Tanning Guidelines

It is important to prevent UV over exposure and to protect the health of your skin whilst tanning.

The tanning guidelines below will ensure you achieve the optimum colour results as well as ensuring you do not overexpose yourself when tanning:

• Ensure that you moisturise your skin with a gel or cream that has been specifically developed for indoor tanning. It’s important to use moisturiser before and after a session, as moisturisers reduce the drying effects of UV exposure when tanning.
• Allow at least 24 hrs to pass before tanning again, whether it be indoors or outdoors. Industry and medical standards advise waiting 48 hours, which is the time it takes for skin to create melanin and to tan.
• When tanning naked, ensure that you protect sensitive areas of the body that normally are not exposed to UV light. Skin on the underarms, backs of legs, buttocks and genitalia can suffer severe sunburn from the same light intensity that only tans the rest of your body. You can expose the sensitive areas gradually by covering them halfway through tanning sessions for the first three or four times you tan naked.
• It is a good idea to protect your lips with a lip balm that blocks UV light; lips cannot produce melanin, so they are at risk from overexposure during a tanning session.
• If you are sunburned, soothe your skin with a moisturiser, and don’t try to tan again until the redness completely subsides.

The most important thing to remember when using a sunbed is that there are limitations on how long your session should last. For a novice user or someone who is very fair skinned, freckled, burns easily and who doesn’t naturally tan much in the sun the sessions should be kept very short. This is that a person’s ability to tan is effected by the levels of melanin in their skin. A person with more melanin will find it easier to tan and will also be less at risk of the risks of using sunbeds, such as skin cancer, although it is still essential for them to use protective measures.

Do not be tempted to exceed the recommended times or frequent the tanning salon too often in the mistaken belief that more time on the sunbed will automatically lead to a deeper tan. Not only can this be detrimental to your long term health, you are harming your skins ability to tan. Overexposure to UV can actually cause depletion of melanin levels and make it more difficult to tan in future sessions.

As a rule, someone with low melanin levels in their skin should limit their session to a maximum of 5 minutes. People with an ‘olive’ complexion can extend this time, but it is best not to stay on the sunbed beyond 15 minutes to minimise long term damage to your complexion and your health.

The frequency of the sessions should be limited to 3 times a week or less, and once you have achieved the depth of tan you desire cut down your visits so that you are only visiting the tanning salon often enough to maintain the tan. The staff at the tanning salon should be able to advise you on how to tan safely and effectively based on your personal skin type.

It is essential to wear tanning goggles at every session. Closing your eyes is not enough to protect from harmful sunbed side effects such as cataracts and cornea damage. Protective goggles can save your sight.

The following tanning advice should also be observed

Keep to the tanning times recommended by your tanning consultant.

If you are taking medication read the information slip or consult your doctor before tanning.  Some medicines are photosensitive to Ultra Violet rays.

Always use a good quality tanning lotion that is specifically designed for sunbed use.  Do not use any lotions that contain a sunscreen.

Always keep your eyes closed and wear protective goggles while tanning.

Before and after tanning, use skin-care products to keep skin healthy and keep an attractive tan looking good for longer.