Planning to tan your skin? Know your skin type first. This will help you tan safely and avoid burns. Whether you are tanning under the sun or on a tanning bed, you ought to do it as per your skin type for the best results.
Spending too much time under the UV rays can burn your skin if you are fair. Spending too little time might not give you a tan at all if you are dark.
So, to get that sensuously glistening skin, you ought to be inside the tanning bed for the exact minute or minutes.
Here, we won’t be talking about tanning by sunbathing. Many parts of the United States may not have enough sun to give you a good tan. So, let’s talk about the ultimate way of tanning – on a tanning bed in one of the prestigious salons of the city.
About sun’s rays and tanning beds
Tanning beds utilize the same UV (ultraviolet) rays of the sun. Before we go further, let’s have a look at what the sun emits exactly.
The sun emits:
- UV A
- UV B
- UV C
The most harmful rays are UV C, with the shortest wavelength. Don’t panic. These rays are filtered by the atmosphere and hardly reach the Earth.
The other two, UV B with a medium wavelength and UV A with the longest wavelength, are less harmful than UV C but harmful enough to cause skin cancer, sunburn, and others.
About 95% of UV B rays are absorbed in the atmosphere and only 5% reach the Earth, while UV A reaches the Earth abundantly.
Tanning beds generally use a combination of UV A and UV B rays. Because both have the potential to cause harm to the skin, you must be careful while using them during tanning.
UV A can penetrate your skin deeply, upto the dermal layer (middle layer). UV B can reach only upto the surface of the skin.
About melanin
Melanin is a pigment in the skin that protects the skin from the harm inflicted by UV rays. However, skin that has lesser melanin (fair to extremely fair skin) should be careful while exposing themselves to UV rays.
That’s the reason you must choose the most reputabletanning salon so that you get the best care during tanning. Such salons have skin specialists who examine the skin first and then tell you how much time you must spend inside the tanning bed to be safe and get a good tan.
People with dark skin have more melanin. Now this is tricky too. Because the more melanin you have, the more trouble you have tanning!
So, what to do?
Here’s a short guide that tells you about tanning tricks for fair to dark skin.
Types of skin
As per Fitzpatrick skin type scale:
| Color | Eyes | Hair | Tanning | Burning | |
| Type 1 | White, very pale. May have freckles. | Blue, green | Red | Very difficult | Very quickly |
| Type 2 | Beige, fair. May have freckles | Blue, green | Blonde, light brown | Difficult | Quickly |
| Type 3 | Light brown | Brown | Brown | Easy | Can burn |
| Type 4 | Olive, brown | Dark brown | Dark brown | Very easy, can get a rich tan | Can burn, but minimally |
| Type 5 | Dark brown | Dark brown, brunette | Dark brown, sometimes black | Very easy, can get a dark tan | Rarely burns |
| Type 6 | Very dark brown, black | Black | Black | Needs no tan | Does not burn |
So, ladies and gentlemen, what is your skin type?
If you are still unsure, you can step inside a tanning salon in Coral Springs. The skin experts there will tell you what your skin type is after examining your skin.
Depending on your skin type, they will chart out the timings inside the tanning bed. Also, as per the above table, if your skin type is 1 or 2, you may need to be patient because you may not get the desired color in the first session, or even the second, for that matter. Besides, the tanning expert would suggest spending only a minute or two inside the bed.
This may seem disappointing, but this is for the safety of your skin. You want a tan, not a burn, right?
In addition, you must let your skin heal. It is wise to have a sufficient gap between two sessions.
Think sunbathing is a better option for you (white and fair skin)?
Think again.
The sun can burn your skin and you won’t have anybody there to guide you. Sunburned skin, orange skin, patches, uneven tanning, and a tan darker than desired are a few of the tragedies that happen when people sunbathe for longer than required.
The benefit of tanning in a salon is that you have experts to guide you. They won’t let you spend more time than required inside the bed. In fact, they are more concerned about the safety of their customers. So, please heed their advice. Excessive exposure to UV rays can even cause skin cancer.
Time chart for skin types for sunbed tanning, as per experts:
| Type 1 | Type 2 | Type 3 | Type 4 | Type 5 | |
| Session I | 1 Minute | 2 Minutes | 3 Minutes | 3 Minutes | 3 Minutes |
| Session II | 1 Minute | 3 Minutes | 4 Minutes | 5 Minutes | 6 Minutes |
| Session III | 2 Minutes | 5 Minutes | 8 Minutes | 9 Minutes | 10 Minutes |
| Session IV | 3 Minutes | 8 Minutes | 13 Minutes | 16 Minutes | 16 Minutes |
| Session V | 5 Minutes | 10 Minutes | 15 Minutes | 20 Minutes | 20 Minutes |
Remember:
- You must keep a gap of one week between two sessions.
- Please do not request the technician to extend the time. It can burn your skin and cause peeling.
- Type 6 needs no tanning.
- The first two sessions help to create a base tan. This paves the way for a darker color in the next sessions. So please be patient.
- Although the time of the first session may seem quite less, it is enough and works well to give you a healthy tan.
Search for “tanning near me” and find the best salon for your skin tanning needs.
For more information, you can visit www.bocatanningclub.com.
