Going to Hawaii - need "tanning" advice.

[StarbucksSam]

If you just want to kind of add a LITTLE color before you go, I'd recommend some of the Neutrogena stuff.

Neutrogena makes a "build-a-tan" lotion that you can rub on yourself. You just need to not touch anything else for like ten minutes until it dries. It is a lot easier to use and less risky than the spray tan from the same company. You can't see WHERE you put the spray tan on, and it's almost impossible to make it even. I ended up with orange-striped legs and a flourescent orange right foot. Just don't ask.

If your face needs some immediate help, I'd recommend a good bronzer. I know that as a man you probably have some issues with makeup, but I can assure you, this is very manly makeup. It is called Tout Beau by Jean Paul Gaultier and it comes in two forms - liquid and powder. I recommend the powder. It's a nice fine and unobtrusive powder that gives your face a little color and doesn't clog your pores up. It's available from Sephora or Sephora.com for a cool $42. It really does make a difference, but maybe your wife should show you how to put it on the first time. Otherwise, it could be rather amusing.

While I know you don't love the idea, I've heard that the ten minute tanning booths can do wonders, and they are really easy. Though I have never tried one myself as I have an acceptably darkish natural complexion for a white guy, I've heard that they aren't that bad, really.

 

[w_parietti22]

This is the first time I've seen ads for tanning solutions on this forum!

 

[CompUser]

I spend the whole summer at the beach. Always wear sunscreen, the last thing you want to look like is a peeling lobster.

Also, be sure to take off your shirt, you don't want to get a "farmer's tan" and look like a complete moron.

 

[emw]

Again - thanks to everyone for the tips. The actually tanning whilst in Hawaii isn't so much a big issue. I'm not a big "lay at the beach" kind of guy, but I'm sure I'll spend at least a fair amount of time around the pool, so the comments on flipping over are appreciated.

I think I might try iBlue's recommendation on the 30-minute tanning beds. Although "high pressure" and "tan" don't seem to fit together, I'll take her word for it. Besides, it seems like the least amount of effort, which is really what I'm all about. The sprays and lotions for making you look tan sound nice in concept, but hearing what everyone's saying make me think I'll have issues getting a relatively consistent look.

 

[jsw]

Although "high pressure" and "tan" don't seem to fit together...

The "high pressure" applies to the sales technique when you walk in, as they're higher-margin sales.

Have fun there (Hawaii), tanned or not!

 

[iBlue]

Again - thanks to everyone for the tips. The actually tanning whilst in Hawaii isn't so much a big issue. I'm not a big "lay at the beach" kind of guy, but I'm sure I'll spend at least a fair amount of time around the pool, so the comments on flipping over are appreciated.

I think I might try iBlue's recommendation on the 30-minute tanning beds. Although "high pressure" and "tan" don't seem to fit together, I'll take her word for it. Besides, it seems like the least amount of effort, which is really what I'm all about. The sprays and lotions for making you look tan sound nice in concept, but hearing what everyone's saying make me think I'll have issues getting a relatively consistent look.

glad to hear it, honestly i think it's your best shot at not going a total whitey. if you go twice (to the "high pressure bed") over the course of a week or two it will give you the best results. the "high pressure" refers to the strength of the bulbs, those filters are a miracle. i am always so stunned that you don't burn in there but it works like a charm every time. you won't burn as easily in hawaii either because it gives you that base tan. like i said earlier, can't praise those tanning beds enough, love it! i might be going again soon because this wintery white i'm currently sporting around sucks.

have fun!

 

[floriflee]

glad to hear it, honestly i think it's your best shot at not going a total whitey. if you go twice (to the "high pressure bed") over the course of a week or two it will give you the best results. the "high pressure" refers to the strength of the bulbs, those filters are a miracle. i am always so stunned that you don't burn in there but it works like a charm every time. you won't burn as easily in hawaii either because it gives you that base tan. like i said earlier, can't praise those tanning beds enough, love it! i might be going again soon because this wintery white i'm currently sporting around sucks.

have fun!

So does that mean that these beds also have a lower risk of causing skin cancer?? I worry about that since I was out and about a lot as a kid and had my share of tans and bad sunburns on vacations and I'm as pale as they come.

 

[iBlue]

So does that mean that these beds also have a lower risk of causing skin cancer?? I worry about that since I was out and about a lot as a kid and had my share of tans and bad sunburns on vacations and I'm as pale as they come.

for legal reasons they never say that but i imagine the answer is yes. since it doesn't burn you and has those intense filters it probably is a fairly "safe" way of indoor tanning.

 

[emw]

Hey iBlue - thanks for the advice. I used a high-pressure tanner last night and it was a definite improvement over my previous tanning experiences. I'm not bronzed yet after just one session, but I think one more will give me a good base before I head out on Friday.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[jelloshotsrule]

nice job no longer white boy!

now make sure you read up so you're prepared for the results!

 

[emw]

now make sure you read up so you're prepared for the results!

Thanks for the tip

Of course, I can't imagine the two hours every 10 years I spend in a tanning booth is going to significantly impact my chances to get skin cancer...

 

[zelmo]

This thread is useless without before and after pics.

 

[emw]

The before picture of me is attached below. I'll post the after when I return from Hawaii.

 

[yellow]

Aloha Eemwwwah.

 

[yellow]

Eeemmwah! Apple is wishing you a happy trip too!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/187156/

 

[devilot]

Well then, you're back!

Aren't you going to update your thread with some news and photos of your trip?!

 

[emw]

Aren't you going to update your thread with some news and photos of your trip?!

Yeah, I guess I've been back 2 days now, I should provide an update.

The trip was wonderful - despite all the news you may have heard about the weather in Hawai'i, it was actually pretty nice where we were on the Big Island. The other islands, however, weren't so lucky.

Kauai was hit hard with rain, suffering not only a major dam collapse, but significant flooding. The mountains of Kauai received over 120" of rain during the past 4 weeks.

Oahu was also flooded, and experienced mudslides, etc.

Lanai actually had a tornado hit while we were there - something that is extremely rare on the islands.

Maui also experienced severe bouts of rain, in fact seeing somewhere around 26" during the month of March.

That being said, we had one day with any really significant rain, and most of that was overnight. It was cloudy several days, but since we were there for 8 days, we also got a fair amount of sun. We spent some time at the pool, but also did some kayaking, snorkeling, and, of course, sight-seeing and shopping. Overall a very relaxing trip. And I didn't get burned!

We took about 150 pictures, but I won't bore you with those. Instead, I'll bore you with just a few of them over the next few posts.

 

[emw]

Silly signs...

One of my favorite signs was one we saw at the hotel itself. It had rained the night before, and since the hotel is pretty much open to the elements, many of the floors were wet (terraces, etc.). In these cases, they posted wet floor caution signs. Though not silly in its message, the symbol of the person falling on their ass was fantastic.

On one of our trips we went to a coffee farm. Along the way we stopped at a local shop where I thought I might find some fellow MR members hanging out with a cup of joe. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed that not only were there no Mac fanatics, there wasn't even a MacBook in sight!

Hawaii is known to some degree for its wildlife, although the focus is mainly on marine animals vs. land animals. So it was with some surprise that I found out that Hawaii has a significant number of donkeys on the Big Island who apparently have day jobs that they need to commute to.

 

[emw]

The scenery

As you might expect, there were some nice views while we were there. I'm always drawn to sunset pictures for some reason, even though I'm not that good at photographing them. This one, however, I thought was cool, especially with the boy playing in the surf in the mid to lower-left of the image.

And another sunset picture.

We also went on a trip around the island to a scenic lookout spot. The lookout was located several hundred feet above sea level, and we were able to get a couple of decent shots.

To give you an idea of how quickly the weather can change, the image below was taken about 20 minutes after the image above, in roughly the same area. By now, the fog was rolling in.

For those of you who have never been to the Big Island, it may come as a bit of a shock when you first arrive to find that most of the island is covered in lava rock. In fact, driving from the airport to our hotel, we go about 25 miles with nothing but lava rock around us. Somewhat different from the tropical Hawaii you see in most pictures.

However, among the lava rocks you will occasionally see some goats hanging out, looking for the occasional grass growing through the rock.

 

[devilot]

Haha, I'm glad you changed the goat picture. I was squinting trying to see them but this larger version is just right. And as for the wet floor sign... I um, glanced too quickly at the sign and assumed it was a funny looking arrow pointing to the wet ground.

 

[emw]

Coffee anyone?

Even though we'd been to Hawaii before, I didn't realize that there was such a large coffee farming industry on the Big Island. If you've ever had (or heard of) Kona Coffee - it's all grown there.

To be honest, I'd never even seen "raw" coffee beans. Here are some unripe beans:

And a couple of ripe ones:

In addition to growing coffee, the farms also maintain a few papaya trees throughout the plantation. It turns out that the papayas attract the insects so that they stay away from the coffee.

I was also happy to see a banana tree - as I'd never seen one in person before. Pretty wild. Unfortunately, they weren't ripe.

Finally, there were also ornamental pineapple plants as well as a few cacao trees (for chocolate).

If anyone is interested in high-res pics of any of these, let me know and I can post links to those as well. Thanks for letting me share a few pictures - as I dig through more of the others I'm sure I'll post some additional ones as well.

Unfortunately, I missed out on two exceptional photo ops because I didn't have my camera. First, as some of you may know, there is some sort of "tradition" on the Big Island to post messages on the dark lava rock using white rocks. Many of these range from "Tim loves Becky" to "In Memory of Jonathan" to any number of other sentimental or no-so-sentimental notes, including some advertisements. However, one I saw, but we never went back there, said "Aloha MR" - I though for sure someone from here had put that one up!

The second was while snorkeling. The first time we went I had my underwater camera with me, but the water was fairly murky due to the recent weather, and so I wasn't able to get any really good shots. The second time, I assumed it would be the same, and so didn't bring the camera. This time, however, while we were swimming along, a green sea turtle came up and swam with us for several minutes. Damn, I wish I'd had my camera.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

for some reason the pictures aren't loading for me, on xp at work...

 

[2nyRiggz]

Bananas, Pineapple...yummy!...chocolate bad .....damn i want some chocolate.


Bless

 

[emw]

for some reason the pictures aren't loading for me, on xp at work...

I've specifically banned XP systems from accessing my images.

No, not really. I have no idea why you wouldn't be able to see them, unless your work is blocking my mremw.com domain.

 

[devilot]

^^ Dang. No username and password privleges for me.