How to tan faster in a tanning bed?
The need for perfectly tanned skin is year-round, not only in the summer! Therefore, tanning faster in a tanning bed has become a trend for people who love their skin in a healthy bronze shade. However, it is not as simple as lying on the bed and letting the machine do everything. Here is our curated list of tanning bed tips that will help you reach the goal!
Know Your Skin Type
It makes sense! You have to know your body well before you make a move in protecting it, and the same applies to the skin. On a scale of 1 to 6 – 1 for the palest and 6 for the darkest – where would you put yourself?
1. The fairest skin tone might suffer burns before it actually gets a tan.
2. People of this group will go through sunburn at least once before developing the wanted tan, but it will be quite slow.
3. If exposed excessively, this type will burn, yet they can still have some nice tans if you do it right!
4. These people will tan easily without getting sunburnt unless overexposed.
5. You will question why they need to tan when their natural skin tone looks like they have finished a whole tanning program. Sunburn is almost a foreign term for them!
6. They have brown and dark skin by nature, and only intense UV rays can harm their skin.
Once you have determined your skin type, it will be easier to set a goal. From there, you will map out a tanning routine and choose the most suitable tanning bed.
For example, a person with pale skin will mostly hope for a slightly tanned tone. But the sensitiveness of their complexion will demand them to take it slow and be patient. If they aspire to be deeply tanned, there will be extra homework to do for safe tanning.
How to tan faster in a tanning bed?
Before Your Tanning Session
We don’t go to the salon and lie down on the tanning beds for an hour, not JUST that. You have some preparations to do before the session.
Exfoliate & moisturize
Moisturized and cleansed skin is the first and foremost condition for the UV rays to penetrate, or else nothing will work out for you even though you have the best of the best tanning beds
You will need to exfoliate, shower, and moisturize your skin before the session starts. If necessary, please shave too. We want nothing standing in between us and the bulbs of the tanning bed. A surface without obstacles will receive UV rays evenly.
Plus, if you don’t exfoliate beforehand, the aged skin cells will be the ones getting a tan. They will leave your body in no time, and the session will be a waste.
Body scrubs, salt scrubs, exfoliating gloves, bath brushes are all amazing at removing dead cells. Don’t overdo it though, or your skin will be extremely dry and vulnerable.
Fragrances, perfumes, lotions, and makeup products, in general, are not recommended here either! Be sure to remove everything!
Choose the right tanning lotion
The tanning won’t be efficient if you don’t open the pores in advance. Besides loosening the pores, the natural oils in these products will amplify the impact of UV rays and maximize the results.
1. Don’t use sunblock when you are tanning indoor with a tanning bed.
When tanning indoors, you don’t have the worry about the risk brought by UV rays, and sunblock is not necessary anymore. Rather than blocking the sun, it will block your way to success!
2. Know the choices
- Bronzer: Although it is costly, it can deepen the color of your base tan. Cheap bronzing lotions are absolutely not welcome here due to unpleasant the orange tan they will generate.
- Tingler: They speed up the process by increasing blood circulation and stimulating melanin production.
- Accelerator: The composition includes moisturizers to help you tan easily and healthily.
There are many packages containing an assort of products on the market. They will help you save money!
During Your Tanning Session
Wear the right clothes
You will mostly find people wearing a two-piece bikini set during their tanning session because it exposes and covers enough at the same time. Some of them go for naked tanning once they get used to the process, for they don’t like tan lines.
However, we still advise covering the private parts with a towel since they are extremely sensitive.
Protection methods
Your eyes might suffer severe damage from the bulbs around, therefore a pair of goggles for tanning beds is highly required. Usually, the salon will offer safety goggles, but you should still consult the staff first!
Apply an SPF-rated lip balm to avoid burns on your lips. It is very painful.
The UV lights can also make your manicure fade quickly, you would want to prepare nail covers or remove the polishes!
Rotate your body
Don’t ever stay still if you want to tan evenly, whether you are tanning outdoor or indoor! If you are on your back, keep your arms stretched with the palms up and vice versa. This way, the UV rays will reach pretty much every difficult spot on your body.
Don’t forget to tie your hair neatly!
Spend enough time
Tanning beds are generally believed to be safer than sunbathing, but it doesn’t mean you can expose your skin to the bulbs as much as you wish without any limits.
The staff would set a time for your session, and you should not extend the duration. It is all for your safety.
Breaking the rules will put you at risk of getting overexposed and burnt. Not only you won’t be getting any healthy tans, but you are also bound to face worse consequences.
After Your Tanning Session
No showering immediately
Almost every indoor tanner uses tanning lotions and accelerators to enhance the impact of the UV rays. These products will continue to function after you leave the tanning bed, hence you should give them 3 – 4 hours to fully take effect.
The wait might change accordingly to the lotion of choice. You can check the instruction section for more information.
A small note: Bring an extra set of clothes to wear while waiting for your shower time! It should be something you don’t mind ruining because the bronze pigment might smear all over.
Moisturize
Moisturizers will keep your skin cells hydrated after facing the intensity of UV rays and thus absorb the bronzer thoroughly.
You have a variety of moisturizing products to pick from, but we recommend something that includes an after-tan extender. They will do an excellent job in helping the tan last longer.
Hydrate
Aside from applying a good moisturizer, we need to keep ourselves hydrated from inside out. 2 liters of water is the normal amount, but feel free to consume more if you are in a tanning program!
Add food with beta carotene to your menu!
Tips for Choosing a Tanning Bed
Home or business?
The simplest way to start sketching your dream tanning bed is to determine your purpose.
- For residential use, you can steer towards the home tanning bed section first. These beds usually come at a lower price and require only 110V to function properly.
- For a salon or a gym, you would love to have a commercial tanning bed. This type is usually able to handle multiple sessions every day, and it comes with special warranties.
Traditional or Stand-up
Would you feel more comfortable lying down on the bed or standing in a booth? The traditional tanning bed can offer you a relaxing time, but the standup offers more space to move around.
In a business, they might favor the standup. It saves the floor area for them as well as allows the users to rotate more easily without touching the walls.
Tanning Bed Benefits
Tanning beds are not entirely bad for health if you don’t overuse them. They have become popular for a reason, and it is their various benefits.
1. Lower the risk of cancer
Why can tanning beds reduce the risk of cancer when they are full of UV rays?! While the effect of UV light has a plethora of negativity such as killing the normal cells and promoting the mutated cells, sunless tanning still does a great job at fighting the seeds of cancer.
How?
The contradiction comes down to the level of exposure to UV rays you have. Tanning is usually much faster indoor, not to mention we tend to feel the urge to stay outside for longer than we should have if we sunbathe (you don’t want to prepare for days and go on a trip only to leave the beach after 15 minutes, and neither do I!).
The same won’t happen when you use a tanning bed, booth, or spray.
2. Vitamin D boost
The main reason for people to sunbathe for sure is vitamin D. Usually, being outside for 15 minutes in the morning is already enough for you to gain the necessary amount.
However, many places on earth don’t have sufficient sunshine in the major part of the year, and the residents have to find different sources of this essential vitamin. The governments of these countries are likely to have a strict policy of enriching dairy products with vitamin D, yet it is impossible to make sure everyone follows the same diet.
Compared to costly and artificial supplements, sunless tanning seems to be a better choice because it triggers your inner body to produce the vitamin. The bronze skin is a bonus!
In case you didn’t know: aside from absorbing calcium and strengthening bones or teeth, vitamin D is said to help us prevent high blood pressure, depression, and seasonal affective disorder!
3. Make stretch marks and scars less visible
Many folks gossip about having a bronze skin tone will make your scars and marks stand out, but it is only an illusion created by the contrast of your tanned skin and the darker marks. The tanning process doesn’t worsen or cure the scars.
Let’s note that when a scarred patch of skin will be more sensitive to sun rays, hence you need to apply more sunscreen on these spots to keep them even with the rest of your body. On the other hand, to lighten the darkened marks, use lemon juice!
4. Promote weight loss
UV rays can boost your metabolism and help you burn calories, hence active and sporty people are usually in better shape. It also explains the mood swings we have in winter when we don’t have enough sun exposure.
However, a tanning bed might be your solution by boosting the metabolism as well as the vitamin D in your body. You will be happier and healthier during the gloomiest season of the year.
5. Inexpensive
For sunbathing, you will need to plan a trip or sign up for a VIP outdoor pool, unless you are living near a beach. And you can do it all the time. When you look at it from this perspective, investing in a tanning bed or visiting a salon will be less costly, and we haven’t taken the seasonal discounts into consideration yet.
Notes on Tanning Bed Risks
We take the risks of sunbeds seriously even in a list of tips on how to tan faster in a tanning bed:
- Skin cancer: The risk is as high as with the sun, therefore you need to follow the schedule mapped by professionals.
- Premature aging: The UV rays can destroy the collagen in your body, making the connection between the dermis tissues weak and unstable. It is the cause of rough and wrinkled skin.
- Burn & irritation: UVB radiation can make your skin suffer burn and inflammation.
- Eye damage: The risk of ocular cancer, cornea inflammation, keratitis is all there if you don’t protect your eyes with a good pair of goggles.
- Immunity changes: Overexposure to UV rays can reduce the efficiency of the immune system and render you vulnerable to infectious illnesses.
- Allergy: If you have had photo-allergic reactions, be careful with the itchiness and the blisters caused by tanning beds.
FAQs
How often should I tan with a tanning bed?
No matter what your skin type is or how long you have been tanning, you shouldn’t have more than one tanning session a day.
The UV rays do more than reaching into your skin cells and darkening the melanin, there will be damage if you give them enough time. Once harmed by UV lights, it will take a while for the epidermis to recover.
If you are a newbie, get 2 – 3 tanning bed sessions a week and keep them around 10 – 15 minutes. After developing a base, you can increase the duration by 2 minutes and deepen the tanning effects.
When should I not tan in a tanning bed?
These groups of people shouldn’t expose themselves to UV rays:
– White skin with blond or red hair (the signs of skin type I)
– Many moles on the skin
– Taking medicines that are sensitive to photons: contraceptives, antidepressants, antibiotics, antifungals, antidiabetics
– Pregnant or breastfeeding
More posts like this:
- Outdoor Tanning Tips for a Healthy Glow
- Tanning with Baby Oil: Yay or Nay?
- Shower After Tanning | Important Tips
- Tanning Bed Rash & How to Treat It
Conclusions
Now you know how to tan faster in a tanning bed, as well as some tanning bed tips to get healthy tanned skin. There are issues to keep in mind, but sunbeds are still a good alternative for the natural tanning method. Remember to maximize the results and minimize the risks by following the steps we have mapped out for you!
