Tanning

[J-23]

I've only gone tanning a few times and I don't plan on ever going again. I don't like the risk of skin cancer, plus I didn't find them to be especially effective -- I just ended up getting burnt and irritated skin.

I don't know if there are weight limits on the beds, but people beyond a certain height probably wouldn't be able to fit in them. At the salon that I went to, you wouldn't be able to fit in there if you were above 6'0" or so. As for tan lines, I wound up with my back and chest getting some color, while the sides of my torso were unaffected.

I don't know about tanning in the nude. People do it, but you run a higher risk of getting burnt on areas that haven't been exposed to the sun as often as, say, your face or arms.

Overall, I'd recommend sunless tanning. It's much less expensive than multiple tanning salon visits (which you'll need if you want to gain any noticeable color), you won't put yourself at risk of getting skin cancer, and the science of sunless tanning has really evolved to where -- if done correctly -- you can't tell the difference between a sunless tan and a UV tan. Gradual tanners like Jergens Natural Glow are really popular right now.

Check out sunless.com if you want more information. And, no, I don't work for them or anything like that.

 

[columbusguy]

some beds are shorter than others, so it really depends where you go. just ask. as long as you aren't like 700lbs i don't think weight is much of an issue. i know some big people that tan and they don't have any issues.

tan lines can be a bitch sometimes. as long as you don't keep your arms right against your body then you don't have anything to worry about with the sides of your body. they will tan just fine.

i tan nude most of the time. i've never experienced any burns in certain areas but if you don't flip you will most likely have white areas from where all the pressure of your body is on. i usually get them on my upper back and my ass. so i would recommend to flip and lay on your stomach for half of the time so those areas get equal time to tan as well.

oh yeah, depending on how you tan normally, you may want to invest in some tanning lotion. some people use it everyday but i prefer every other day or every two days. if you use it every time you tan and then don't tan for a few days, all the time tanning was for nothing because it will go away.

um thats really all i can think about on the situation. i know it seems like a lot but it's really not that complicated. oh, don't overdo it and tan twice a day or go like 30 or 40 minutes. 20 minutes is perfectly enough time.

 

[columbusguy]

the sunless bronzer lotions are ok but you have to be careful. wear gloves because your hands will turn bob barker orange and if you get stuck in a rain storm, you're screwed.

 

[looseliam]

If your ass hasn't tanned before, you might want to cover it. And I always bring a sock along to bad the good. They've been burnt before and it isn't pretty!

 

[J-23]

ummm... maybe ill just stick to being white all winter and wait till next summer again..

He's exaggerating. Sunless tanners don't run if you get wet. They also don't turn you orange if you get the right one. Like I said, gradual tanners are really simple and easy to use... You just apply it once a day and you gradually get darker as the week goes on, so you can control how tan you get. They also won't turn your hands orange, but no sunless tanner will as long as you wash them after application.

 

[GL]

All of a sudden I'm remembering that episode of Friends when Ross kept screwing up in the tanning booth and ended up only getting his front. He was so orange at the end.

 

[Twisly]

i have a natural tan. so i never encountered a problem when it come to extra tanning since natural tan people, darkens their skin easily.

what i've noticed with bigger guys is that they dont tan that easy. it usually takes extra efforts to have a golden skin.

 

[J-23]

Sunless tanners WILL stain your hands and WILL run when wet if you dont do it right. Wash your hands IMMEDIATELY after (I even suggest soaking them for 30 sec in bleach/water - be sure to get inbetween your fingers and around your finger nails). I also recommend putting the sunless tanner on after taking a shower, right before bed. This gives it all night to absorb into your skin. Shower in the morning and you will see a lot of it runs off, keeping you from staining your undershirts or boxer waistbands. After that, your good to go - if you go swimming, "caught in a storm", etc you will be ok. Combine sunless tanner with real tanning 1-2 times a week, and it will look much more real and the sunless tanner lines (spots you might have missed) will be less obvious.

The "run off" when you shower/get wet isn't the sunless tanner. It's the colorguide contained in some lotions that helps you avoid missing spots. Many lotions/gels/sprays contain no colorguide.

Soaking your hands in bleach isn't necessary. Plain old soap is fine. Many people just use babywipes, as a matter of fact. But, like I said, using a gradual tanner will eliminate all of these potential complications.

 

[blankslate]

hmm... orange hands vs. carcinoma from bleach... tanned skin vs melanoma from UV light... which to choose?

do u put on sunscreen when u go to a tanning booth?

 

[blackbeltninja]

Okay, it's winter up north which is why you're going to all this trouble, I assume. Presumably in summer you will all just, you know, go out into the sun, right?

Here in sunny summery .za we just get a natural tan in summer and leave it to fade in winter. Fortuantely it's normally still warm through April and winter ends in late August so we can get into the sun again from early September.

This whole tanning bed/fake tan nonsense sounds like a lot of unnecessary hard work.

-d-