light & lively

BY AMY ZAVATTO

we’ve all done it—those marathon sun-worship sessions during which we expose our naked, vulnerable epidermis to the warm rays of the sun to attain the ultimate bronzed glow. You know, the shade that screams sexy, sun-kissed health? It’s a national pastime, slathered in ceremony, and so many of us feel it’s our birthright to bake ourselves to a delicious golden-brown. But what if we told you that tanning isn’t your skin’s way of purporting inner and outer wellbeing: It’s an out and out cry for help. “What a tan really represents is a sign of DNA damage,” insists Dr. Elizabeth Hale, clinical associate professor of dermatology at the New York University Langone Medical Center. “Our body mounts a tanning response as a sort of stress response; it’s a defense mechanism. In the eighties, you often heard the words ‘healthy tan.’ There’s no such thing!” Enlightened advocates are waging a national campaign to help everyone—including those of us who feel stale in our natural state of pale—to learn to love our natural complexion, be it light, dark, or in between.