Ah, doesn’t the photo above look glamorous? Not! Now with summer over, I know a lot of women may want to preserve the tanned look with some going as far as visiting tanning beds. However, tanning beds are DEADLY and just horrible for your health. There are a few salons opening around my area claiming it’s safe and healthy, which is crazy! Here’s why tanning salons, booths, and beds are a big no-no:
- The rays in tanning beds are the same as the sun’s. Both give out UVA and UVB rays, the two types of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV rays damages the DNA in the skin cells and may make moles cancerous and even create new, cancerous moles.
- Tanning beds can cause burns, which can lead to melanoma, the most serious and deadliest form of skin cancer.
- Tans are linked to cancer, and repeated tanning from UV light can lead to the common basal-cell and squamous-cell cancers, with squamous being deadly.
- They are not doing anything to your mood! One of the “claims” from this tanning salon is that you feel fresh and healthy, like if you were to hang out in the sun. False! It is only sunlight that can trigger the ‘happy’ chemicals we have.
Here’s an article I found that scared me the most:
Tanning beds are just as deadly as arsenic, according to international cancer experts? Research published online in the journal Lancet Oncology concluded that the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30.
A new analysis of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. Experts also found that all types of ultraviolet radiation caused worrying mutations in mice, proof the radiation is carcinogenic. Previously, only one type of ultraviolet radiation was thought to be lethal.
Read more here.
There are safer ways to get a year-long tan other than tanning beds. Spray tan booths and self tanning lotions are all easy to use (here’s a how-to I wrote on how to apply self-tanner mistake free) and are most of all healthy. So please, say no to tanning beds!
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice read. Guess it’s better to be pale then, which I am anyway. Either way, skin cancer is a good excuse to be lazy and not tan.
There has been a controversy about that in France not long ago. Some people wanted tanning beds to be forbidden, as it causes horrible diseases. But of course, there is a lot of money involved so politics will never make them forbidden..It’s like cigarettes : it’s deadly, and everyone knows it but it’s not forbidden because the government makes a lot of money thanks to the taxes on cigarettes. Anyway, being tanned is overrated ^^
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True, Krib! I think pale is also very beautiful, just think of Nicole Kidman!
I’ve been going to solar in last winter few times and I liked how my skin looked. I hate self tanning products and dunno what to use. This summer I haven’t been to the sea so I’m again all white, I don’t want to go to solarium again so what options do I really have?
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Spray tanning booths, maybe? They’re safe and last quite long, and goes on very even! Celebrities use this, unfortunately they’re expensive, I believe
I know tanning is bad for you (and I don’t do it anymore….partly bc I can’t afford it and partly bc I don’t want cancer!) but it does stimulate the production of the “happy chemicals”. I live in lovely, rainy, Portland, Oregon and the endless rain, darkness, and cold really gets you down…. I noticed when I was tanning all the time that I felt so much better and not just afterward, but all the time!! So I’ve talked to a doc about it and he said that the UVA and UVB are what stimulate the production of vitamin D. He did recommend wearing sunscreen if you insist on going tanning and also told me that instead it might be better to avoid the tanning bed and get one of those lightboxes to treat “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD). Those also stimulate the production of “Happy Chemicals” and don’t give you Cancer! A big bonus…….. I don’t mind being pale but I DO mind being depressed so I’m going to try to get a lightbox this winter…….. Thanks for the article!
Hey ADM, yup, the sun def help produce “happy chemicals”, and I hear you should go in the sun for 11 minutes a day to get the proper daily amount of Vitamin D. However, I meant that tanning beds don’t produce the same “happy chemicals”, not natural sunlight. Natural sunlight most definitely has it benefits!
And yes to the lightbox, I know about SAD and what it’s all about, just remember to be safe, and say no to tanning beds! As far as a normal tan, you can try spray tanning booths, self tanners, etc, they really work and they’re very safe!
I personally prefer fairer skin, so I will never think of going to a tanning salon. But if I do want to tan, I wouldn’t consider an artificial one at the salon. Reason being I got scared after watching the way the 2 girls died in the movie, Final Destination 3. LOL. Stupid reason. But reason that serves me well, and prevent me from harm. =)
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Hey Jyoan, I agree, I too prefer fair skin. And I love the movie reference, haha! What happened? Did they burn to death in a tanning bed? I never saw that movie!
Sorry for the late reply. Oh, actually, yes, they burnt to death in the tanning bed, because one of the girls flouted the salon rules and took her Big Gulp in. The water dripping cause a power trip, and the over supply of electricity made the heat shot up. They couldn’t open the tanning bed doors, as the script writes that a long wooden plank should fall down on the beds, and bolt down the doors. It was terrifying as they died naked just like that.
The scriptwriter also spiced it up by superimposing the image of two rectangular coffins on the two tanning beds. So it looks like the beds became the coffins.
PS – not to scare anybody. Just don’t flout the safety rules and bring water in.
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Oh that’s gross! Although I like the sound of the tanning beds turning out to look like coffins, those clever people! Movies can actually be art sometimes!
And yes … don’t bring water in! Or, don’t use tanning beds. Double the safety
I’m not sure if we even have tanning salons here, because people here are obsessed with fairer skin. Personally I like being kinda fair, but I don’t obsess over it. You should see the ads here. We actually have one “testimonial” ad where a known actress of African descent became very, very fair. All I could think of then was “skin cancer OMG”. I think it’s the flipside of the tanning obsession in Western countries.
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Hey Kaye, yup, seems like the East is obsessed with fair skin, and the West is obsessed with tanned skin! And that’s so strange about the testimonial ad, not to mention unbelievable … surely whitening products can’t completely change your skin color?!