Experimentation

I had a spray tan done today. Not the kind where you go into a booth (I always think of Ross on Friends), but the kind where you get "airbrushed" by someone who manually sprays you.

It all started two weeks ago when I was at my hair trial. While I was getting my hair done, a girl came in to get her makeup done for her prom. Everyone got to talking, and the makeup artist lectured her about going tanning. The girl said she hadn't gone tanning--she had gotten a spray tan. Everyone was in disbelief that a spray tan could look so good. She said she got it done at a nearby spa, and that it was only $20. This piqued my interest.

I hate tanning beds, and will absolutely never go to one ever again. Not only are they bad for your skin, but I can't imagine spending that much time in one of those hot boxes. I was never the kind of person who thought tanning was "relaxing." I was always counting down the seconds until I could get the hell out of there.

I thought for the wedding... hey, it's in late June. I'll be outside, get some natural color. And even if I don't, oh well, I'll just be pale. Well, the weather has been unseasonably cool here this May, and add to that my extremely busy schedule... I haven't had time to be outside at ALL.

So enter the spray tan. I definitely wanted to try it out before the wedding. I wanted to see how long it lasts on my skin, how it looks on me (hopefully not orange), etc. I called yesterday, scheduled an appointment for today, and I went.

(Side note: Prior to the spray tan, I went with my mom to see the Sex and the City movie. If you're a SATC fan, run! Go see it, now! I was pleasantly surprised by it. I went in with mediocre expectations since I was scared they might "ruin" SATC by making the movie. But it was good. Really good!)

OK, back to the tan. It was... interesting, to say the least. I think my favorite part was when the woman said (in an accent, she was from someplace exotic sounding), "You might want to spread apart your butt cheeks." I actually bust out laughing! She said, "No, I'm serious! One time I had it done and didn't do that, and I went home and the crack of my ass was all white!" I'm not kidding. That is a direct quote. I love it.

Anyway, aside from the butt crack comment, it was uneventful and so far, I like the results. I feel disgustingly sticky and it's killing me that I can't shower until tomorrow morning. But she said it will look really good tomorrow after I shower and get the residual stickiness and some of the coloring stuff off. We'll see what happens. I'm hoping all goes well.

Only thing is that I posted about the spray tan on The Knot, and someone told me that they used to work at a Hollywood Tans, and she said that this stuff WILL come off on my dress. She says it doesn't matter how many days ahead of time I get it done, some of the stuff always stays on your skin. So now I'm seriously reconsidering having this done for the wedding. I'd rather have my pale, pasty self than have orange marks on my dress (obviously).

But I'm kind of confused because I talked to them at the spa specifically about doing it for my wedding, and they made it sound like that was a pretty common thing. I expressed concern about the color on my white dress, and they said that if I came in on Thursday night to get it done for my Saturday wedding, it would be perfect. But how can I chance that? My bachelorette party is tomorrow and I planned on wearing white capris... I'm even afraid to do that in fear of ruining them. Sunday, I can throw on an old undershirt and really test out the spray tan/white clothes combo, but until then, I'm going to be really nervous. My friend gets spray tans regularly and told me she has never had it come off on her clothes, but... I don't know.

Anyone out there have any spray tan expertise to share?