass on the tanning bed and admire your friends’ bravery.

7. You’ve embraced you’re Casper-like skin during swimsuit season

At the end of the day, you won’t be making tanning a part of your routine anytime soon and you’ll keep it that way for as long as you can. Even though it will take you the majority of the summer to get some color, you’re proud of your natural complexion and will flaunt it on the beach with no regrets. When it comes to tanning, you let nature take its course and if you’re meant to have bronzy skin at the end of a beach day, so be it — and if not, no regrets.

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