Also doesn't change the fact that tanning beds make you look like an orange martian. No thanks.

Hmm... the Hollywood Tans I used to go to had this huge sign out front espousing the benefits of tanning, including the Vitamind D properties (others were clearer skin and faster metabolism). So I guess they are in violation to, but considering their refund policy I doubt they care if they are in align with any sort of statute regarding consumer rights.

@rmz: for sure. then, when you get older, you're not only orange, you're orange and leathery. and will have chunks missing from your flesh where they took out the cancerous parts. noooo thank you.

The first (and only) time I went tanning, the front counter was staffed by a lady in her 40s (I think) that looked like a wrinkled leather handbag.

Didn't do much for my feelings about tanning.

@rmz: In excess, sure. But someone like me who is stuck in a cube from sun-up to sun-down, sometimes getting some artificial sun is nice.

Its times like these I'm glad I'm a soulless ginger who can't tan no matter what. Stick me in one of those beds, and I'd come out with second degree burns.

That's what the weekends are for, baby. Go outside and stay outside. Nature doesn't bite... well, it does, but you get my point.

When I look at all the people laying out frying their skin in the hot sun all I think about is 10 years from now their skin is going to be rough and tough enough to scour pots. RAWHIDE!!

It is beyond me why anyone would purposely prematurely age themselves. Yes, there are some pasty looking people out there and tanning can add a little life to a pale ghost-like face. But learn that makeup is your best friend not Crisco grease tanning oil.

The orange color people get is from the lotions they use that contains bronzers (almost a brown skin dye)

When people dont have a good base tan and use a heavy bronzer, red skin plus brown lotion usually equals the oompa loompa orange color.

Just like tanning outside, keeping the skin hydrated and safe from over exposure is key.

There was an article in the Boston Globe yesterday about how Kelly Pedroia (Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia's wife) had skin melanoma at age 19 thanks to tanning beds.

They just opened one of these idiot-joints near my house. I rather be pasty white, thanks.

@chiieddy: Did the article make any mention of how often she tanned?

@chiieddy: The article link is here: [www.boston.com]

... interesting read. She kept tanning even after having cancerous melanoma's removed. The article talks a lot about how she "finally gets it" and is now working to keep youngsters out of the tanning booths.

@chrisdag: Yeah...

"She was 14 when she started"

"My mother and I would just fry ourselves with tanning oil and no sunscreen"

"But just days after her surgery, she was back in the sun."

@Baukie: I believe that shade is called Spanish Pumpernickel.

Tanning (outdoors, moderately and slowly over the summer with a low-SPF sunblock) is my last remaining vice. My doc and I check my moles etc. annually.

Is there a qualitative difference between a tanning-bed tan and the kind I get from sunshine?

After looking at the picture it reminds me that I like DOUBLE D'lecious

the only "good" thing about the ad is they didn't mention the oh-so-ubiquitous "Powerful antioxidants!" That has got to be the biggest "healthy ingredient" scam since Coke was actually made with cocaine.

@lpranal: Yeah, but you have toxins in your feet that need to be flushed out of your system organically. Toxins, toxins, toxins.

I can't believe that tanning salons are even legal and have not been sued out of existence, given their proven link to cancer. That they are now trying to promote themselves as "healthy" is outrageous, and I hope they get the smackdown from the government. It's about time that we bring in some more science-based regulation and start cracking down on these charlatans and other snake-oil salesmen (like most of the "alternative health" industry).

Tanning beds... vitamin D... yeah, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way. That's like saying that to get more calcium, you should swim into shark-infested waters and eat the calcium-rich coral reefs. The one thing is beneficial, but its consequence is likely deadly in the immediate future.

@Diet-Orange-Soda:

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, women who visited tanning parlors 10 times or more a year had SEVEN TIMES greater incidence of melanoma than women who did not use tanning salons.

Wow, I feel so validated in my pastiness. I'm a pale, non-tanning red-head, and I wear sunblock on my face 365 days a year, and lots of linen and denim long-sleeve workshirts in the garden in the summer, and big floppy hats. And, of course, the SPF infinity!

I'm glad I got me a husband who finds tanning creepy and likes the pale. :D Also, I'm such a convenient nightlight, glowing in the dark like I do.

@Eyebrows McGee:
I'm pale, too, and I'm happy to notice more and more pale folks around...even some celebrities. I would love for people to get rid of the misconception that being tan="looking healthy."

@Eyebrows McGee: (I mean I feel validated by all the other proudly-pasty people here.)

@CCS: and, according to a study they link to on their website, people who had ever used one had 15% higher incidence of melanoma. (Of course, I'm sure part of the explanation for that is that a large part of people who have ever used one used them fairly frequently).

@CCS: I remember near the end of high school or beginning of college reading an article in a fashion magazine about Nicole Kidman and how to preserve her complexion she wears giant floppy hats even to cross the street, and I was like, "That's it, I don't care if people mock my hats, if Nicole Kidman can do it, I can do it too."

I'm always pleased when I see her in a fashion magazine, especially when they mention the great lengths Australia's gone to to reduce skin cancer and emphasize pale-as-beautiful; Kidman herself frequently emphasizes the importance of avoiding excess sun exposure.

Not the biggest fan of her as an actress (and she looks a little botoxy these days), but I'll always like her because she was the first media-approved-as-beautiful pale person I remember seeing. :)

@johnva: Yikes! I also found it alarming that when investigated, lots of tanning salons were exceeding the FDA's "safe" UV levels. Good thing I'm quite happy to be pale, pale, pale.

@Eyebrows McGee: Yes, Nicole is a great example of beauty transcending the social norm. Most recently, I was impressed by actress Michelle Trachtenberg; she's a young, "hot" starlet that's not afraid to be very pale. I think that shows a lot of gumption at her age, in her profession. Hopefully more people will follow suit!

I realized I'm preaching to the (pale and lovely) choir but I've been befuddled by tanning for a while. Tanning has to be the strangest, most foreign thing white people do. EVER. Why? Why do this? Why have you made an industry out of getting cancer? Why do you spend hundreds of dollars to fool other people into thinking you spent that money on a cruise or a pair of running shoes and an IPod? Why why why?

There's a darque tan on the B-Line in boston. I keep meaning to go in there just to see if they'd sell me a tan. Would they really, without question, let a black person tan? I should probably ask them the benefit of tanning...

@CCS: Further scary stats: people who first used tanning beds prior to age 35 had 75% greater incidence of melanoma. So the evidence is pretty clear that no one should ever use UV tanning beds. Now we need to tear down the lingering idea that pale = unhealthy and that tanned = healthy. Government absolutely should not tolerate advertising of this type from the tanning industry, and probably should just shut them down entirely.

You only need 10 minutes out in the sun without sunblock on to get enough sun to produce needed vitamin D.

IIRC tanning beds produce a different group of UV rays compared to the actual sun. As in all the bad and none of the good.

If you need more D. Go out in the sun for a bit or take Vit D and calcium together.

@johnva:

Yes! I HATE it when I inadvertently get a little sun on my face and people say, "Oh, you look so healthy!" Um, actually I just did some permanent damage to my skin cells, thanks. That's why I'm not a fan of sunless tanning either...it just helps perpetuate that stereotype.

This is why I am happy that I am a healthy natural brown. Natural sunscreen :)

And no need to worry about whether I look healthy (read: burnt) or unhealthy (read: unburnt and natural-looking).

I approve of all the pasty and proud of it crowd on this thread. Three thumbs up!!

@bohemian: I've researched and found very different figures. For instance, the amount of time varies by a factor of up to 5x depending on how dark your skin is, and by a similar factor depending on how much skin you have exposed. If you're wearing slacks and a long-sleeve shirt, it makes sense that 10 minutes won't cut it.

Plus, in certain regions and during certain times of the year, the particular UV spectrum is blocked by atmosphere throughout portions of the day, making the midmorning-midday slice the only time that these figures hold.

I used to not worry about being out in the sun (Phoenix) until my Mom got skin cancer on her face. She had to have the doctor use liquid nitrogen on them to burn them off her face. After the numbing wore off she said it felt like a lit cigarette was being held to the 4 or 5 spots on her face. After that, if you want to call me pasty, have at it. No thanks to tanning.

@ludwigk: Regardless, no matter what, it doesn't make damaging your skin through indoor tanning healthy. Any benefit from vitamin D is outweighed by the risk of skin cancer. There are far safer ways to get vitamin D if you really think you need more of it.

Pale is beautiful there are no two ways about it. I am glad my girl doesn't obsess over the sun. My step mom does and she had her first face lift at like 40. She does the Arizona sun though, no a booth. Booths freak me out especially how many of them are in California. It seems that some people think that they are healthier, or they go in the winter so they don't freeze out in the sun.

Funny timing. I just went tanning for the first time in about a year. Every year I go to Florida, and the first time I went, I got sooooo burnt, it ruined 4 days of my vacation. From that point on, I decided to start tanning (in a bed) like 2 weeks before my trip.

@snoop-blog: A much better idea would be to just wear sunscreen properly. (That means reapplying it regularly, etc).

Blah. My mother has skin cancer, and she STILL thinks tanning is healthy because of "research" like that. "You know, kids these days are getting sick because they're not getting enough sun!"

If I had a dime for every time she told me to go outside and "get some color" while I was growing up, I'd be a rich, rich girl.

Blah. Blah, I say.

Also, personally I think a natural tan is sexy. I'm not talking about overly tan here, or the color you get from a bed. Pale is not pretty. Sorry. Fair skin is one thing, but my definition of pale is being able to see your veins through your skin. no thanks. my fiance has fair skin, and it's pretty much impossible for her to tan, but she gets enough of one to have a little pigment to her skin. Now that's just my opinion. I'm sure plenty of people dig the pale goth look, but not me.

I used to tan when I was in high school and college. It made me feel good about myself. I personally do not like being pale but I don't tan anymore due to health and cancer concerns. I tried the lotions but I always look too orange and my hands are NEVER the correct color!

So here I sit, pale as a plain white piece of copy paper...

@snoop-blog: It's not being "pale" that is healthy so much as it's being your natural skin color. A tan is your body's response to skin damage. If your skin is naturally pale, then that's healthiest for you. But it's not healthy or smart to damage your skin in order to get a certain skin tone look. I would never want someone I cared about "get some sun" and risk their health for a reason as shallow as skin color.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't safe ways to darken your skin (though I understand they're not perfect).

For all the people who tan because it makes them feel good...

...you're addicted to the endorphins released by UV exposure, dears. For the same feeling, you can take up running or just go out and fall head-smashingly in love. Both will give you the same high, sans-cancer.

Seriously, a tan looks good now, but in 20 years your smooth tan skin looks like my shoes. If you're of the Caucasian persuasion your skin is supposed to be pasty white, though not pasty grey like a corpse. When I see a tan, I don't see healthy, I see walking melanoma.

@joellevand: Wouldn't running or strenuous exercise do the same thing as well? I've heard of runner's high and I feel the same euphoria after going for a jog.

@Drowner: Yes. I had a hall-mate in college who was black, very dark-complected (like, say, Alek Wek), and used to go tanning. She did indeed get darker, though it doesn't exactly register as "tan" unless you're used to seeing her "not-tan."

(I actually thought it made her color flatter; she had these lovely sort-of rich nutty-brown "highlights" to her skin when she was "not-tan." When she tanned, she became much more monochromatic, sort-of like when a caucasian who's naturally peaches-and-cream tans into a single tone. But then I know people put on a lot of makeup to have dead-even skin tone, so maybe that was on purpose.)

I don't really know WHY she did it except that she liked being warm and liked the sun and never lived south of Indianapolis. :)

Only thing I think about when seeing a tanning bed is this D-list horror movie I saw where the pretty blonde girl says "I wanna tan!", does the gratitutious d-list horror film nudity, gets into the tanning bed and mysteriously can't escape from the bed which is frying her alive.

what doesn't give you cancer nowadays?