How tanning works.
This page explains what happens to your skin when you tan, what the beds do and what to do before your first session. Ask us if anything is unclear.
What a tan is
Your skin has cells called melanocytes. When your skin meets UV, the melanocytes make a pigment called melanin, and melanin gives skin its colour. A tan is the response of your skin to UV exposure.
UVA and UVB
Two kinds of UV are involved in your tanning, called UVA and UVB. Each one does a different job. UVA darkens the melanin that is already in your skin. That gives a light colour quickly, but the colour fades quickly too.
UVB makes your melanocytes produce new melanin. New melanin takes time to appear. After your first UV exposure it can take 3 to 5 days before it shows as colour. Our lamps give out both kinds of UV.
Why you build up slowly
Your skin makes new melanin at its own pace, and it does not go faster because you stay longer. Only after a few sessions does the tan become darker and deeper. If you take more UV than your skin can handle, the skin burns.
That is why your session times start short and grow, and why we leave at least 24 hours between sessions. You may have no more than one session a day, and we do not allow double sessions. The maximum time for each session is on our exposure times chart.
Skin types
Your skin type tells us how your skin reacts to UV. We use the Fitzpatrick scale, from 1 to 6, and the exposure times chart shows all six types. We do not tan skin type 1. The HSE recommends against UV tanning for skin types 1 and 2. We tan skin type 2 only within the chart, and our team explains the risks to you before you decide.
The beds
On a lay-down bed you lie down and the lamps are in the canopy above you. On a stand-up bed you stand in a booth with the lamps around you. We have both.
Some beds have a facial tanner, which is a section of the canopy over your face, and some have shoulder tanners over your shoulders. Some of our beds also have red-light boosters, which are red lamps fitted to the bed. If you want to know which bed has which, ask at reception.
Lotions
Tanning lotion keeps your skin moisturised, so the colour develops evenly. We will always recommend a lotion made for sunbeds, but never one you do not need. Ask the team which lotion suits your skin type.
- Exfoliate before you tan
Your skin sheds its top layer all the time. A gentle scrub before your session clears the dead skin off first, so your colour builds on fresh skin and comes through more evenly.
- Shave your legs? Read this
Every shave takes off a thin layer of skin, and a little of your colour goes with it. That is why legs can lag behind the rest of you. If yours never quite catch up, try a lotion with a bronzer on your legs for a more even, all-over result or a deeper finish.
Before your session
- ·Wear goggles every time when indoor tanning. Closing your eyes is not enough, and UV still reaches the eyes through your eyelids. When outdoors we recommend eye protection too, such as sunglasses or a wide-brimmed hat.
- ·Build up slowly. Keep to the times for your skin type on the exposure times chart, and have no more than one session a day.
- ·Check the "Should never use a sunbed" list on the exposure times page, and tell us if anything on it applies to you.
- ·A tan is not the same as sun protection. Outdoors we recommend you always use SPF.
Sources: The Sunbed Association training manual (melanin, UVA and UVB, session rules). HSE, UV tanning equipment customer poster MISC869, which accompanies INDG209 rev2 (skin types, goggles, sun protection).
Pop in today. No appointment needed.
Open 7 days, until 21:00 weekdays. We will sit down, work out your skin type and start you off properly.
Find us