With summer quickly approaching, our first thoughts, “Hallelujah!” are often followed by, “I’m so pale, I need to tan!” While there’s nothing wrong with embracing your natural skin color, an extra tan can give skin a healthy glow, boost confidence on the beach, and make you feel more radiant. However, it’s important to get it the right way to prevent serious skin damage, diseases, and wrinkles before you’re a grandma.
Tanning Beds
“Tanning beds give you a ‘base tan’ to keep you from burning,” and “you only get the healthy rays in tanning beds, right?” Wrong. If you’ve heard these myths that try to validate the harmful UV radiation from tanning beds, you’re only kidding yourself. Tanning beds are one of the most common means by which girls achieve a darker tone in a shorter amount of time. While most girls don’t think twice about their visits to the tanning bed, especially if they only go in the months before summer, there are serious health risks no matter what. According to skin experts and WebMD, your risk of melanoma—the most dangerous form of skin cancer—increases by 75% when you use tanning beds before the age of 35. In recent years, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized tanning beds in the highest cancer risk category: “carcinogenic to humans.” According to the official Skin Cancer Foundation, a recent study shows over the last 40 years, the rate of melanoma grew by 800 percent among young women, with tanning beds clearly contributing. Yikes! If that’s not convincing enough, watch this video of a fellow collegiate who got melanoma and, like most of us, “never thought it would happen” to her. Tanning beds offer absolutely no health benefits, and having dark skin is not worth your health or your life.
Do you want to look like this when you’re only 44?!
Natural Sun
You’ve probably heard a tanning bed proponent claim that indoor devices are the same as lying out in the natural sun. Wrong again. The sun emits both UVA and UVB light, and tanning beds release mostly UVA rays, which penetrate more deeply and cause more genetic damage in skin cells where most skin cancers arise. Furthermore, the UVA radiation in tanning bed bulbs is up to three times more intense than UVA in natural sunlight. Natural sun does provide nourishing benefits, like Vitamin D, that our bodies need to keep our bones strong and healthy. However, sunbathing in the natural sunlight without protection still leaves you at risk for damaging your skin and potentially developing skin cancer. The most important thing is to wear sunscreen, and it’s recommended that the SPF be at least 15. You can still get a tan while wearing SPF, and you dramatically decrease your risks of skin aging and melanoma. It’s a win-win!
Sunless Tans
If it feels like getting a healthy tan is a hassle, the good news is that there are many sunless options that are 100% safe and just as effective. Spray tans have a bad reputation for creating orange looks and leaving your skin streaky. The key is to find a good tanning salon that offers 360-coverage so it leaves your whole body evenly sprayed. Take it from a spray tan veteran—I have been scared of emerging looking like Snooki on a bad day, but by choosing a good place, I was extremely happy with my streak-free, natural looking glow. Eclipse Tanning in Chapel Hill offers spray tans and customized airbrush tanning with solutions that are completely FDA approved. You’ll be 2-5 shades darker in 20 minutes with no harmful UVA exposure! Another option that’s cheaper and just as effective is self-tanning lotion that you can find at your local convenience store. A great product is the L’Oreal Sublime Self-Tanning Lotion. You apply it all over your body just like a regular lotion, and minutes later your skin is moisturized and glowing with a shimmery tan.
Moral of the story: healthy skin is the most beautiful skin.
Sources:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/68868-tanning-beds-skin-cancer/
http://www.webmd.com/beauty/sun/5-scary-facts-about-tanning-beds
Images:
http://img2-1.timeinc.net/people/i/2012/news/120514/patricia-krentcil-1-300.jpg
http://www.shespeaks.com/pages/img/review/loreal_Sublime_bronze_05172012143200.jpg
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/802315/thumbs/r-TANNING-BED-CANCER-large570.jpg
http://simsysmolemate.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/girls-on-the-beach.jpg