What's Up in May?: Your Skin Cancer Awareness!

The school year is rapidly coming to an end--or maybe your semester is already over. Whatever the case, chances are cancer is the last thing on your mind. You're thinking about volleyball, jet-setting to the Bahamas, or scooping ice-cream at your local parlor. But, with the warm, sunny weather, we tend to spend more time outside, increasing our risk--whether we realize it or not--for developing skin cancer.

I don't mean to be a downer. My point is not to equate summer with some doomsday prediction. That's why for May, Skin Cancer Awareness Month, I'm going to try to adopt a positive perspective. There is a fantastic campaign currently circulating: "Go with Your Own Glow" encourages women--although I think the message could equally target men--to accept their natural complexions.

The ads are pretty witty, too. This one is my favorite:

Another hard-hitting message from the minds behind "Go With Your Own Glow"? 

Want a killer tan?

You might just get one.

Sure, the messages are a little blunt, but in a society that has as many tanning salons as it has 7-11s, it's important to remind people--especially teens--that, just like fashion, skin color also follows trends. Unfortunately, while donning a pair of bell-bottoms might garner some sideways glances as school, this trend could land you in the OR.

Support "Go With Your Own Glow" here.