The Spray Tan Experiment

The day we bought my wedding dress my aunt was full of demands. "Demands" might sound harsh, but no, really, she was adamant about some things.... short dress means loooong veil, sparkles everywhere, huge tiara, sparkly high heels, short short and tight tight dress, fake nails, tan.  My shoes probably would be okay with her I think. She approved of my dress, but insisted we add sparkle. For her I'm adding ONE piece of sparkle, in honor of her and Grandma. Nails? No way! I hate fake nails. She got them for me for the first "party" and I learned that I never want them again. Even though she now only bosses me around from her little cloud in the sky, she is winning one thing.... the tan.

The towel and hair net.

I am a whole mess of tan lines, as I imagine a lot of you fellow runners are. V-necks, round necks, short sleeves, tanks, compression socks, shorts, Road ID, Garmin ... I'm a patchwork quilt! So yesterday I took one step to evening it out. I called the local tanning salon and made an appointment. Have you ever done these things? I didn't do the tanning bed, but rather opted for the 60 second Mystic Tan. Totally new to me!

After work I went for a run (yay!!!) then hopped in the shower to remove all perfume, makeup and sweat. I scrubbed down my entire body with that loofah just to be sure! I then threw on a running dress, NO deodorant, no makeup, brushed my hair and was out the door to the salon.  Once there I had to fill out this big card with all sorts of info and figure out my skin type number (3, if you're interesting). I decided to take advantage of the "buy 2 get the 3rd free" special and was taken back to a private room.  The girl taught me what to do, and I had already watched the video online, so that helped. She left me on my own (after getting photos for this post) to tan away!

Lotion and baby wipes -- and mood lighting?

First up, ditch ALL the clothes. Leave it to me to not even think of locking the door for a while. Um, yeah. First up I put on a hair net. So sexy!  Next up I had to use this lotion on my hands and feet, but not rub it in all the way. (I rubbed the lotion on my skin ....) <--that's my Buffalo Bill reference for the post. Time for the machine.

OMG I felt like I was in a car wash. On the floor are 4 footprints, each of them numbered. I got in the booth/machine thing and waved my hand in front of the sensor. Nothing. Are you kidding me? I'm naked, lotioned and in a hair net. I can't ask for help like this!! The recording tells me to put my hand in front of the sensor (not wave it like the girl told me). So I stick my hand out and hear my instructions.  With my feet on 1 and 4 I got in the post I saw on the video and took a deep breath. From my feet up to my head I was sprayed. It was kind of loud. And then I panicked and was sure I was going to die when my face was being sprayed. 

I did this 3 times, rotating a little bit each time. I got better (at not thinking I was dying) with each round. No, strike that. I freaked out each time. But at least I knew I was going to freak, so I guess it didn't seem AS bad. Once it was done I was standing in this booth and it's all foggy and smells like tanning spray. I needed out. I tried to push on the door and it didn't open. So then I pulled. Nothing. I tried looking to see, and I swore it looked like I had to pull. Pull, pull, pull ... nothing. Great. I'm stuck in this thing. So I try to push again. Finally after two tries and finally a BIG push it opened up.

Like I was told I used a paper towel to remove the hair net. Then I used the baby wipes on my hands. Stupidly I really want to town on the top of my left hand and realized I wasn't supposed to do that. Then I got delicate and finished off my palms.  I used a towel to lightly pat down my body, slipped on my dress and then was done! Really, it was a pretty simple process.. hopefully next time I will do it like a pro!

So this morning I woke up -- Holy New Pope! I was tan!!  The bottom of my feet? Brown. I forgot to wipe the bottom of them with the baby wipes. Oops. Oh well - nobody sees that part anyway. My left hand? Yeah, you can see where I went crazy wiping. . . and you can tell I then stopped. My poor thumb. It's like I had a transplant from an Oompa Loompa. I've been hiding it all day.  But other than that, I like how it came out. My back looks really good! I have an even skin color finally!!

It is supposed to last a week, so we'll see how looks after a few days! Next time I get it done it will be for the wedding. ... which is a month from today. Weeeeee!!!!!

Oops!