Spray you, spray me

Warm weather in LA is finally (sorta) here. The jacarandas are blooming, flip flops are being worn, and DHA is in the air. I'm an unabashed fan of the spray tan. Glowing skin makes us white folk look healthier and prettier. Seriously- my friend once had her doctor tell her "how much better she looked" during her follow up visit, but what he didn't know is that she had gotten a spray tan. She still felt like shit. It fools professionals!

So I had my first ever airbrush spray tan tonight. My local Mystic tanning spot was doing a $25 promotion for current customers, which is quite a deal. Usually, my spray tanning involves a chamber, nakedness, and solitude. This time, it still involved nakedness, but also a 7 foot tall brown walk-in camping tent, another person, and a motorized hose type thing with a nozzle that reminded me of a weed abater. I had to move into different poses (including a left and right "lunge") as she swept the spraying hose up and down. At one point, she was like, "sorry it's so cold! I can see your goose bumps!" and I was thinking, "girl, this is so much better than the last time I was naked in front of a stranger, getting my ho-ha sapped with a laser and wearing protective eye gear."

Whenever I fake 'n bake, I never get it with added "bronzer," which is basically just dark powder that gets your white sheets filthy and makes you look like, well, a chimney sweep. It's body make-up that washes down the drain the next morning. Totally unnecessary for any purpose you could ever think of, unless you were staging an episode of Lost in your living room, that night. I usually just get the clear chemicals sprayed onto me, and like magic, it develops overnight into a golden glow.

This is gonna look so good for Maui!

Apparently the airbrush version of a spray tan necessitates the bronzer so the chick applying it can see where it's gone. Makes sense- so I compromised on my no-bronzer philosphy, and here I am, starled when I look in the mirror.

Meaning, I look like a chimney sweep right now.

This leads me to two thoughts: 1) on average, how many more times a year are women naked with strangers than men are? and 2) what in the world do airbrushed spray-tanning women do who live with men? As in, romantically? As much as I'm looking forward to someday living with my man, nights like tonight give me pause. Seriously, I look like a crazy person right now. After I got the airbrush bronzer tan, I bought hummus and wine at the Albertsons in Los Feliz, and the checker couldn't avert her eyes. And this is Los Feliz, where I've seen homeless people sunbathing spread eagle on street  corners. On that note, I do sorta look homeless right now.

Is this why Margot Tennenbaum kept her secret apartment?