Taking Care of Your Skin and Why You Should Stop Tanning!

[AllanahStarrNYC]

I have spent hundreds of thousands on cosmetic surgery and thousands on skin care products that promised miracles.

Through all of this- I was doing something that was the most damaging thing anyone can do to their skin and age- TANNING.

I at one point was a self confesses tanning bed addict. It all started in 1999 when I discovered that I, being naturally very white, could actually develop a tan.; a very dark one at that. From then on I was addicted. I moved into an apartment that was one block away from a tanning salon in Manhattan. My then boyfriend and I would visit it EVERY DAY, seven days a week. I was never dark enough.

One day I visited a plastic surgeon and he told me that if I kept tanning
the way I was I would have to have my face lifted before I was 35. He was right, I had a face lift at 29.

Still, I continued to indulge in tanning on and of and combined it with spray tans.

The thought of skin cancer never really scared me I was always interested in looking better, in which a tan ultimately does.

Besides the facelift, I did not start to see the real side effects of the tanning beds until last year. I started to develop sun spots and noticed some nasty premature wrinkles around my eyes. I noticed that when I did tan I developed a dark shadow over my upper lip and chin (sometimes congugated estrogen can lead to this when you are exposed to the sun).

My skin was really becoming dull and spotty so I made a vow never to visit a tanning bed again and when in the sun to always wear sun screen.

I can't stress this enough to anyone! Especially all the young girls!
Sun damage shows up years down the road and I started to notice mine
7 years after I became and obsessive tanner.

I've cleared up a lot of my skin issues by using Retin A, a bleaching cream, glycolic peels, and TCA peels. I am faithful to this regimen
and use a Retin A with bleaching cream every other night, a Glycolic peel once a week, a TCA peel every 6 weeks, and I get a facial once a month.
And of course a lot, and I mean A LOT of moisturizer and a sun block with at least an SPF 30 before I leave the house in the day. It took about six months to fade the spots, and get the issues under control.

My next goal is to have a full laser resurfacing to eliminate the damage that is left and your rejuvinate my tightly pulled, botoxed filled face even more .

Even still, skin cancer might still show up because I was exposed so much to UV rays so I get a mole check when I visit the derm every so often.
That of course should be your biggest deterrent against baking in the sun.

So as summer comes folks, don't forget your sunscreen and most importantly don't bake in the sun and tanning beds!

If you are at least 1/10 as vain as I am, you will regret it later if you do!

All I rely on now is spray tans and at home self tanners that do the job just fine.

So remember, take care of your skin!

Are you a tanning addict?

[slinky]

''Did you see that guy? That is the toughest man I've ever seen in my life. Did you see how leathery he was? He was like a saddlebag with eyes.''
-- Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins in City Slickers

[Supai]

Thanks Allanah, going by my mothers family its too true. I also am really pale, and the temptation of the sun or tanning beds really has been hard to resist. At times I've been addicted and relapsed a few years later, but have managed to keep myself from cooking relentlessly all summers long like my aunt and grandmother do to this day... from how leathery they look(imagine post 40s after a lifetime of it) it never fails to amaze me they still do.

[AllanahStarrNYC]

''Did you see that guy? That is the toughest man I've ever seen in my life. Did you see how leathery he was? He was like a saddlebag with eyes.''
-- Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins in City Slickers

Haha yes and I did not want to end up like Magda from 'There Is Something About Mary' !

[AllanahStarrNYC]

Thanks Allanah, going by my mothers family its too true. I also am really pale, and the temptation of the sun or tanning beds really has been hard to resist. At times I've been addicted and relapsed a few years later, but have managed to keep myself from cooking relentlessly all summers long like my aunt and grandmother do to this day... from how leathery they look(imagine post 40s after a lifetime of it) it never fails to amaze me they still do.

I know it's SO HARD to resist tanning because it makes you look younger, slimmer, makes you glow, and just all around better. It just so so so bad for your. The damage the UV rays do to your skin is horrid.

But you can achieve comparible results by faking it.

My favorites are using The California Tan in salons and at home you cant beat the St. Tropez self tanning product line, which in my opinion is the BEST and never leaves you orange as it it olive based.

[Supai]

Gotta check that out, anything beats ending up like Magda o.O

[Realgirls4me]

A tan is basically displaying an injury -- injured skin. A little color and vitamin D is good, but why do so many women reach out to father time and the grim reaper as they do? I use to work by the beach here, and let me tell you, I met many a person who were in their mid 20s, and yet looked around 40. I kid you not!

[AllanahStarrNYC]

Gotta check that out, anything beats ending up like Magda o.O

Yeah try the St. Tropez products- you can get them @ Sephora or online.

In the UK its even better because you can get them at any Boots.

They have all kinds of variations, including these ingenius sponge gloves that let you aplly it all over your body without staining your hands.

Check em out!

[AllanahStarrNYC]

A tan is basically displaying an injury -- injured skin. A little color and vitamin D is good, but why do so many women reach out to father time and the grim reaper as they do? I use to work by the beach here, and let me tell you, I met many a person who were in their mid 20s, and yet looked around 40. I kid you not!

It's our culture as opposed to some Asian countries where a sign of dark skin is a sign of lower class- in the West it means youth, fabulosity, and wealth.

[User]

Hey now, I could have done without the pictures of Magda.