3 posts tagged “tan”

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The Legend, the Myth, the Program: The Future of Tanning

…a continuation of Is She Hot?: The Quintessential Question

The Evolution of Beauty

This video has changed my life. I knew that models on the cover of magazines had a large crew take care of their face, hair and eyes but it never occurred to me that all the images in a magazine underwent Adobe Photoshop. The model did appear more dull and pale than the face in the advertisement. Notice how color, depth and glow were added to her skin with makeup. Then it was enhanced with Adobe Photoshop. It’s true! I’ve been watching YouTube video after YouTube video marveling at all the amazing things that Adobe Photoshop can do.

The Photoshop Effect

This is a video about a girl from diet.com who is in very good shape but is still undergoes Adobe Photoshop. The video is campaigning against retouching photographs. It addresses the issue of an unrealistic standard of beauty that is set by magazines and advertisements but also shows the miracles of Adobe Photoshop. The photographer in the video has taken pictures of many beautiful women but always feels the need to touch them up on the program. It surprised me the most is that celebrities have personal touch up artists and their photographs are not publicly released without the touch ups. I’m really in awe of Adobe Photoshop. It does tanning for you. There are tutorials available online so that you can learn how to get the right tan on the program.

Adding a Darker Skin Tone

 

This is an instructional video on how to make you look more tan using Adobe Photoshop. In this video they took a picture of Rose McGowan who is naturally pale and gorgeous and they give her a bit of a tan using different layers, brushes and backgrounds.

No wonder women are so unhappy with the way that they naturally look. The images that surround us aren’t what people actually look like but instead highly manipulated images created by artists. The standard of beauty represented in these pictures is unobtainable and like he said in the video even if you were a professional athlete you could only get close to having the ideal body. Just hit a few buttons on the program and you can adjust your skin tone to any color you want. Is this the future of tanning?

2 comments Tags: beauty, tan, tanning, adobe photoshop, model, unrealistic standards

It's Mine Because I Bought It: The Cost of Glamour


I want to touch upon modification and money in this entry. Today when we see celebrities on the cover of a magazine we often ask ourselves: is it real or fake? We often break people into parts when we wonder if that is real and if she bought them. For example: are her boobs real? Can also be said like this, “are those her real boobs?” or “are those really her boobs?” and “did she pay for them?” When we discover that someone has paid to have parts of them modified we tend to think of that particular part as no longer theirs. For example: she paid for her boobs to be modified so therefore, they aren’t really hers because they aren’t naturally that way. The same can said about tanning. 

Tanning is also a modification. It’s not as permanent or severe as plastic surgery but we still look at celebrities who are unusually dark or orange and wonder – is it real or fake? Is that her real skin color or did she buy it? Tanning like plastic surgery is a thriving business. “The tanning industry earns over one billion dollars per year,” (hps.org). It’s an expensive operation to run. Tanning beds range from $750 - $10,000, space rental fees are $7,000 - $35,000, paying employees is expensive and operations cost about $115,000 each year (powerhomebiz.com). However, if successful the profits are great and in America there are many return customers. 

I visited a few tanning salon websites to see the range of prices. It turns out that the average price is about $20 for one month of unlimited tanning, which isn’t much. There must be many people who tan in order to make a profit and to keep as many as six tanning salons in a small town of 18,000. 

What really strikes me as strange is that in the past tanning had been a sign of the poor working class and now it is something that the rich purchase and consume. Movie stars, singers and dancers all tan because it makes them look thinner and healthier on camera. Evidence of this lies in choice of words used to describe a tan – gold, copper and bronze. All are precious metals used to describe riches rather than poverty. A tan makes a woman look “sexier, younger, healthier, wealthier,” [1]

Works Cited

[1] Segrave, Kerry

2005 Suntanning in 20th Century America: McFarland & Company.

Post a comment Tags: dark, orange, money, tan, tanning, fake, profit, boobs …

The Fairest of Them All: An Eastern Approach to Beauty


Once upon a time, when I was eight years old I looked into my vanity mirror and saw the damage that sun exposure did to my skin. I was very tan. Milk chocolate tan. I felt so unattractive! I was so ashamed of how dark my skin was but I couldn't help it! At the time I was living in Manila, Philippines where everyone has a pool in their backyard. I went swimming often and my family liked to go to the beach on the weekends. I would never be able to escape the sun! Despite my efforts to apply sunscreen every hour I would always return to my room darker than I was when I left. I would never be pretty.

Sammi SK-II | zenov.wordpress.com
Sammi SK-II | zenov.wordpress.com
Shu Qi in SK-II Commercial 4 - SK-II 面膜 舒淇代言

My ideal of beauty were the women on the SK II commercials. They all looked just like Snow White with fair skin and their beauty radiated through the television screen. I wanted fair skin so badly that I begged my parents for whitening products to make me prettier but they told me that I did not need whitening products because I was already pretty.

I didn't believe them. People with fair skin are beautiful. Movie stars, music artists and models all had healthy glowing white skin. The ideal of a white beauty dates back to the Tang Dynasty (maybe even further). Here's an excerpt from a poem on an Emperor desperately searching for a beautiful woman:

Tang Dynasty Woman
Tang Dynasty Woman
 
The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away
From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried
That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?
(A Song of Unending Sorrow by Bai Juyi)

The poem ends in sorrow because the Emperor is unable to find this woman. Her legendary beauty is timeless. Women in the east continue to take great measures to keep their skin fair. In the summer they carry parasols and some women even wear long pants, long sleeved shirts and evening gloves to ensure an even skin tone.
My ideal of beauty has not changed since I was eight but I have come to terms with my skin tone but I still believe that fair skin is more beautiful. I envy my friends and relatives who are able to keep an light complexion and I continue to religiously apply sunscreen. I limit my exposure to the sun during the summer and I do own two UV umbrellas. I even own a bit of whitening lotion.

Lindsay Lohan | theinsider.com
Lindsay Lohan | theinsider.com

Americans don't seem to share these ideals with me. In fact, most don't take any measures to have fair skin. They prefer to tan. I know this because when I moved to the United States for high school I was shocked to see American tanning culture. No more SK II and no UV parasols! American supermarkets carry tanning products. Celebrities and models are tan.

Americans find many different ways to tan all year round:  self tanning lotion, spray tanning booths, tanning beds and sunbathing. Why is tan considered to be beautiful? How do people make the choice to tan even with knowledge about skin cancer from tanning? I would like to better understand tanning culture.
1 comment Tags: white, beauty, tan, tanning, swimming, fair, lindsay lohan, tang dynasty …