Tell me about tanning for a vacation

In My Humble Opinion
1

Getting this out of the way: I am not going to tan on a regular basis. I am going on a vacation to Mexico, once. I just want to tan so I don’t sizzle like a choice cut of pork when I get there. Please keep the ‘omg tanning you’ll get cancer immediately and die at the age of 25 if you do it even once!’ out.

I’m going to Mexico for a week at the end of January. I’m whiter than a ghost and burn like dry tinder and need to pre-tan. Thing is, I have no idea the frequency and length I should do it for. I have almost 3 months before I go, but I’m getting mixed info. Should I start going now for 1 minute tans? Any other tips for a first time tanner?

Thanks guys!

2

Just go to a good salon and ask them. They will be able to guide you.

3

My understanding is that “a base tan will help prevent sunburn” is a well debunked urban legend. Save the tanning money and spend it on sunblock.

4

Yep. They will tell you how much to tan each session for however many sessions.

The first few sessions will be short and you’ll be all “damn, did I just spend $$ for 5 minutes of nothing?” but after a while you will eventually start getting color. And your sessions will be longer.

I don’t know if you want to start 3 months ahead of time, tho, especially if you are just trying to get a base tan. The tanning salon IS in the business of making money from you tanning so they will be sure to put you on a 3-month-long plan that will probably net the same results as a 1-month-long would.

5

Exactly. This is not an effective way to prevent sunburn. Buy sunblock and reapply.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tanning/AN00589

6

I always thought the reason people go to tanning booths before vacations was so they weren’t stark white on the beach.

7

Well, okay. Maybe a little of it is to avoid looking like the only pale vampire on the entire resort. And of course I plan on sunblock. But in addition, I burn bright red. A base tan will help prevent any possible sunburn from looking like someone just whipped me with a belt.

8

The op should just be ready to admit that this plan is not really for preventing sunburn (won’t happen). You really are just wanting to not look like a ghost when you step on the beach in January. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s okay to want to look good when you’re in your bathing suit.

Start off slow. You don’t want to burn yourself in the tanning salon in December.

9

Yes, you need to tan. No, you don’t need three months. More like about six weeks. I am exactly like you in that two minutes’ exposure to the sun and I look like a lobster. More than that and I also look like pork left to fry too long in the pan.

Before we went to Turks and Caicos Islands for our eight-day diving trip, the Divemaster strongly urged me to get a tan. I was reluctant at first because of all the bad PR tanning beds get, but in the end I went ahead with it. I did start out with the real short tanning sessions - the first few were only about a minute or so long, and then they increased in length and by the end I was in for I think they were 20/25-minute sessions.

Good thing I did. He was absolutely right. That was my first real dive trip. We were out in the sun and salt water for up to 12 hours a day. Even with sunblock on, I came back with the darkest tan I’ve ever had, and hair so blonde it was white.

However, I forgot one little thing: I forgot to tan my face. Don’t do what I did. Turn on the optional face tanning thingy in the tanning bed. TAN YOUR FACE.

Did I mention to tan your face, too?

Even with sunblock on, I got badly burned in a couple of spots on my nose and cheeks - which was hell on earth because of the face mask **and ** the salt water. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Thanks to my dive instructor, who happened to have some stuff with him designed for that kind of sunburn, I was able to continue diving. It wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve ever been, but it was tolerable and didn’t ruin my vacation. To this day, though, I still have a trace of sun damage on my nose.

It doesn’t matter if you have on a hat, sunblock, and sunglasses - although of course you’ll have those with you, right?? The kind of sunlight nearer the equator is different there than it is further north. Lots more intense.

It would be one thing if you tanned year-round. Endless tanning *isn’t *good for you. But, if this is a one-shot, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

In fact, the Divemaster and I are discussing a Mexico dive trip in the spring. If we go ahead with it, guess where I’m off to again.

10

The plan was really ‘going on tropical holiday in the winter is a provincial pastime and everyone told me I needed to tan ASAP’. I guess I thought part of it was sunburn protection, but this thread is showing me that it is really all about just the look.

11

Ooooh, okay. I’ll be sure to tan my face too. My mom told me to spring for the standup booth, she had to use it when she had a skin condition years ago.

12

I am Latina, with a fairly light complexion. I tanned at a salon once, years ago. I was going to Panamá where the proximity to the Ecuador is brutal when it comes to your skin. I thought I had a pretty good base tan when I got there. My second day while my dad was at work, I went down to the pool in my little bikini and laid out - or better said, cooked my skin to a nice crispy and painful glow. I was only out there for about 30 minutes. The next two days I looked like a lobster and laid on my bed naked and spread eagle literally miserable. I couldn’t stand for anything to touch me anywhere. My dad was pissed at me because he had warned me, but I thought 15 minutes on each side wouldn’t be too bad. I was wrong. My advice: be super careful. If you are going with an SO and your plan is to have “a good time,” getting burned will kill that faster than a teenage boy can say, “I’m cumming!!!”

13

What reason did he give? There’s essentially no medical benefit to getting a base tan. Sunscreen and covering up are much more effective. A tan is very little protection against burning.

14

I’m sorry, but I also am in agreement with NOT tanning before vacation. I believe you were trying to find and justify reasons to tan. If you had a young child…would you send him/her to a tanning bed for a base tan, too? Probably not. Invest in sunblock. If you are afraid of looking different, that’s silly. But if you must, wouldn’t a spray on tan or lotion do the trick?

15

No, you don’t need to do irreversible, cancer-causing damage to your skin. :rolleyes:

16

Pah. Last time I did that, I wound up with really bad all-over sunburn. I don’t mean a little pinkness that faded in the next day, I mean the only reason I was wearing clothes the next day was that it was January and too damn cold to go naked.And it flared up the condition I was trying to keep at bay through desensitization therapy.

And one of the staff was trying to convince me going in for time and a half as long would be just fine. :eek:

Generally, you’re going to want to ask for the bed with oldest, weakest bulbs and not stay in more than 5 minutes at first. That bed should generally be available because people who tan regularly usually want the bed with new hot bulbs that will get them more color for their time, so you usually won’t have to wait even as a walk-in. You do want to have them set the timer a little longer than you plan to be in during the winter, especially if you go during a slow time. Tanning salons tend to keep the rooms cool so people don’t roast in the beds, and 60-65 degree glass feels really damn icy against your nakie skin. Have them set the timer a little long and let the bed run/warm up while you’re undressing.

Urban legend or not, I find that if I spend equal amounts of time in the sun with equal amounts of the same SPF sunscreen, I’m far more likely to have pinkness and sensitivity in April when I’m pasty than in August when I have a little base coat. (Though I’m unlikely to stay out long enough to get pink in April these days because I’m paranoid about flaring up the PLE.)

17

Don’t let them push you. I have gone to 2 tanning sessions in my entire life, because the 2nd time the guy told me to stay in for 10 minutes (when I only did 3 minutes the first time). I was white as a ghost, in the middle of winter.

I *cannot *properlyexpress how painful sunburned nipples are. And full body itching/peeling is so, so disgusting. So take it slow! You’ll probably want to go every other day and start out with 2 or 3 minute sessions. Increment up a minute or 2 a day at the most.

18

He is a master diver. By comparison, I have maybe 65 dives under my belt. I figure the man knows his stuff. His recommendation that I pre-tan reduced the likelihood of me burning even through sunblock. Where I didn’t tan, I suffered - even through sunblock. Water reflects sunlight up, which is why my face took such a beating. I even had a ball cap on most of the time. Didn’t help.

Let me add that if we weren’t in the water (there are rest periods after each dive while the dive boat makes its way to the next dive site), we were all constantly reapplying sunblock, even if we were in the shade on the boat. As **Scootergirl **and I both pointed out upthread, the closer you get to the equator, the more brutal the sun. It isn’t like up here in the states.

Based on my observations in the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Florida, even the recreational divers don’t really care too much about beaches or looking good to other people with a tan. It’s not what they’re there for. In my case, careful pre-tanning AND the use of sunblock ensured that I got to dive discomfort-free.

Well, most of me. :smiley:

19

Unfortunately, he doesn’t. Lots of people spread information without knowing the facts. There might even be a website somewhere who’s goal is to fight that sort thing.

20

Okays then, after reading all the responses, it seems like people tan 80% for looks, 20% for small benefits like SPF 2-4.

I’m feeling a little bit confused though. The New Brunswick Public Health site says 20 minutes in a tanning bed can equal 2 hours of unprotected time in direct sun. Looking at the responses in this thread, I’m probably looking at 60 minutes max over a month or two. For the year. Hell, maybe the decade, I dunno. Less sun than the equivalent of spending another week in Mexico.