This just in: the World Health Organization (WHO) placed tanning beds on its list of the most cancer-causing substances and habits, alongside arsenic asbestos and mustard gas. It’s kind of astonishing to me that tanning-booths—not the spray-kind, the other kind—continue to flourish legally. But then again, cigarettes. The new year is no time to moralize.

But let me just say this. If you like the look of a tan because of what it suggests, go with that. If being tan makes you think of swimming naked in a balmy green lagoon, well, of course, we all get it. But do we have to be so literal about it? Can’t we simply recalibrate our bodies to how they felt after a week or two of sun, surf, sleeping late, living simply? Remember how nice you were to the interminably slow wait staff at the local café? Remember how mellow you felt when the airline lost your luggage coming back from Grand Cayman? “Oh well, nothing but dirty laundry anyway, ha ha.”

The lesson is right there. Your skin may have been toasted to a golden-honey crunch (you’ll be sorry later), but it was really your mind that was temporarily deep-fried. That’s what you need to recapture. Maybe start by thumb-tacking a postcard of your dream vacay-destination up in your cube. And, okay, if you must fluff on a glimmer of bronzer or play a little bossa nova on your iPod, by all means. Just remember: tan is a state of mind.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 12:02 pm and is filed under under my skin with jane wurwand, founder of dermalogica.