# Soon the Calif. Girls will be tanning at the beach or pool again.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soon-the-calif-girls-will-be-tanning-at-the-beach-or-pool-again/599113>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 9, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soon-the-calif-girls-will-be-tanning-at-the-beach-or-pool-again/599113 "2011-10-09T22:11:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soon-the-calif-girls-will-be-tanning-at-the-beach-or-pool-again/599113/21 "2011-10-12T20:46:06Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> And spray tans still look horrible, and I don’t see how causing the same reaction in your skin as tanning can be known to not be dangerous over the long term.

Spray tans don’t cause your skin to up melanin production (which, triggered by UV tanning, is what makes real tanning cause skin damage). Spray tans use DiHydroxyAcetone (a sugar)- it reacts with the amino acids in your dead skin cells and makes them turn brown. Someone once likened it to an apple browning when left out, but I’m not sure how accurate that is. Unlike real tanning, your live skin cells aren’t affected. As your skin’s natural exfoliation process happens (so, three to ten days), the “tan” cells flakes off.

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**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soon-the-calif-girls-will-be-tanning-at-the-beach-or-pool-again/599113/22 "2011-10-12T21:18:08Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> Yes it is. Smoking and drinking are physically addicting. They aren’t being protected from the danger itself, but from not being able to make a rational choice when they get older.

Excessive smoking and drinking = dangerous to your health. Excessive tanning = dangerous to your health.

See the connection?

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**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soon-the-calif-girls-will-be-tanning-at-the-beach-or-pool-again/599113/23 "2011-10-13T00:00:26Z")

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I’m sure most people have seen those women (they usually are women) who have the skin of the Crypt Keeper, the ones who make you stifle a startled scream when you run into them in public. You know, the ones whose ages are a complete mystery; they may be 40 or they may be 70, all you know is they look like a basset hound.

These people are _ **clear** _ examples of tanning addiction, just as obvious as the skinny toothless crackheads asking you for change outside the party store. Do you think these people are going to the tanning salon in order to “get sexy”? :eek: Hell no, they are going to satifsy a physical need. Tanning releases certain chemicals in the body, the “feel good” endorphins; and just like anything else with similar actions (drugs, etc.) it can lead to physical (as well as psychological) addiction.

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