whats with the tanning?

inlander
inlander Posts: 339 Member
edited October 2 in Health and Weight Loss
I understand wanting a nice little glow, but I don't get why the majority of fitness/health freaks (term of endearment, I promise) that I know are so concerned about hitting the tanning beds. I feel like that's pretty counter-productive - trying to be healthy but causing skin damage at the same time. WTF.

(Random thought of the day. Don't hate.)
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Replies

  • keiraev
    keiraev Posts: 695 Member
    Sunbeds are my guilty pleasure.

    I so shouldn't use them tho- I'm not about having a winter tan either really so won't be going anywhere near them for a long time!
  • adjones5
    adjones5 Posts: 938 Member
    spray tan all the way
  • PBJunkie
    PBJunkie Posts: 652
    I appreciate your concern...

    Well for me it is part of my daily schedule to take a quick jog in the sun shirtless to absorb some of the Vitamin D.
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
    The darker you are the more muscle definition shows up.
  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
    I agree. A friend of mine has gotten into fitness modeling and competitions and now she looks burnt. It's really gross.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
    I'm won't do it. I'm fair skinned and I like it. To each his or her own though...but I wouldn't mind a spray tan...if I could afford it. Damn economy.
  • JediMaster_intraining
    JediMaster_intraining Posts: 903 Member
    i used to do tanning beds but stopped since i didn't want a) skin cancer b) to waste anymore money c) to look old

    now i'm just happy with the whiteness i am. but i do get a twinge of jealousy when i see nice tan legs! it takes me forever to tan and makes me a little angry that i'd have to fake tan to get that!

    anywho...
  • LoveHoodies
    LoveHoodies Posts: 65
    I'm so used to seeing the really ripped and buff dudes as really tan, then one day I found out why... there is a really ripped and buff dude at the gym I go to who is as pale as me (I slap on the 50-80spf every day). He looked silly :p
  • PBJunkie
    PBJunkie Posts: 652
    I'm so used to seeing the really ripped and buff dudes as really tan, then one day I found out why... there is a really ripped and buff dude at the gym I go to who is as pale as me (I slap on the 50-80spf every day). He looked silly :p

    Like a ribbed condom?
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    I don't get it either. orange is not supposed to be a skin color.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
    We always knew tanning beds were a bad idea, but in the last couple of years info has come out to prove just how bad they really are. I'm surprised some nanny-state nutjob hasn't started a campaign to outlaw them yet. The only other legal thing more dangerous is cigarettes.
  • jennmoore3
    jennmoore3 Posts: 1,013 Member
    the local tanning place by me runs a special 1 time a year. dollar a tan so I buy like 50 tans, and spread them out over the whole year. some days in the winter I go just to relax. I go about 8-10 minutes once a week or maybe twice a week if I have a bad week. it is relaxing and really I don't get "tan" from it. to me it is a small time of alone time in the warmth.

    I know a waste if I don't get dark, but it is my relaxing time.
  • charityateet
    charityateet Posts: 574 Member
    I refuse to tan in beds because of the health risk and also wear spf 30+ but admit to being jealous of tanned girls!
  • DownSheGoes
    DownSheGoes Posts: 88
    Haha, I can't tan, even if I try. Even mid summer on the beach I'm the whitest person there (non-racial comment). I don't have a problem with other people tanning but I don't understand the concept of tanning beds because of the health risks, costs, etc.
  • kysassyblonde1
    kysassyblonde1 Posts: 96
    kind of funny to me to run across this after tonight I just went and signed up for a months unlimited tanning..... lol
  • hml1976
    hml1976 Posts: 64
    Well...I believe in sunshine and Vitamin D and make sure I get plenty but having watched three family members die from melanoma...I'm not pressing my luck by tanning.

    Besides all I can think of when I'm lying there is "what if a light bulb explodes and sets this thing on fire?"
  • BethanyMasters
    BethanyMasters Posts: 519 Member
    I don't get it either. My sister fake and baked all through her 20s and made fun of me for being "albino".

    Now she's 30, has already had a skin cancer scare, and she looks like she's 40.
  • genxrider
    genxrider Posts: 107 Member
    Tanning beds are actually addicting - like cigarettes.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/health/22brod.html
  • kmcrey87
    kmcrey87 Posts: 422 Member
    spray tan all the way

    Agreed!
  • donnaeve8
    donnaeve8 Posts: 113 Member
    GTL!! Seriously though, I get free tanning with my gym membership so I use it. I also get SAD so it helps on a cloudy cold day. Those are my reasons, anyway!
  • bookworm03
    bookworm03 Posts: 88 Member
    I don't know much about tanning, casper has a better tan than me. I tried spray tan once... that didn't work either. A friend of mine goes tanning to help a skin condition. (Can't remember what its called) and it worked.
  • epoint
    epoint Posts: 88
    I've never been in a tanning bed in my life, and I'm as pale as a ghost. A good friend of mine, though, makes sure to have a good tan all year round because she says that "tan fat looks better than pale fat!" :-)
  • CSelf1
    CSelf1 Posts: 431 Member
    I'm so used to seeing the really ripped and buff dudes as really tan, then one day I found out why... there is a really ripped and buff dude at the gym I go to who is as pale as me (I slap on the 50-80spf every day). He looked silly :p

    Like a ribbed condom?

    LMAO! Complete visual!
  • megz4987
    megz4987 Posts: 1,008 Member
    Haha, I can't tan, even if I try. Even mid summer on the beach I'm the whitest person there (non-racial comment). I don't have a problem with other people tanning but I don't understand the concept of tanning beds because of the health risks, costs, etc.

    This.
    I actually did try to tan about 4 years ago for my sisters wedding (I didn't want to glow!... and the wedding was in april,there's no sunbathing here before July) so I went to the tanning beds at least every other day if not every day for 3 months... didn't get a single shade darker.
  • LycosNyctereutes
    LycosNyctereutes Posts: 61
    I appreciate your concern...

    Well for me it is part of my daily schedule to take a quick jog in the sun shirtless to absorb some of the Vitamin D.

    To me there's a diff between real sun and UV beds. And a diff between taking a shirtless jog (for a guy anyway) and spending all day everyday in the sun with no protection like my grandpa who grew up farming did, and had to go get skin cancer spots removed every couple of years. Some sun is healthy, we did not evolve in caves with fluorescent lighting!
  • HollyTsiaussis
    HollyTsiaussis Posts: 415 Member
    Unlike most people, I LOVE being pale.
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
    I'm with you, embrace the colour you are naturally.

    In answer to the question, I'm going to go with the vanity/peer pressure thing, if every other skin baring health nut has a nice tan, the the pink/white fitness instructor is going to look a little strange. White still needs to be normalised (along with hairy legs and armpits for women and a lack of a 6 pack for guys).
  • LycosNyctereutes
    LycosNyctereutes Posts: 61
    I'm with you, embrace the colour you are naturally.

    In answer to the question, I'm going to go with the vanity/peer pressure thing, if every other skin baring health nut has a nice tan, the the pink/white fitness instructor is going to look a little strange. White still needs to be normalised (along with hairy legs and armpits for women and a lack of a 6 pack for guys).

    But I LIKE guys with 6 packs! Seriously, I used to like my paleness too. But then the whole "goth" fad got started (they called themselves punks when I was in high school, but there weren't many of them). I got so tired of hearing, "oh you must be goth" because I was really pale and have dark hair and looked 15 until I was about 25. I was so pale in HS you could see the blue veins coming up the sides of my cheeks and going across my chest. Now my hair's a little grey, and living in the country has tanned me just enough IMO, and I have learned to embrace my shade of pale. But I still hate acanthosis nigricans. >:(
  • peekabeaux
    peekabeaux Posts: 24
    I never could understand them myself. They seem to keep popping up all over the place, Maybe it's just me, but I would rather spend my time outside and get a tan the old fashion way, of course I'm old school :-)
  • splackk
    splackk Posts: 163
    Haha, I'm another albino here. I tried tanning for about two months before and had great results, but it was for a special occasion and I haven't been back since. It really is addicting, by the end it was definitely my favorite part of the day (well, of the every-other-day), but I'm far too afraid of skin cancer to continue longer than that.

    If another super special occasion comes up in the future I wouldn't mind going again for another month or two, but I'll definitely never be a regular. On another note- I know people say tanning beds make you look older, but one of my girlfriends has been tanning religiously for the last 8 years or so and still looks amazing, I'll be curious to see what she looks like at age 40 and if anything has changed.
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