[kat1996]

I am a very white person and I was going to start tanning before summer started so I woulod have a head start. I was wondering how I would prepare for my first day at a tanning salon. Help?

[tickle]

How well do you take the sun when you are out in it? Tanning beds are notorious for Uv rays as well as the sun. Unless you are a seasoned tanner, I would not advise using a tanning bed.

[kat1996]

How well do you take the sun when you are out in it? Tanning beds are notorious for Uv rays as well as the sun. Unless you are a seasoned tanner, I would not advise using a tanning bed.

I burn if I don't put sun screen on.

[tickle]

You will burn in a tanning bed even with sun screen on. Think about it. Have you ever seen how close a tanning bed, top and bottom is very close to your body? The lights are very close. You have to take into consideration too, any meds you are on and the interaction with the tanning bed. A good tanning salon will have a questionnaire asking these questions, and you should pay attention to this questionnaire.

[CravenMorhead]

You will typically start really small. Maybe 2-4 minutes. This is to start stimulating your skin to tan and not burn. Which each visit you'll get progressively longer. Not much you can do to prepare yourself. They do have good lotions to use and I would recommend using them.

Cheers,
Pasty Irishman who tanned before going to Istanbul.

[tickle]

May advise was coming from scottish heritage. I go from dark brown to dark brown to dark brown; locally tanning beds are posted with information regarding UV rays and melanoma, and for someone with fair skin, I would heed it.

From using tanning beds in the past, unless the lotions have been improved, they are more or less for people who tan instantly and well and accustomed to the sun.

IMO

[tickle]

May advise was coming from scottish heritage. I go from dark brown to dark brown to dark brown; locally tanning beds are posted with information regarding UV rays and melanoma, and for someone with fair skin, I would heed it.

From using tanning beds in the past, unless the lotions have been improved, they are more or less for people who tan instantly and well and accustomed to the sun.

The truth about tanning beds is not pretty | Health & Fitness | Life | Toronto S

[CravenMorhead]

I go from pasty white to maybe tanned if done right, otherwise lobster red. I don't tan easily, I am more likely to burn. I really hate that but what can you do?

[smoothy]

If you know anyone who worshiped the sun in their youth they will look 10-20 years older or more than they are when they get to 40 or 50.

That deep dark tan in your youth carrys a very high cost down the road. Two women I knew 26 years ago same age, same skin tone back then, Both lived less than a mile from the Mediteranian Sea... one was at the beach several times a week... one only went a couple times a summer.

I married the one who rrely went to the beach... still very good friends with the one who went to the beach frequently. She has the skin now of the stereotypical very old person, with load of wrinkles etc, almost like distressed leather, at 50, looking much older, the other who I married... has the skin tone of a 30 year old, very few wrinkles... looks easily 10 or more years younger than she is.

Something to keep in mind...

Neither of us tan dark....in fact I tan darker than she does. I'm Irish, Scottish and German descent, all known for being fair skinned. Other two mentioned...full blooded Italians from the old country...not just Italian surname with a heinz 57 ethnicity.

[Wondergirl]

If you know anyone who worshiped the sun in their youth they will look 10-20 years older or more than they are when they get to 40 or 50.

Agree! A former SIL of mine was thin and beautiful, a h.s. cheerleader, and sunbathed all summer every summer in the skimpiest bikini she could buy. Fast forward 50 years -- she is saggy and baggy with tons of wrinkles (she is 70 and looks 120) and has been battling outbreaks of skin cancer. And yeah, what you will look like at 40 or 50 or 70 and if you get cancer from tanning don't concern you now, but its really something to think about. Tanning beds have gotten a bad rap for early aging and drying of skin and for skin cancer.

[James100000]

Just start small and work big. So first time you go on, 2-4 minutes. Then leave it 5 days, then go on for 6 minutes, then leave it 2 days, 6 minutes again... by this time, you should be pretty fine! :) Spray tanning salons are much safer though! And the look is pretty good too... if you go to a registered salon!
Hope I helped!