Oh No Brown Spots

by Rocio
(Jacksonville, FL, USA)

I am 29 years old and growing up in California has exposed me to the beach and pool parties. I am part South American and part European. I have olive skin that tans real beautifully and rarely burns.

I don’t believe in worshipping the sun and exposing my face to it, so I always wear sunscreen on my face, neck and chest and I wear tanning oil everywhere else. This was the extent of my knowledge and experience with natural sun tanning.

A few years ago, I got married and moved to the East coast. I was away from my mother for 4 years. She is still living in California.

Being away from her for this long; with short visits each year, I guess that I forgot what the sun had been doing to her skin. The last time I saw her I was gasping for air and was shocked with the way her arms looked.

My mom also has olive skin and she’s part Peruvian and German. She has tanned every summer for the past 40 years. Like myself, she never used organic sunscreen on her arms. Her arms are covered with brown and white spots from her fingers to her shoulders.

The spots look like cheetah spots!

I totally believe in accepting ourselves as is and loving us for who we are just the way we are. Having said this, I still don’t think that I would be comfortable in a strapless evening gown if these arms were mine.

The lesson for me here is to use the best sunscreen on my arms, shoulders, legs, back, all over. Tans can look sexy on a woman, but they can also be really harmful to our human skin.

There are ways to get a low risk tan. With a fake bake, we can still look sexy in our bathing suits and strapless dresses!