Beginner’s Guide to Tanning

At Bodilight we pride ourselves on bringing our clients the safest and very best results with their tanning. As 2017 begins and the dark months of winter continue, a lot of you may want to try out tanning for the first time. This is excellent news and we are here to help you get started. For all of you newcomers to tanning we have compiled a beginner’s guide to help you get on your way.

Age + Medication

• The legal age to use a sunbed in the UK is 18. If you are lucky enough to look 18 still, then please don’t be offended if you are requested to show ID…honestly, it is a compliment.

• If you are on regular medication, please check beforehand to see if your medicine can cause a photosensitive reaction. This is important as this can greatly affect the time you need / should spend on a sunbed

Skin Type

The first key rule of tanning is understanding what skin type you have. Fortunately, skin types are clearly broken down into 5 types:

1. Skin Type 1 – Very white or pale. This skin type burns very easily and tans with great difficulty. Serious caution is required.

2. Skin Type 2 – Light beige skin. This skin type will burn but this will turn to tan. Tanning must be undertaken carefully and correctly.

3. Skin Type 3 – Light brown skin. This skin can potentially burn, but always tans.

4. Skin Type 4 – Light brown or olive skin. This skin type sometimes burns under intense sun exposure and tans easily.

5. Skin Type 5 – Brown skin. Rarely burns and tans very easily.

How often can you tan?

Once you have determined your skin type from the list above you can then decide on the tan level you wish to achieve and time you can tan for. As a rule, the average person will develop a strong base tan in between three and five sessions. This should then be maintained and ‘topped up’ with regular sunbed use. Two moderate sessions a week will then further deepen your tan in a relaxed and responsible way. If you have got back from a holiday and just want to maintain that well-earned glow, then a session a week will suffice. At Bodilight we recommend that you leave a minimum of 72 hours between each session. This is to allow your skin the chance to rest and recover. Trust us when we say that you will tan far better if you allow your skin this rest period. In the long term this rest will also avoid burning or brown spots, which are a sign of serious skin damage.

Eye safety

You should never have a tanning session without wearing goggles. At Bodilight we offer all our customers professionally cleaned goggles or customers can buy single use googles for each tan. It is important to note these aren’t swimming goggles…these are specially designed UV goggles. People often claim that you can just close your eyes while tanning, this simply isn’t true! UV light can easily make it through your eyelids and cause long term damage to your retina’s and rest of your eyes.

What to wear

This is entirely up to you. You can either tan in the nude or in the underwear / bathing suit of your choice. They key thing to remember with clothing is how you want your tan lines to look! So think carefully about what you wear to avoid any crazy stripes. We also suggest that you cover your most sensitive areas (nipples / genitalia) as these are areas which very rarely get exposed to UV in life and can therefore burn more easily. Definitely not a great place to get burnt! Bodilight sun beds are cleaned after every use and we also provide cleaning spray within our private rooms to ensure that you are comfortable with the cleanliness.

Tan Accelerators

At Bodilight we offer an extensive range of tan accelerators and creams. These do exactly what they say on the tin and provide a deeper tan with the customer having to spending less time on the sun bed. Please feel free to discuss the range we offer with our onsite team so they can direct you to the right product for your skin type.

How to Take Care of Your Skin after Tanning

It is important to remember that once you finish on the sun bed, your skin will keep tanning for a minimum of 12 hours. If you finish a session and are not initially as tanned as you hoped, give it some time and note the change. Mositurising is key in this post tan period, it will prolong your tan and also help keen skin healthy. Aloe Vera is King when it comes to hydration and this is also available at Bodilight to help keep you skin cooled and comfortable.

So there is your beginner’s guide to tanning, but remember our brilliant onsite team at Bodilight are always here to help. If you are interested in booking a session but are still a little hesitant, come in or call us and we will able to provide a much more detailed programme for you.