It has come to my attention how obsessed college girls are with being tan. Through this seemingly never-ending cold weather Auburn has endured, I have embraced my paleness.
In my hometown, there were three or four people in my high school that went to the tanning bed, but, other than that, it was fairly unheard of. The few tanning salons we did have were not in the best area of town, and it was considered not very classy for girls to go to the tanning bed.
People who went would be embarrassed if someone saw their car parked outside a tanning bed, and it was a joke that sometimes people would park next door and walk over.
Freshman year of college, I remember being very confused as to how half of the girls at Auburn were still extremely tan in the middle of December. The amount of people that use the tanning bed is much higher than I ever would have anticipated.
Before coming to college, I got one spray tan before prom and immediately regretted it because instead of the "glowing" tan I was promised, I ended up looking slightly orange, a look that clashed terribly with my green dress.
I also despised having to wait six hours after the spray tan before I could shower. I had never gone to the tanning bed because for years my mother had told me it was the worst thing for my skin and I would look like I was 50 when I was actually only 30 if I started going.
I never felt the need to go to the tanning bed because everyone else was pale like me in the winter.
This is not the case for college students. With the warmer weather, pools are starting to open and girls are panicking over their paleness. I have overheard multiple conversations in the Student Center and walking around campus where girls are stressed over their paleness.
This year, I caved in and went to the tanning bed twice before formal because I think I was actually glowing from how pale I was. The experience was a disaster.
I went to one of the tanning beds you can stand up in, because the idea of laying down in a small confined space sounds terrifying to me.
I went for ten minutes the first time, and ended up getting sunburned instead of tan, and then went for 8 minutes the second time.
It made very little difference. I had some color in my face for about a day but by formal day, which was only a day later, I was back to my normal color. And I was now $20 poorer.
The whole time I was in the tanning bed, I was picturing my skin turning to leather and half expected to have aged 15 years after I stepped out.
Other friends of mine took the spray tan route, but many of them went to the tanning bed or attempted to lay out the week before even though it was windy and fairly cold to be wearing only a bathing suit.
Finally, as a junior, I have learned that if there is one thing college girls are more obsessed with than over-sized T-shirts or Starbucks, it is being tan.
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