St Tropez

I have never in my life had a fake tan. Until yesterday. A very good friend recently had her first fake tan and I was intrigued. Going back to my school days, the fashion in the 1970s was to be as tanned as possible, I don't remember anyone in those days mentioning skin damage or skin cancer. To my chagrin, my lily white skin was incapable of becoming tanned and I was very envious of my classmates who would appear back from the summer holidays a beautiful nut brown. Admittedly I was one of the only girls in my class at school who holidayed in Scotland, but even if I had been able to go to the Mediterranean I still wouldn't have got a tan! As I got older I tried to tan by using little or no sun cream when abroad but needless to say that led only to dreadful burns - I still have really bad scarring on the skin of my shins. 

Luckily extreme tanning gradually fell out of fashion and I came to terms with my pale skin. Now I use factor 50 in the sun and am very happy just not to burn.

However I was intrigued by the idea of getting a fake tan. Quite a few of my colleagues and friends get fake tans regularly and appear to have a healthy glow - maybe I would look glowing too!

So I bit the bullet and made an appointment to get sprayed with a "St Tropez" tan yesterday after my hair cut. And I mean literally sprayed with a hose as I turned around and around so that all angles could be covered. I was given instructions to wait 12 hours before showering and to moisturise my skin liberally. 

Reactions at home were unanimously negative. James has been singing the Oompa Loompa song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Davie says that my face is the same colour as my hair and that I look much older. When Ally and Cat skyped from China this afternoon Ally was gasping with horror and laughter. Even lovely Cat couldn't help mentioning that I look as if I have no lips.

As for me, I'm quite relaxed about it. It is quite drastic and I look a bit silly but it's fun and I know that it will only last a few days. In fact it has inspired me to do something that I haven't done for more than 25 years - yes, this evening I have painted my toenails! Whatever next?