It seems like I’m not the only one who isn’t going to take her keratosis pilaris, aka ‘chicken skin,’ diagnosis lying down.

A light bulb went off when I saw this home-made video of a young woman and KP sufferer, who went to a hot climate for a brief vacation and her KP miraculously disappeared, just like mine did when I went to Los Angeles last summer.

I think there’s something to this sun/heat thing. Something more than meets the eye. It meets the skin too.  I believe the strength and heat of the sun is penetrating the skin, opening up the pores and (to my mind), actually melting that thick clogging fatty substance that fills my follicles, which creates these little bumps on my epidermis.

I’ll never forget my first day driving around in Los Angeles, in July, with my top down (I mean my hot red rented convertible’s top) and the sun bearing down on my upper arms. I felt the heat. I felt the burn. I thought, boy oh boy, I’m either gonna get a red sunburn or a really nice tan since I’m olive skin-colored.

And that’s when I noticed a liquidy substance forming on my upper arms. At first I thought it was sweat, so I touched it.  It wasn’t sweat. It was the fat-clogging material that formerly filled my pores (which were now open) but instead of it being a hard consistency, it was now in a melted form like butter in a hot pan.

Instantly, my bumps were gone.

I remember shouting to my travel companion, “Look at my arms! Look at my arms! They’re smooth and silky again.”  I was only there for 3 days and this all took place in the first 24 hours.  Once back home in Toronto, aka ‘the land of the chicken skin’, it returned in all its glory in less than a week.

Gotta be grateful for small miracles, I guess.

I’ve built a shrine of LA in my living room with a model of the sun, a few palm trees, The Grove and little statues of its people (they are all skinny).

I light candles and pray on a daily basis for I will never forget that day in LA.

Then it hit me.

Go back little Marla.
Go back to the land of opportunity and smooth skin.
I’ve decided to recreate my steps again in August.
I’ve bought my airline tickets, I’ve rented that same red convertible, and I’m heading back to LA, baby, in the summer, just like last year and I’m gonna drive around, with my top down, (again, I mean my convertible), in a sleeveless t-shirt, and see what happens.

Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed and my follicles open!