Tanning Advice

Your Safety is our Number One Priority at Tanz!

We want to make sure that our customers look good and feel great by tanning in a responsible manner. We have put together some Tanning FAQs, Guidelines, information on How Skin Tans and some Useful Tanning Links because we want to help guide our customers to achieve a tan safely. So if you have a question about how long it will take you to achieve a tan or what sunbed to use then we are here to help.

All of our tanning assistants are fully trained to the highest standards.
This ensures that they provide our customers with the right tanning advice and promote safe and responsible tanning.

DID YOU KNOW

A single sunbed session increases your Vitamin D levels

VITAMIN D CAN…

  • Reduce risk of cold and flu

  • Reduce chronic muscle aches

  • Reduce your risk of depression

  • Reduce your risk of osteoporosis

Find out more about our range of tanning equipment >>

Tanning FAQs

We actively encourage our customers to ask any questions that they may have about tanning before embarking on their tanning session. We have highlighted some of the frequently asked questions so that you can feel confident that you are tanning in the most responsible and safe manner and within the optimum conditions.

Please find some of the most commonly asked questions about tanning and the answer to each of these questions below.

If you cannot find the answer to a question you have below then please ask in store or fill in our contact form here.

Tanned skin looks better, and looks healthier, than an untanned skin. Also, when you look good you also feel good, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for this. Thus it is pretty well accepted that there may be psychological benefits of tanning, but they have not been measured yet. These benefits may turn out to be considerable, as feeling good becomes more and more accepted as being necessary for good physical and mental health, and this concept of wellness is more widely relied upon by medical professionals.

There are positive side effects of tanning, of course, such as Vitamin D production, which is very important for health, but these benefits can be obtained at far lower doses of UV light than are required to get a tan – perhaps one-fiftieth of a tanning session will be enough. There can also be beneficial side effects of the waste heat (Infrared radiation) produced by sunbeds, which may have an effect on joint mobility and certain forms of arthritis. Beyond this, there are extensive medical benefits of UV light, but these can only be claimed by qualified medical practitioners.

UV light is used by dermatologists, for instance, in the treatment of psoriasis, eczema and certain forms of acne.

This depends on your skin type, the lotion you use and your current skin colour. In general the average person can develop a base tan in 3 to 5 sessions which can then be maintained with regular moderate sunbed use combined with skin moisturisers and tanning accelerators (which can be purchased in any of our salons and online here)

You should wait a very minimum of 24 hours before your next session. We recommend you follow an every other day tanning schedule when building your base tan. After you have developed your base, you can reduce you schedule to once or twice a week depending on the tan you desire.

Definitely not. You will likely burn on a sunbed if you have sunbathed in the natural sun as you’ve had an uncontrolled amount of UV exposure.

Whatever you want! Once you enter your private tanning room it’s your choice. Some people wear their underwear but most prefer to tan naked. Although even though the amount of UV is controlled with indoor tanning it is still advised that you wear protection in the form of a cream, so as to avoid burning as well as wearing goggles to protect your eyes.

We recommend that you only use a cream specially designed for indoor tanning. If you use a sun cream that is designed to protect skin while tanning outdoors, then this could block the UV equipment from working correctly. Sunbed creams are specially developed to keep skin nourished during indoor tanning while helping to maximise the results. You can find our full range of indoor tanning creams here.

Quite simply, Yes! These lotions help you tan faster, moisturise and many help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. By supplying your skin with much needed vitamins, minerals, amino acids and moisture, these lotions can help you tan up to 60% better than using no lotion at all.

Mother nature has a way of taking care of us in many aspects of our life and tanning is just another of mother nature’s wonders. When we are born, our skin has a reflective quality to reduce the amount of UV penetration and this reflects more than half the normal sunlight.

Although we recognise it as a “look good” advantage, a tan is our body’s natural protection from the sun.  Tanning lotions break this barrier down so you get nearly 100% of the sunlight going deep into the skin for a longer lasting, better looking tan. Lotion also speeds up the production of the Melanin.

Melanin is the chemical compound that holds the tan. It travels from deep in the skin to the surface faster and that’s what turns into a nice golden brown suntan.  When tanning indoor or out, moisture is lost from the skin. Use a good daily moisturiser after tanning, showers or exercise to keep a healthy glowing skin tone.

Choose a good quality lotion when tanning. Don’t scrimp on moisturiser, get the best quality product that you can afford. Exposure to UVA can cause skin to dry up. A high quality tanning lotion can help prevent and reduce these effects aswell as extending the colour of your tan.

We recommend it.

When proper eyewear is not used during the tanning process, the potential for eye injury is greatly increased. Some eye injuries and disorders include Photokeratitis (Cornea Sunburn), Cataracts, Pterygium (Abnormal tissue growth) and Damage To The Cornea. The skin that makes up your eyelids is very thin and needs to be protected therefore all of our salons have eye protection available.

The insides of the arms and legs do not tan as easily because they contain fewer pigment-forming cells than the skin on the rest of the body.  The face does not tan as easily either because it has a naturally thicker Horny layer – providing special protection from UV-B.  Freckles and pigmental moles contain a particularly high amount of tanning pigments and therefore go darker much more quickly than other areas of the skin.

About 2 to 4 weeks after the last sun bathing session.  The uppermost skin cells are gradually shed as a result of the natural process of skin renewal. The skin will have renewed itself after approx. 28 days.  Looked after properly a tan can be preserved for longer.

One to two sessions per week will keep up your holiday tan for much longer.

Also, if you already have a good base colour why not try our High Pressure Tanning Equipment to help maintain your colour? More information can be found here

With the risks involved in individuals who overexpose themselves to UV light, it is the responsibility of the tanning salon to eliminate the opportunity for consumers to sunburn while visiting an indoor tanning salon. It is also the responsibility of the salon worker to make sure individuals who cannot biologically acquire a tan (skin type 1) do not tan indoors. The promotion of moderate, sensible and responsible exposure to ultraviolet light is the goal of Tanz Tanning.

A sunbed ‘session’ is the correct length of time for your skin type to be exposed under a specific sunbed on a specific date. This is to get a tan with the minimum UV dose. Thus, it is impossible for any two tanning sessions to ever be exactly the same. Four factors must be taken into account:

1. Skin type.
The correct length of time will need to be adjusted by a professional tanning salon to suit your skin type (i.e. considerably shorter for a lighter skin-type and untanned skin, otherwise sun burn may result, which is dangerous).

2. Tan condition.
Your skin type never changes, but your tan condition does change. Tan condition includes many factors, but mainly: protection; look or colour; and moisture content or feel. How long is it since you last tanned? If it is 6 or 7 weeks since your last tanning session, in the sun or on a sunbed, you will need to start again from the beginning.

Even if you still have some colour, your tan’s protection factor has fallen back almost to zero. After 6 weeks from your last session, you should start up again with a half session, whether on a sunbed or on the beach. The longer it is since you last tanned, the more half sessions you should have before going onto a full session.

3. Sunbed.
Sunbeds differ markedly in the power and composition of their UV output, so no two sunbeds tan the same. A session on one may be very different from a session on another. Correct manufacturers’ recommended session times, for instance, vary from 2 minutes to 40 minutes, depending on what type of equipment you are using and for what purpose.

Equipment falls into five basic categories, depending on what type of lamps they are designed to use. Only a professional salon will be able to advise on the correct use of different sunbeds for different purposes. If you know what you want from a tan, they will advise which sunbed to use at each stage.

4. Date.
The date affects indoor tanning because sunbeds are fitted with lamps that drop in output significantly over their lifetime. Some lamps do not tan well after 500 hours. Some salons do no replace their lamps until after 700 hours. Tanz always replace their lamp bulbs before 500 hours.

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Tanning Guidelines

It is important to prevent UV overexposure and to protect the health of your skin whilst tanning. The tanning guidelines below will ensure you achieve the optimum colour results as well as ensuring you do not overexpose yourself when tanning.

The most important rule is never to try and force a tan and always use common sense!

In other words, never sunbathe more than once a day. As a rule of thumb: up to ten sessions in two to three weeks, unless you are using a high pressure tanning bed. If you are using a high pressure tanning bed you should reduce the number of sessions as your tan will be retained by one or two sessions per week.

  • Remember to moisturise! It’s important to use moisturiser before and after a session, as moisturisers reduce the drying effects of UV exposure when tanning.

  • Allow at least 24 hrs to pass before tanning again, whether it be indoors or outdoors. Industry and medical standards advise waiting 48 hours, which is the time it takes for skin to create melanin and to tan.

  • When tanning naked, ensure that you protect sensitive areas of the body that normally are not exposed to UV light. Skin on the underarms, backs of legs, buttocks and genitalia can suffer severe sunburn from the same light intensity that only tans the rest of your body. You can expose the sensitive areas gradually by covering them halfway through tanning sessions for the first three or four times you tan naked.

  • Always use a lotion. Sunbed lotion is an essential part of the tanning experience.

    While its protection will not diminish all the risks associated with sunbeds it is safer to wear lotion than nothing at all.

    Sunbed lotion can minimise the length of sessions needed as they usually contain Tyrosine, which encourages the skin to produce melanin more quickly, or small amounts of the self tanning ingredient DHA, which ‘bronzes’ the skin.

    The moisturising effect of the lotion prevents dry skin and promotes the longevity of your tan. Most lotions also contain ingredients such as Vitamin E to counteract the ageing effects of the UV rays.

    It is also important that the lotion is one specifically designed for sunbed use and not an outdoor suncream.

    If you want to tan smart then you should always use a cream. Our range of tanning lotions in store and online include accelerators, bronzers and tingles all of which help to increase the life of your tan and provide more intense results which results in a darker tan! Skin naturally reflects UV rays so using a cream helps to break down the barrier for the light to penetrate for a deeper tan.

    We also recommend maximising your sessions with a Tanning Trio

    1. Boost your tan from within with a tan shot drink
    2. Use an accelerator such as carrot sun on hard to tan areas for an extra boost
    3. Apply cream all over the body for tanning acceleration and hydration

  • Keep to the tanning times recommended by your Tanz tanning consultant. A good long lasting deep tan is best achieved when you build up exposure gradually. Start with moderate sessions and work your way up as you start to develop a colour.

  • It is a good idea to protect your lips with a lip balm that blocks UV light; lips cannot produce melanin, so they are at risk from overexposure during a tanning session.

  • If you are sunburned, soothe your skin with a moisturiser, and don’t try to tan again until the redness completely subsides.

  • If you are taking medication read the information slip or consult your doctor before tanning.  Some medicines are photosensitive to Ultra Violet rays.

Tanz Logo and Slogan

  • Don’t overdo it! The most important thing to remember when using a sunbed is that there are limitations on how long your session should last. For a novice user or someone who is very fair skinned, freckled, burns easily and who doesn’t naturally tan much in the sun the sessions should be kept very short. This is that a person’s ability to tan is effected by the levels of melanin in their skin. A person with more melanin will find it easier to tan and will also be less at risk of the risks of using sunbeds, such as skin cancer, although it is still essential for them to use protective measures.

  • Do not be tempted to exceed the recommended times or frequent the tanning salon too often in the mistaken belief that more time on the sunbed will automatically lead to a deeper tan. Not only can this be detrimental to your long term health, you are harming your skins ability to tan. Overexposure to UV can actually cause depletion of melanin levels and make it more difficult to tan in future sessions.

  • As a rule, someone with low melanin levels in their skin should limit their session to a maximum of 5 minutes. People with an ‘olive’ complexion can extend this time, but it is best not to stay on the sunbed beyond 15 minutes to minimise long term damage to your complexion and your health. The frequency of the sessions should be limited to 3 times a week or less, and once you have achieved the depth of tan you desire cut down your visits so that you are only visiting the tanning salon often enough to maintain the tan. The staff at the tanning salon should be able to advise you on how to tan safely and effectively based on your personal skin type.

  • Don’t forget your goggles! It is essential to wear tanning goggles at every session. Closing your eyes is not enough to protect from harmful sunbed side effects such as cataracts and cornea damage. Protective goggles can save your sight.

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How Skin Tans

Tanning works the same indoors & outdoors

Ultraviolet rays penetrate your skin causing different reactions. UVA (tanning rays) and UVB (burning rays) are emitted by the sun as well as by our tanning lamps. UVB is commonly referred to as the burning ray because it is more intense than UVA and is responsible for sunburn. Our tanning lamps emit more UVA and much less UVB than the sun, which is the best tanning combination.

Although UVB is responsible for overexposure it is necessary in acquiring a tan. UVB stimulates melanocyte (pigment cells) in your skin to produce melanin (pigment). The melanin absorbs UVA to keep it from reaching deeper, more sensitive layers, of the skin. UVA oxidises, or darkens, the melanin forming a tan. This whole process is the body’s own natural defence against sunburn.

By controlling the type and amount of UV light you receive in a Tanz sunbed or a vertical tanning stand, there’s no doubt that this is the best place to acquire a tan.

Whether you live in Edinburgh, Lanarkshire, the West End or City Centre of Glasgow or in any of our other locations across Scotland including Ayr and the Lothians, you will find all your tanning needs provided at the highest standard possible in Tanz

Other helpful advice

When tanning indoor or out, moisture is lost from the skin. Use a good daily moisturiser after tanning, showers or exercise to keep a healthy glowing skin tone.

Choose a good quality lotion when tanning. Exposure to UVA can cause skin to dry up. A high quality tanning lotion can help prevent and reduce these effects. It’s well worth the money! Professional tanning products should be recommended by a qualified indoor tanning specialist to ensure proper use. Indoor tanning products have unique ingredients that should be used only as directed to ensure the finest tan possible.

Remember, like most fun things in life, moderation is the key. Talk with your salon operator about tanning, take care of your skin, and take a break every now and then.

Tan in Confidence…

All Tanz salons across Central Scotland are accredited members of The Sunbed Association.

The Sunbed Association is at the forefront of promoting responsible tanning. Therefore, as members of The Sunbed Association, we are committed to delivering an excellent, informed service to all customers.

VISIT THE SUNBED ASSOCIATION WEBSITE >>