Tanning- give me your thoughts

Hey, i totally understand your problem. I am a pro fitness model and figure bodybuilder and tan is something i have to be all the time. I had a bunch of precancer spots removed last year due to uv tanning. now I spray tan (but that gets EXPENSIVE to maintain). but ive found a product called Ocean Potion Bronzing Lotion. You can buy it online but you have to buy 5 at a time for $25. But it lasts forever and i LOVE the natural glow it gives you. I put it on once a day, all over, including hands, feet, joints, face and it doesnt make you patchy like most self tanners do on the joints. You dont need gloves to put it on and it doesnt stain your palms. I put it on at night and go to bed, i wake up with a good glow going on after the first 3 days of using it. i love it so much, im sold for life on this stuff also, if you want to try to conceal your birthmark, try Jan Tana Tattoo cover up. its for bodybuilding competitors who want to cover up stuff while theyre on stage. that stuff works pretty good. hope this helps!

I love going to the beach. When I was younger I'd always burn (fair skin) but I loved getting a tan. When I was a lifeguard I was SO dark. I knew it was bad, but I sort of shrugged it off. Fast forward to age 30, and I looked down at the skin on my chest and I was horrified to see how damaged it is from all of those years of burning and being in the sun. I started freaking out. You see those old women who sit in the sun all the time and their skin looks like leather (yack!) I don't want to look like that!! I love having a tan and looking tan but I look at my mother who always kept her skin covered up and she looks fabulous at 65 - I want to look like that! Aveeno used to make a great sunless tanner and they discontinued it. I've tried the Jergens but I don't love it as much as I did the Aveeno. Hoping to find another type for this summer.

I personnaly think that people look better when they are tan and that you actually looks slimmer if you are tan then when you are pale. I know that I will usually go tanning at the end of Spring so that I can get a base tan before summer, espeically if I plan on being outside a ton because it helps me not to burn. If you go tanning in moderation I think you should be fine and start with low mins and work your way up. If you get pink at all lets say you start with 5 mins which is normal starting out mins and do not go again the next day but if you do not get pink you should be fine to go. Also you should go for 5 mins for the first 2 times and then if you don't get pink either of those times increase your mins and keep doing this. I use to work at a tanning salon and that what I was always telling clients.and I follow that rule as well when I first start out tanning and I usually never get burnt or [pink which will help lower your risk of skin cancer!

I agree that having a tan can make you look thinner. I know you said that you're aware that tanning can cause skin cancer, but because I work in a melanoma lab and my project investigates the effects of indoor tanning, I feel obligated to put my 2 cents in. It's been shown that people under 35 who tan have a 75% greater risk of developing melanoma later in life. It's dangerous because it gives you a MUCH (up to 12 time more) higher dose of UV than normal sunlight that is not filtered in anyway (hitting your skin directly from the lamp rather than filtered through the ozone), causing more DNA damage and thereby influencing cells to potentially become cancerous. I am aware that indoor tanning does have potential health benefits, such as increasing vitamin D levels, but the truth is that most tanning beds emit less UV at the wavelength that induces vitamin D production, so you actually make more vitamin D by being in the sun. Also scary, the amount of UV varies from bed to bed and salon to salon because it's not properly regulated. I would strongly discourage anyone who uses tanning beds from continuing to do it.

UV tanning is more likely to turn you orange than spray tan.

I had skin cancer at age 24 thanks to excessive bed tanning. It's really not worth it. There are so many good lotion and spray options out there that do the same thing for your vanity without the risk to your health.

My sister has very pale skin. She not outside much and she does have that ghostly look. Im outside a LOT so I cant avoid getting a nice color but I definitly wouldnt go to a cranked out light bed to do it. Considering we are supposed to use sunscreen to shield us from the natural rays it seems like a terrible idea to concentrate them and expose ourselves intentionally. I tried it once and literally 8 minutes got me red and itchy. I can be outside for HOURS before I get that level of red and itchy. You're always going to have a battle on either side, but the proof is there that tanning beds DO contribute to skin cancer.

Odd reference but Toddlers and Tiara's. Those kids get spray tanned all the time and most of them dont end up orange. Just dont go to dark. Go for the healthy glow you want. I can't imagine that the chemicals in that are super good for you either but I would definitly say safer then lamps. One mom on T*T actually found an organic spray tanner so do some research maybe you can find that too

Good luck and "wear sunscreen. If I could offer you one tip for the future sunscreen would be IT. The long term benefits have been proved by scientists wheras the rest of my advice has no basis, more reliable, then my own meandering experience." ---Baz Luhrmann

I have a horrifying story about a tanning bed. My family owns a tanning bed and I was big into tanning as a teen. I'm super pale and I thought the color made me look better/thinner. Well, it had old bulbs for a very long time and you had to heat it up then stay in for a full 20 to do anything. Well, one day someone replaced the bulbs and I didn't realize it. I did my usual routine and thought it was odd when I got out and I was red. I had burned myself so bad that I still have scars from it. Since then, I will not go near a tanning bed. I have had really good sucess with self tanners though. Both the professional spray tan, and the home done self tanning lotions. But for the most part though I've just learned to accept my paleness. LOL Just make sure to exfoliate before doing the spray/home fake bakes and you'll be fine!

The only precaution I do not take which has made an impact on my health is that I keep my eyes open in the tanning bed and do not wear the goggles. My eye sight has definitely gone down hill over the past few years.

Blindness is so sexay. :huh:

Yeah. What reason could there be to keep your eyes open in the beds? Nothing to see......??

I had cataract surgery in both eyes in my 40s because I grew up in FLA and was always out in the sun.

My next door neighbor in FLA died at age 27 from malignant melanoma.

Why would you? After all the work to be healthy and you tan? Doesn't make any sense to me. Tanning is not healthy!

A "base" tan is actually a myth. Being tan (especially from artificial sunlight) does not protect you from burning at all.