Not A Beach Bum? No Problem.
Here in Texas
You’ve seen them. Women, friends, sisters, coming out of the woodwork with noticeably darker, more freckled, or orange skin. People who never set foot outdoors suddenly start sporting the “sun kissed” look.
Cancer-causing UV rays aside, I don’t see anything explicitly wrong about going tanning. I’m not making a case against it. However, it does cause me to consider the quirks of human nature. Isn’t it interesting how “the grass is always greener on the other side” applies to skin tone—that women will pay money to bake in a toaster in order to change the way they look?
Tanning also reminds me of how much of what we consider “beautiful” is a cultural thing. Did you know that while we sell sun-tan lotion in North America,China Africa , heavier women are more esteemed than skinny ones? Or that in not-so-distant history, different ideals of beauty were cherished in even the United States
All things considered, tanning is just another culturally-specific beauty ideal. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if it’s worthwhile.
What do you think?
You’ve seen them. Women, friends, sisters, coming out of the woodwork with noticeably darker, more freckled, or orange skin. People who never set foot outdoors suddenly start sporting the “sun kissed” look.
Cancer-causing UV rays aside, I don’t see anything explicitly wrong about going tanning. I’m not making a case against it. However, it does cause me to consider the quirks of human nature. Isn’t it interesting how “the grass is always greener on the other side” applies to skin tone—that women will pay money to bake in a toaster in order to change the way they look?
Tanning also reminds me of how much of what we consider “beautiful” is a cultural thing. Did you know that while we sell sun-tan lotion in North America,
All things considered, tanning is just another culturally-specific beauty ideal. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if it’s worthwhile.
What do you think?
- Do you know of any beauty ideals that are different in other cultures?
- What do you think about tanning and other beauty treatments?
posted by Hannah at
2:23 PM
6 Comments:
I've just been thinking about this very thing! If only we could just change what people think of as beautiful.. I can't believe how much our nations ideals have changed in the last little while! From being white with plump arms to tan and underweight, what happened!?!
My personal opinion on tanning is that it is a waste of time and money (not to mention the hazards ;), but also, when we spend so much time thinking of what we LOOK like rather than the condition of our hearts, we become SO selfish and drift farther away from GOD!
Thank you so much for your great blog, I love reading it!!
Blessings,
Alexandrea
www.homesteadblogger.com/aquietlittlewoman
Interesting thoughts. That's cool about other countries and how they view beauty. Personally, I don't think nose rings are beautiful but they are normal in India and other countries and I imagine it is because what they view as beautiful is different. I also think that people tan or obsess over looks because they aren't sure who they are in Christ so they just do what everyone else does.
One cultural difference is that in this culture women shave their legs (hallelujah) but in some places they don't.
It is interesting to think about.
Well, I went tanning once, when my sister was getting married and she wanted me not to have a farmer tan for pictures.
From the experience I had, I doubt I'll ever do it again. I hated going tanning, and I cannot see why anybody would want to, but then people do it, so what can I say?
Everything changes over time - although, have you noticed that the new "in" clothes are the same type of thing as what was popular twenty, thirty years ago? Society runs in circles, chasing the next big thing, the next cool look. I really doubt it's worthwhile, either.
Thanks for the post!
Linda
Ah, Texas. I truly love it. I'm the Texas odd-ball though, I can't tan a lick I burn or get freckles...alotta freckles and not a few sprinkled across my nose.
If you tan naturally that’s great but I dont think people who expose them self’s in an immodest way and put themselves at risk of skin-cancer simply to get a tan. A great way (I've heard) is tanning lotion, you simply apply and its makes you look tanner (more tan?) with no harmful side affects!
I have red hair thus pale skin; I was teased when I was younger for my paleness but now I like it, it’s a part of what makes me look like me!
You make a very interesting point with your post. My dad actually told him once that paler wmoen physically attracted him more because he could tell that they were natural. Let's face it, it's REALLY hard to get a fake pale... (It doesn't even sound real...) I love how you pointed out the different cultures, I was watching something on the Discovery Channel once and there was an African woman who was supposed to getting ready for her wedding and all they did for like a week was make her eat and rub flour all over her body. The more fat she gained from eating, the more committed she would be to the marriage or somethign like that. It was very interesting to see the direct opposite of what a lot of people in today's American society this is beautiful. Thank you for posting this. :]
-Bee-
Humans are really a discontented creation. Here in the Philippines where we are a primarily brown-skinned or tanned—as you'd like to call it—people, we have endless rows of whitening products in markets. When I was tutoring English to South Koreans couple of years ago, my teenage students gush over my brown skin and said they'd like to have the color of my skin. I told them to love their skin color because many brown-skinned Filipinos would love to trade. I don't know if I encouraged or discouraged them. ^_^ Perhaps in U.S., tanned people are more thought of beautiful? Here, as long as you have white skin, you are beautiful—that’s the mentality that you eventually get when you are colonized for over 300 years. (We were under Spanish rule since 1500s and an American colony for over 40 years when Spain sold us to the U.S. in the 1898 Treaty of Paris—wow! My history professor would be proud that I remember this. ^_^)
(IRRELEVANT: I suddenly remembered that one of my students loved my forehead and often gushed about it, comparing her forehead with mine. I don’t know what’s with my forehead but it struck me as some kind of silly admiration. *feels forehead* *wrinkles forehead* What’s with my forehead?!)
But recently I see a different uprising trend of beauty ideal. Brown-skinned women, instead of desiring white skin embrace their chocolate-colored skin. I have watched in a talk show in passing of a topic about brown Filipinas embracing their color and fighting off the "white beauty" mentality. I think that’s quite an advance because culturally, we’re prevalently Americanized. As one preacher said to us Filipinos, “You are a very good colony.”
I think tanning—or whitening—and most beauty treatments are primarily a result of discontentment. We, humans, often crave for things that are unessential which, most of the time lead to obsession. As you have said, these things aren’t really bad but when it leads to obsession, then it becomes sinful. Obsession with beauty can be very pretty dangerous. Just look at what happened to Narcissus.
I remember a story my sister shared me of a woman who had her lip permanently tattooed—which I think is a good example of having the right reason for a beauty treatment. She used to smoke when she was still single and so her lips became dark. When she had children, she decided to stop smoking because it would not be a very good example and bad for her health as a nursing mother. She had her lip tattooed on a normal lip color. I guess now she’s using her experience of smoking and having a lip tattoo to show her children that some things come with a price especially if it grew out of a wrong habit.
Beauty treatments aren’t totally wrong but we should have a keen discernment whether it is worthwhile, necessary and whether God would approve of it. Perhaps as His daughters, before falling for the latest beauty fad, we should ask ourselves questions like, “Would my Father like me to buy this and that?” “Would He approve if I use this hair color?” “Would I glorify Him and give honor to Him if I buy this make-up set of Estee Lauder?” “Is it necessary that I have this set of Pond’s cleanser, moisturizer, toner and oil remover? Or should I just have a toner?” Go down to the specifics. You’ll need it when you walk by a beauty store in the mall where the latest and tempting expensive beauty products are paraded—most especially for girls.
Myra Vitamin E promotes beauty coming from the inside by telling viewers to take the vitamin tablet they are promoting. True beauty is more than the physical inside. True beauty is what comes from within spiritually. A joy that springs from the heart received from Jesus. There’s no beauty tablet greater than having the tablet of God’s word in your heart.
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