February 20, 2010

To Tan or Not to Tan?



















I am an unabashed lover of sunshine and thus happy to call the west coast home. Copious amounts of sun is also what kept me alive during my two-year stint in Aspen, Colorado.

Here are some SUN STATS from recent residences and family's locations:
The differences between these areas are much less drastic than I expected. What do you think?

Annual % AVG possible sunshine
Cleveland, OH 49%
Washington, DC 56%
Aspen, CO ~69%
San Diego, CA 68%
Palm Beach, FL 70%
New York City, NY 58%
Charlotte, NC 62%
Sunniest is Yuma, AZ at 90% and least sunny Juneau, AK at 30%

Check out your own:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/pctposrank.txt


For me, the question of safely tanning still remains:
Is it only dangerous when you burn?
Are chemical-filled lotions the greater or lesser evil?

Today, the administration of drugs and medicines is often through transdermal skin patches. This has been shown to be up to 95% more effective than oral medication. However, cosmetic manufacturers are not supposed to claim that the skin absorbs their products. If they did the products would be labeled a drug and governed by much stricter regulations. (ecovoice.com)

I have drastically simplified and natural-ified my own beauty routine and in only a few short weeks am happy to report less thirsty skin and longer pauses between hair washing. As for sun- my new favorite product is the above "locals secret" MauiBabe (www.mauibabe.com)! A brown coffee-colored and flavored lotion “because brown is what you want to be".

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