Beautifully Bronzed (the safe way!)

Coco Chanel. That's who we can blame/thank for making tan skin be seen as beautiful and in style. In the 1920's this iconic fashion designer accidentally got some sun while vacationing with friends on a yacht. When she came back to Paris the public took notice of her darkened skin and, well..the rest is history. Up until then tan skin was perceived a working class trademark since it was associated with outdoor work. Coco changed all that and suddenly the bronzed look became fashionable, luxurious and healthy.
 Unfortunately being a sun worshipper is anything but healthy. With the risks of deadly skin cancers, premature wrinkles and leathery skin its a wonder that we all don't just stay indoors all the time. But we do quite the opposite. We slather ourselves in tanning oil, buy memberships to tanning salons (more on that later) and spend hours baking ourselves to a crisp on the beach or by the pool. We nonchalantly shrug our shoulders whenever we hear/read about the dangers of too much sun exposure. I've even heard some tan-aholics say that they don't care if they die because at least they will die tan and beautiful. How sad. Nothing is worth the risk of your life and health no matter how beautiful it makes you look.
 So what about tanning beds? They aren't as bad because they mainly use UVA instead of UVB rays right?? WRONG! Both UVA and UVB rays have been linked to causing skin cancer. Also UVA rays will prematurely age you like you wouldn't beleive! "Well I only tan for a few minutes at a time." Did you know that 30 minutes in a tanning bed is equal to 7 hours in the sun?! And did you further know that women under 30 who tan regularly are 75% more likely to get melanoma? That's the deadliest type of skin cancer and it can spread to other parts of your body and be very difficult to treat.

 Even now that you know the risks I realize that you aren't going to stay inside or carry umbrellas everywhere you go to protect yourself. You still want dark, golden, glowy skin. Yeah, I do too. That's why I self-tan. There are so many self-tanners out these days that can give you all the beauty with none of the health risks. Yes, there are some low quality tanners that will go on streaky or turn you into an Oompa Loompa. But there are several out there too that will give you a natural, dark color. My personal fave is Banana Boat Summer Color self-tanning lotion.

It goes on dark so you can see exactly where you are applying it, the color develops within just a few hours, it naturally fades away without leaving you patchy and its only about $7 at the drugstore.

 The main thing I want you to remember is that besides self-tanning, no tan is a safe one. And with all the cosmetics nowadays that have SPF in them, you have no excuse not to remember to put your sunscreen on every single day. When you go to the beach or pool please take just a few extra seconds to spray on or rub in your sunblock. Your future older (and healthy, unwrinkled;) self will thank you for that extra effort!

"Crowning Glory" or Crown of Frizzy?

"Long, beautiful, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen... I adore hair!"  ~James Rado and Gerome Ragni, Hair

Ah hair. We as women really do tend to have a rather complicated love/hate (or maybe just hate/hate) relationship with our locks. I've read that, besides weight, if women could change just one feature about themselves that most of them would choose their hair.
 I'm biracial so I was born with extremely curly and frizzy hair. From a very early age I remember my mom trying her best to rake a brush through my curls while I tearfully sat through the pain. After I was old enough to take care of it myself all I remember is woefully pulling it all back into a bun day after day because it was too wild for any other style. I desperately wanted long, shiny, straight hair that blew romantically in the wind. So when I was 15 i started chemically straightening my hair. While it wasn't the miracle i was looking for (i still had to use a flat iron to get the hair really smooth) it was a lot better than nothing and I still relax my hair to this day.
 Most women/girls I know care a lot about their hair. We wake up a few minutes earlier so we can fix it just right, we go into a panic attack if our stylists announce they are moving away, we wade through all the shampoos, conditioners and sprays trying to find the miracle product that will give us our dream hair. Men on the other hand do not seem to understand this. They can get away with being able to walk into any barbershop where a complete stranger will snip away for about 10-15 minutes and somehow they almost always come out looking just fine. Men say, "Don't worry about it. Its just hair." Yeah...right. *eye roll*

                            How many of you have done this at some point in your life?






    After a lifetime of watching Pantene commercials I think we would all much rather be this girl:

I had trouble figuring out what direction I wanted this post to take. My friend Emily suggested I talk about being content with what God gives you. To be honest, my first thought was how do I write about something that I'm not? I'm not happy with the hair God gave me. After all I have spent a fortune over the years trying to change it. I don't know when (if ever) I will be truly satisfied with the way my hair is. But I do know that I can work on being more thankful. I've also been watching a lot of YouTube tutorials of different hairstyles. I've tried out a few of them with pretty good success.

So God, I'm not sure why you didn't give me the long flowy hair of my dreams but, hey, thanks for giving me hair in the first place ;)