Sunday, March 31, 2013
Tanning Beds: Making You Broke and Never Bronze
UV rays are bad for your skin because it speeds up signs of aging. (So does time.)
Tanning beds can heighten your chances of getting skin cancer. (So can standing in the sun.)
The risks related to indoor tanning are numbing to the ear. People do what they want and in the USA they want to be the color of a graham cracker. Interesting goal when history shows us that being bronze usually meant you were a poor peasant that worked in a field. Most of us are broke so that might have some merit.
Defense of indoor tanning says that tanning beds are good for vitamin D deficiency (you know this person has not been tested). A lot of people say they would rather work their way up to a tan then burn immediately when they get to their holiday location. They want to show they are indeed considering their skin by preparing for what will come. (There is no proof that says indoor tanning ahead of time prevents burn from full sun exposure around the pool. Skin cancer results from the combination of ALL exposure not one or the other.) My favorite line in the defense of indoor tanning: I don't do drugs, smoke, and rarely drink. Pick your poison, this is mine.
Let's address the real motivation to get in an indoor tanning bed: vanity
Vanity will always win in this case, especially for young teen girls who are most at risk. Because this is true I am going to present the reasons pertaining to becoming beach sexy that indoor tanning as a business fails to provide.
1. It's expensive. Teen girls have to beg parents to attain the funds (and a signature) for a package that would be needed to show any type of change or results in color. (BTW having to sign a liability form before getting in a tanning bed should also be a RED FLAG). This would explain why so many teens/and my 30 year old friend, are under the impression that 'burning first and having it fade to tan' is the best way to go. They go in for the affordable single session (8 buck burn) and get out because results to them is any color (red, bronze, orange). If the target audience is teen girls it seems that both the business (not making money on burn bucks) and the girls (too expensive for them to afford) are getting ripped off.
2. You invest in a tanning package for unlimited monthly sessions. Looking pretty good when you get on that plane. Yet - when you enter the pool or beach at said vacation destination you STILL feel embarrassed realizing how pale you are compared to everyone else. No problem because you will get all the color you need after one day at the pool (because you are pushing yourself to overdo it now).
So...why exactly did you buy that package if you were going to be pale and overdoing exposure to 'prevent burn' ...color that you could obtain your first day on holiday?
I bought a package this year not because I wasn't educated that it was terrible for me, but because I saw my boyfriend ignoring my warnings and going forward with the purchase. I decided I couldn't have him one-up me. Yikes, competition and peer pressure probably has a lot to do with getting in a bed.
*Note* After 12 sessions his parents randomly asked him around the dinner table if he was going to 'tan' before the trip. HAHA - he didn't have the guts to tell or the eyes to see that the monthly package was a rip off.
For my 30th birthday I am giving myself the gift of never getting in a indoor tanning bed again. Not because I've been convinced that skin cancer can get me,but because these skeeze beds are making us pay big bucks, with no results, for something we can get for free in the matter of a day. That means less exposure for my skin by choosing ONE. Boyfriend who has always been an advocate that defends tanning was extremely bummed out in relation to his vanity. He said that he was done with money vampire. Also. Sunscreen is good. Not only because it helps prevent skin cancer, but it helps prevent your skin from peeling off like a flakey reptile.
Overall!
Because people like:
getting a deal
services that are free
looking good
and
Because people don't like:
feeling embarrassed and having to start over
getting ripped off
looking like a shedding snake
You shouldn't get in an indoor tanning bed.
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Tanning bed are bad! You convinced me - but I think those 30 days of consecutive tanning in the 80's helped a bit.
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ReplyDeleteI remember being a teenager ("back in the day" as I once referred to that time for me in our class, despite being only 25) and knowing peers who were obsessed with tanning. Worst, most of them happened to be on the same cheerleading squad as I was and my parents refused to pay to have me artificially tanning because, not surprisingly, of the health risks involved. I once even cried while watching Three's Company because of seeing how perfectly tanned the main character ladies were, and cringed whenever people commented on my very pale skin.
ReplyDeleteDuring my first year of college, from the influence of a new friend who also was my dorm resident assistant no less and with the some-financial freedom from having a steady job, I "finally" started using tanning beds myself. However with me having the type of skin only meant to burn, I realized that going there anymore wasn't worth it. In fact, maybe tans are overrated in general.
Fortunately, without us ever talking about it, I can tell my new-ish boyfriend agrees with the overratedness of tanning. He seems to say everything that is on his mind, but not once has he complained about how pale either of us are (exactly the same shade of white, in fact) and constantly compliments how I look despite a lack of any kind of tan. Though there are trends and generalizations of what makes people attractive, sometimes beauty is in the "eye of the beholder."