Next week I'm supposed to go to Great America. There were a couple times when I was younger (and naturally a lot darker) that I would burn on my shoulders from being out in the sunny amusement park all day. Being significantly lighter now, I thought it might be a good idea to "base tan." Yes, I admit, I have used tanning booths in the past, usually right before a vacation where I knew I was going to be showing legs that my dad used to call "fish bellies." He was the dark one in my family and my skin originally took after him, so when I started fading away I got some flack.
Fast forward to yesterday and I decided to check out a new tanning salon by my new home. Although I had some nice fancy-pants tanning lotion back at mi casa, I had just popped in to try this place so I used their sample lotion.
Everything after that happened so quickly...
New client discount. Stand up bed. Done this routine before. Put lotion on & get in.
I usually keep my eyes closed most of the time with the goggles on, and after a couple minutes I opened them & looked down.
"Hmm, that's a weird looking blotch on my leg. I wonder if that's the lotion, or maybe something beneath my skin from working out earlier?"
"Weird looking blotch on my arm too. Why are my shoulders feeling prickly? Is it getting hot already?" (Thinks for a few seconds; moves around.) "No, not hot yet, & it's only been a few minutes."
"This looks crazy, why does it feel like this? Should I see what this looks like in real light? No, I'm probably trippin..." (Thinks a few more seconds.) "I'll just get out real quick & look in the mirror & see it's nothing."
Gets out of booth.
Holy mother of god! What the hell is this lotion? The prickly feeling isn't going away! I'm a lobster! It was only a few minutes! Oh my god I have to put my clothes on! Need to get out of here now!
I couldn't even put my bodybugg back on cuz I didn't want anything touching me. I half-ran out of the salon with my head down semi-smiling saying thank you to the nice Asian lady that I'm sure had no clue what arsenal she had bestowed upon me. Envisioning my home 2 miles away - so close yet so far - I was lucky that the K train pulled right up to take me the first mile. My ass! I couldn't even sit down! Most of the time I walk the last mile because the 23 bus comes every 30 minutes (if it even comes at all) but thanks to the NextBus app I could see it was coming in 2 minutes. Fate or Karma or something must have felt sorry for me because I've never been able to get home that quick before. Those few minutes I spent looking up home remedies on Pinterest for allergic reactions & burns & anything related I could find.
Thank the Lord my roommate wasn't home because I started taking my clothes off the minute I walked in the door. I ran around my kitchen, bathroom and bedroom gathering things like green tea, Epsom salts, aloe vera gel, generic Benadryl and ice cubes. I had text messaged my boyfriend on the way home something resembling English related to skin reaction-tanning booth, and quickly followed up that text with, "I think need to borrow your bathtub."
"Lol really?"
"Yes. Can you pick me up please I'm packing right now."
I changed into the softest clothes I could find, which ended up being satin PJs and a microfiber bathrobe. Into a bag I threw the actual soft clothing I could change into when the situation became less dire. Although I had been tired all day due to it being my "early day" at work, I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off not knowing what to do.
 | ||
| (An hour later) my hands & wrists got the worst of it. |
Two hours later, I was a 3 out of 10 on the uncomfortable scale, still in disbelief how it all happened so quickly.
 |
| The detox/ allergic reaction/ burn/ soothing/ green tea/ epsom salt/ vinegar/ baking soda/ aloe vera bath |
Pasty white girl skin lesson: Never use the sample lotion from the cheapest tanning salon in town.
Also: My next home has to have a bathtub in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment