Pale is the New Tan

Red or White. These are the only 2 colours my skin ever turns. Usually just white but sometimes in the summer I am "lucky" enough to get some colour and it's red instead of a nice golden brown.

I have never had a tan. Ever. Not even when my former mother in law bought me a gift certificate to the tanning salon. So in order to save my self the pain of red I try to prevent getting burnt. I'm not always successful. Like today, I not only wore my SPF 50 but also sat in the shade to watch a baseball game and still managed to burn.

I'm not asking for a hardcore dark brown, half Jamaican looking mega tan. Just a little sun kissed so my pasty white legs don't glow in the dark. I'm not sure which is worse, those over tanned leather looking people or my super bright caper the ghost like legs.

In the winter months my pastiness is not really an issue to me. However when summer comes around I would love nothing more than to wear a cute little sundress or Bermuda shorts but I refrain to preserve the eyesight of the people I may reflect a glare at from my super white skin.

I guess I could just stop shaving my legs and the hair would help cut down on the glare but I'm thinking that won't be very pretty with a sundress either. There is also the option of self tanner. Great idea but have you ever seen one of those people that have applied that stuff to their skin? They almost always have a definite orange ting to their body and streaks where they didn't get the lotion rubbed in well enough. Or nice tanned.....palms? Yeah, that looks natural.

I have accepted my paleness as just a fact of life and have adapted by avoiding cute little sundresses and Bermuda shorts and embraced summer attire that includes mostly capris. I also try to avoid wearing a bathing suit anywhere besides my in laws backyard pool. I might as well learn to live with it and try to pretend that pale is the new tan rather than cry about it. At least I will never have to worry about looking like an old leather purse or a dried out raisin when I hit middle age.