Bet I am not the only one that has had this problem over summer!
(For those of you upside down in the Northern Hemisphere, take note so you can avoid this annoying issue in the months to come).
My big beauty lesson of summer was trying to fix some extremely obvious and defined tan lines I got as a result of getting sun burnt while wearing a short sleeved wetsuit.
Yes, I should have been wearing sunscreen. I know that, but it was overcast and I didn't think I would be in the water that long. I am sure everyone that finds themselves in this predicament knew better but never-the-less made the silly mistake.
For most people its an amusing non event, for a dancer it's a problem!!
Other dancers will realise that a a big white and red line across your thighs and upper arms is not going to win you any favours with your customers. In my case a load of aloe vera applied hourly took the redness out the burn in time for my upcoming gig but the contrast of my super white skin with the relatively dark tan was extreme.
Finding an appropriate professional looking costume to wear to my next gig was proving tricky so I thought - 'hey why don't I try and fill in the gaps with fake tan lotion???' It is possible this could have worked but as I had no experience at all with applying a fake tan and it just made matters worse.
And because I didn't put it all over me - I thought just the tops of the arms and legs would do it - I ended up with more problem areas to hide!!!! In retrospect I was an idiot but at the time it all seemed perfectly logical. I am sharing this in the hopes I save one of you from the same headache.
My next attempt was to try and even up the tan by putting sunscreen on the tanned area and not the untanned area. This was going ok for my upper arms but the singlet I was wearing cut back further over the shoulder blades than anticipated and I ended up burnt there too - even more tan lines - groan!!!
After my fiasco I interviewed several beauticians and they said that the fake tan approach was the best solution but until you have experience applying the lotions you should go to a professional if you need a professional finish. So obvious in retrospect!
I mixed and matched my costumes and put long black gauntlets on to reduce the obvious line across my arm. I managed to scrub off the streaks of the fake tan, thankfully I had only used a very light coloured one. I wore my hair out with my usual long scarves as accessories, this helped hide the top of the shoulders and shoulder blades. For the legs I wore black sheer harem pants with slits down the side. As the black chiffon skirt I was wearing had splits towards the front, I was covered and the tan lines obscured without it looking like I was purposely covering up. Have you ever had difficult tan lines to cover? How did you handle it? Please comment below.
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