As far as I can remember, swimming was the first sport I learned from my brother when I was around 4 years old. Growing up, my brother and I spent a lot of time swimming and playing under direct sunshine and we were famous for our dark tan during the hot season and, of course as a kid, we didn’t care about the sun damage, UVA, UVB and etc.

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At the same time, my mother never spent time under sun without skin protection but she always had the best chocolate tan color all year round! I can never forget peoples' complements on her chocolate tan and comparing her color with mine;  of course chocolate tan beats the dark tan so she wins every time!

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As a kid I was questioning what does it mean “better tan color”? How come her tan never went away even in cold seasons and how come her tan color was different than mine even though she didn't spend much time under the sun yet she got all the credit when it came to the tan color contest!

One day I asked the questions and she said “I have a secret”.  You can imagine what happens if you tell that to a kid. Next thing you know they will try to discover the secret, which of course I did!

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I remember my Mom used to make a mix with lemon, tomato, coffee beans, olive oil and a green powder (which was henna). Seeing those simple ingredients and how focused she was on measuring and mixing them, I had no doubt she was preparing food and never thought that was the “Secret”.  Years later I learned she was actually making her homemade lotion with those ingredients and applying the resulting potion on her skin every day and that was her secret! So I began to use the "secret" on my own skin.

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As a kid, knowing a family secret and winning the tan color competition (between my mother and myself) and getting all the complements on my Chocolate Tan made me so excited and happy.

As an adult, sharing my family secret and the story behind it with people who are interested makes me even happier!

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