Tanning FAQ

 

Avoid Sunburn.  The Golden Rule of Smart Tanning: "Don’t ever sunburn." That means thinking about sunburn prevention every day, not just when you are sun tanning.  Make sunburn protection a habit and you won’t slip up and wind up with avoidable damage to your skin. 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn about your skin. Practice intelligent, informed skin care by working with us to learn your skin type and what it means.  This includes daily moisturizing and the use of tanning accelerators.

 

 

 

UV light from a tanning bed, or the sun, enters the skin and comes in contact with a specialized cell, called a melanocyte.

When stimulated these cells, quickly began producing a skin pigment know as melanin.

Your heredity determines how dark and what color you will tan.

As melanin travels to the surface of your skin it combines with oxygen and turns a brownish color which we call a tan.

The tanning process is your skin's natural way of protecting itself from sunburn and overexposure.  Calling a tan "damage to the skin" isn't telling the whole truth.  Your skin is designed to tan to protect itself.

 

Some people wear their bathing Suits. Most people however, tan in the nude. If you tan nude areas not normally exposed may be sensitive, especially when building your base. You should cover these areas for a portion of your session and allow gradual exposure. You should remember to remove all objects, including jewelry, which will cause unwanted tan lines, and could scratch the acrylic.

 

Cells in the epidermis' germinative layer (also called the living epidermis) are constantly reproducing and pushing older cells upward toward the horny layer (dead epidermis), where they are sloughed off in about one month. As your skin replaces its cells, the cells laden with melanin are removed. So the tanning process must continue with the new cells.

High doses of UVB can irritate the skin and accelerate the normal process, which is why when tanning outdoors and in some conventional low-pressure tanning bed your tan fades so quickly.

 

Lotions that have been created for indoor tanning help you tan faster, replace and maintain moisture. Many lotions help to reduce and combat the signs of aging. By supplying your skin with needed vitamins, minerals, amino acids and moisture these lotions can help you tan faster than using no lotion at all. By using these lotions you can tan faster in less sessions with less UV exposure.

 

Hot Action, also known as Tropical Heat, Skin Stimulation and Tingle, is usually a combination of Benzyl Nicotinate, Methyl Nicotinate and Hexyl Nicotinate. These ingredients increase the micro circulation of the skin, or cause the blood vessels in the skin to open, which increases blood flow. The reddening appearance and warming effect on the skin is a result of the increase in blood flow, similar to the flush you feel when you increase your body's blood flow when you begin exercising.

 

This increased blood flow also increases the oxygenation of the skin and aids in the delivery of required nutrients throughout the skin. This speeds up the skin's natural growth and maintenance processes.

 

Hot Action causes a transitory or temporary skin response. The duration of the effect will depend on the intensity of the Hot Action product and the sensitivity of each individual's skin. Usually the Hot Action response initiates fairly quickly once the product is applied to the skin and will last anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.

 

While indoor tanning is a cosmetic service, a well-known side effect of exposing the skin to ultraviolet (UV) light is the production of vitamin D. Emerging evidence suggests that there may be an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in North America. Research also suggests that vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining good health. In light of this evidence, the Indoor Tanning Association believes that the health benefits of indoor tanning deserve further research.

Europeans started tanning indoors with sunlamps that emitted ultraviolet light as a therapeutic exercise to harness the positive psychological and physiological effects of UV exposure. Long before the first tanning facility was established in the United States in the late 1970's, the practice of visiting a “solaria” for the positive effects of UV light was widespread in Europe, particularly in the sun-deprived, northern countries. Although indoor tanning is considered a cosmetic exercise in the United States, the industry’s roots are therapeutic, and many Americans do in fact visit tanning facilities for that purpose.

The science of photo biology, which studies the effects of light on life, was founded on studying the positive effects of sunlight. Indeed, the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine was awarded to Dr. Niels Finsen for his work treating the disease lupus vulgaris with ultraviolet light. While the indoor tanning industry in the United States promotes its services for cosmetic purposes, the fact remains that exposing the skin to ultraviolet light is the body’s primary means of producing vitamin D (which in turn is related to positive physiological effects). Exposure to UV light is also responsible for the production of endorphins and serotonin (which in turn is related to positive psychological effects).

 

Photo therapy (or use of UV light) has been effective in easing the skin problems common to this condition. There are also many drugs, including tetracycline and Retin-A, which are also widely used for treatment of acne. Because these drugs can render the skin photosensitive, one must avoid UV exposure when medicated. Furthermore, a qualified physician should only administer the use of UV light for acne treatment.

 

Photo therapy (or UV light treatment) can be used to ease the symptoms of psoriasis. A trained physician render the treatment with equipment specifically designed for such a purpose. Many salon operators report that customers who suffer mild forms of psoriasis improve after indoor tanning, but treatment should be left to qualified professionals.

 

 Sometimes, I notice a strange smell after I tan, what is that?

The UV light from a sun bed is similar to UV light from the sun and cannot penetrate deeper than the skin to harm internal organs. The odor you may notice is what's commonly known as the "after-tan" odor, a common occurrence when tanning indoors or outdoors, which is caused by harmless bacteria.  Some indoor designed tanning products are designed to help prevent after-tan odor. 

 

There are several reasons why white spots become noticeable on the body once the tanning process begins. Patches of skin that do not tan could be the result of genetic determination. The melanocytes in that certain area may simply not be efficient at producing melanin.

White spots could also appear due to the presence of a fungus, which lives on the skin's surface. While the fungus is harmless, it does absorb UV light that would normally penetrate the skin. This fungus did not appear as a result of tanning; it merely becomes noticeable once tanning occurs. It can be remedied through the use of ARREST or HALT topical lotion sold at the front counter.

 

The key difference between indoor and outdoor sun exposure is that indoor tanning takes place in a highly controlled environment-the lamp's light spectrum produces a consistent and controlled amount of ultraviolet light. Unlike outdoor sun, you always know how much ultraviolet light you receive.

 

Today, all sun-beds and tanning booths used in salons are regulated by the F.D.A as Class II Medical Devices. This means you only get a standardized amount of UV exposure with a mixture of both UVB and UVA rays designed to minimize burning.

 

The tanning process and the energy produced from indoor and outdoor tanning are the same, but the light spectra are different. In most U.S. made equipment, indoor tanning relies on lamps that emulate a light spectrum similar to that of the sun.