Tan in a can

One of my lifelong addictions has been sun exposure. Drugs, alcohol and cigarettes never had much allure, but I’ve always loved to sit in the sun. No matter how much I read about skin cancer and melanoma and wrinkles, I still think I look better with freckled cheeks and tanned legs.

I admit, I’ve come a long way from my high school days, when I used to slather on a thick coating of baby oil before laying out in the sun for hours. (A co-worker of mine when I was working for Zellers as a cashier actually ended up hospitalized when she used vegetable oil instead of baby oil. Yikes!)

Reading the whole Saturday paper cover to cover while sitting on my porch swing in the full sun with a regular flow of coffee is one of the few things I really miss about my childless days.

I’m careful about sunscreen now, at least this early in the season, and I’m fanatical about using it on the boys. But I just don’t have the time to enjoy the sun like I used to, and much to my surprise, I find I’m not as tolerant of the blazing sun as I used to be, either.

Despite the fact that I think I look so much better when I’m at least a little bit bronzed, I’ve always turned up my nose at anything to do with ‘fake’ tans. The gym where I work out has a couple of tanning beds, but I’ve always eschewed them as dangerous. Besides, if I am going to have a tan, I’m going to earn it, dammit. (Yeah, I have some weird ideas rattling around in my head. This is the line of thinking that won’t let me consider highlights for my hair.) And frankly, I was afraid I’d end up looking like this:

But here it is, the second week of May, and I’ve been too embarrassed to bare my fishbelly-white legs in public. Finally, my curiousity over the whole ‘sunless tanning’ idea got the best of me, and I bought some of this.

President’s Choice Sunless Tanning Lotion. I LOVE IT! (And no, I’m not being paid to shill anything. But if the marketing folks at Loblaws are reading, I can be bought, and the price is right.)

I’ve been a little leery of the whole tan in a can thing, but I think they’ve come a long way since the orange skin of the 80s. I had visions of having to do major exfoliation (who has the time?) or ugly brown streaks, but it goes on smooth and is very subtle. I can’t see the tan per se, but (most importantly) I am no longer blinded by the glare off my legs. Most impressive, and only $7.99.

So now I want to know, what else have I been missing? Maybe it’s time to get brave and actually (gasp!) colour my hair?

Do you use “cheater” products? Coloured contacts, lash lengtheners, teeth whiteners, tan in a can? What else can I buy that mother nature forgot to give me? And if you see me looking a little more orange than usual this summer? That’s just all the extra carrots I’ve been eating.

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

13 thoughts on “Tan in a can”

  1. I am all over this- thanks for the recommendation! I’m thinking the same thing- its warm enough that I could have bare legs now but can’t bare too and have no time to wait for sun on my pasty skin. Go for it girl. Get your hair colored. You’ll feel like a million bucks!

  2. No,not me. I don’t use any of those products. I better turn off my computer before that bolt of lightening hits.

  3. Oh Noes
    “I feel a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.”
    That’s it, it is now official, you are turning into a girlie girl. I demnad you hand in your baseball glove.

  4. (she sneaks in and sheepishly raises her hand)
    Hi I’m Sharon and I just started using Tan in a Can and I’m addicted!
    I swore I would never use it but the lure was just too much so THIS week I have been using it. AND I don’t look to bad. Of course my younger sister has been using it for wellover a year now…and she’s the one that leads me down the path to TAN!
    So Dani we can compare tan brands the next time we meet and compare our Fake Tans!

  5. hmmm, “cheater products”, let’s see
    –colored contacts, yep, years ago
    –highlights, oh yeah, but now onto full coloring 🙁
    –teeth whitening, but of course
    –laser eye surgery, best thing
    –tan in a can, absolutely, only since I’ve had the twins, both body stuff and face stuff, may have to go out and try this brand. Before the twins I have occasionally gone to tanning salons and once did the stand-up spray-on thing, unbelievable result but not long lasting
    guess I’m a cheater…

  6. I use the Jergens one, designed for fair skin and I like it too. Only be careful where you wipe your hands after. I got hand prints on my bare ass! LOL

  7. I’ve never tried ‘tan in a can’, but Lord knows I need to, because I’m a sister of your fishbellyness!

  8. Glad you’re giving up the sun – one of my best friends who used to tan had melanoma, and my mum has had various varieties of skin cancer even though she never tanned.
    I’m all about the cheap stuff and I may end up trying that PC tanner. My skin is either one of two shades – casper and lobster.

  9. ummm, yeah…
    …colored contacts
    … padded push up bras (three kids, nursed the last for two years…La Senza sees me coming!)
    …hair color
    …spray on tan/tan in a can (love the Jergens!)
    …and just had impressions done for a bleaching tray with my dentist.
    I fake it. I’m a big fake faker. Somehow though, I wouldn’t feel like “myself” if I was to live without these things. Strange huh?

  10. I color my hair. But I haven’t tried tan in a can yet. Thanks for the recommendation! I had heard that they were improved over the horrible products around ten years ago when I got all orange and streak-y one weekend. Not a pretty sight.

  11. I tried the Walmart brand of self-tanner for the first time and it works great. I was always a real suntan girl myself but like you, I have no time any longer.

  12. Another fake faker here…and a self-proclaimed sun worshipper from way back. Ah, baby oil…
    – tan in a can (love the yves rocher stuff when its on sale)
    – hair colour (i do use henna now tho…semi natural at least)
    – all over push-up bras. i loved the old la senza water bras…the ones that didn’t give the missile boob effect like the newer ones do.
    – did nails for a while, but quit that.

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