Foo - Who goes to a tanning salon?

I am thinking about going to a tanning salon. I can spend the entire day outside without a shirt on and not tan the slightest bit. I've always been light skinned.

What is everyone's opinion as far as safety? The salons say it is safe, others such as the Skin Cancer Foundation say it is extremely dangerous. I don't see how tanning for 15 minutes in a bed is any different then spending time outside in the sun, but my opinion isn't very educated.

For some reason, I don't need a tanning salon - perhaps because I live in Costa Rica? :D

Stay pail and live longer. Skin cancer runs in my family so I don't recommend it.

oh hell no.

If you don't tan in the sun, why do you think that artificial UV light would tan you any better?

I hate to admit I was vain enough to do it, but I went to a tanning salon regularly for the better part of a year about 20 years ago when they first started popping up everywhere and it was a fad, then stopped after learning about what it can do to your skin. I am glad I stopped, I am in my early 40s now, and my skin doesn't look like Robert Redford leather. A little sun is actually good for you though (how much depends on your skin type, I don't burn easily fortunately).

others such as the Skin Cancer Foundation say it is extremely dangerous.

They're correct.

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/consumer/tanning.html
http://www.skincancer.org/artificial/index.php
http://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/news/20031016/tanning-salons-boost-skin-cancer-risk

Not me!

Not only do I tan nicely, a natural tan (or is it natural skin cancer) is a perk of living in California. :p

I think of it like drinking. A couple glasses of wine is actually good for you (assuming one isn't an alcoholic who can't stop after starting), whereas drinking gallons will do some damage after awhile.

A little sun is the same deal (YMMV depending on skin type)


Why sunbathing (in moderation) is good for you

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10434709


Protein that inhibits cancer is also found to underlie skin tanning
May also influence human fondness for sunshine
March 8, 2007

An important cancer-suppressing protein appears to protect people from skin cancer in more ways than one, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston in the March 9 issue of the journal Cell. The protein, p53, not only guards against cancer-causing DNA damage, but also prompts the skin to tan in response to ultraviolet light from the sun, thus providing protection against melanoma, the fastest-increasing form of cancer in the world.

"The number one risk factor for melanoma is an inability to tan; people who tan easily or have dark pigmentation are far less likely to develop the disease," says the study's senior author, David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, director of the Melanoma Program at Dana-Farber and a professor in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston. "This study suggests that p53, one of the best-known tumor-suppressor proteins in our body, has a powerful role in protecting us against sun damage in the skin."

http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P1sublevel291.html
One certainly doesn't have to waste money at a salon (unless you live some place where sunny days are a rarity) to get a little bit of sun in moderation.

Ugh no. I was told to do it when I went on a cruise a few years ago so I could be used to the sun. It was January when we left. I couldn't stand those things. Never again. Never. Again.

I am thinking about going to a tanning salon. I can spend the entire day outside without a shirt on and not tan the slightest bit. I've always been light skinned.

What is everyone's opinion as far as safety? The salons say it is safe, others such as the Skin Cancer Foundation say it is extremely dangerous. I don't see how tanning for 15 minutes in a bed is any different then spending time outside in the sun, but my opinion isn't very educated.

Never i will not look like a toasted piece of bread.

I like my bike tans too much to even em out...