I don't tan much anymore, I just don't care. I'll fake tan on occasion. Skin cancer runs deep in my family, so fuck that!

CynthiasSocks said:

Well, my mother had skin cancer.

minneapolisgenius said:

Excellent reason to not do it.

minneapolisgenius said:

I'm sorry to hear that! Family history over moderation.


I'm going to the beach in 4 weeks and am using a tanning bed to jump start my tan- I don't tan year round and use 30 SPF under the sun.

CynthiasSocks said:

Well, they got it in time thank God. We hope. I still worry that it will come because that's exactly what happened to the husband of a former colleague: he had malignant melanoma and was fine for 10 years, and then suddenly it came back and he died within 6 months.

But thank God I was a punk rock/goth girl when I was a teen in the 80s. I never layed out in the sun because it just wasn't cool.

JustErin said:

The older I get, the less I care about being tan in the summer. Of course, it's unavoidable to get a little color when you're on vacation sometimes.

I have been so short of cash lately that I have not been able to afford to have a sunbed so having to resort to fake tan - I hate this stuff - its ok for a couple of days then starts coming off in steaks and patches making you look like you have some sort of skin condition or something

But when I do have a sunbed - I go naked - yeah!!!

minneapolisgenius said:

Great- just keep those regular check ups and all will be fine. I also avoided the sun as a teen (in the 80s) and I was a life guard during the summers.

wendyrachel said:

I like MAC Tint and Tan- I use it on my legs.

naturally tan

Ditto.

A colleague of mine once asked why black people would lie out in the sun, too.

ThreadBare said:

Beacuse it feels nice to just lay out and soak up the sun? Because we are all supposed to get some vitamin D?

JustErin said:

Yeah, I tried to hip her... "Uh, helloooo? It's our sun, too..."

ThreadBare said:

Hahaha!

M

CynthiasSocks said:

Plus bikini top tan lines actually make your breasts appear larger.

Rhondab said:

same here.

I've done it naked before, but i feel funny cause somebody elses nakid ass could have been in the tanning booth i dont' do the solarium though- i only did it once for one year before a birthday.

ThreadBare said:

I think I look better w/ a tan so I try to get as much sun as I can in the summer... plus the sun just feels so damn good... I need a tropical vacation immediately

Anx said:

Weirded out? Well, I guess tanning beds do look somewhat like MRI scanners.

There's a tanning salon in the building where I live, and I actually find it quite pleasant and relaxing. It's almost like going to the spa for a massage, but much less expensive. And the beds are equipped with a radio/CD unit, so I can enhance the experience with music. (Lately I've been bringing Louie Vega's Dance Ritual CD with me.)

I don't get bored; in fact, I wish that my sessions were longer. A "standard" tanning bed has a maximum time of 20 minutes, but I'm still working my way up to that. And the fancier beds are designed to put out stronger UV rays, so if you use those, you spend even less time per session.



I just have two. One of them is a tanning lotion that I apply before a session. The other is a moisturizer that I use after the session and after my morning shower.

Oh, to answer the question posed by CynthiasSocks, I tan au naturel.

CynthiasSocks said:

Another way to avoid the problem is using a stand-up tanning booth. I imagine that it wouldn't be as relaxing, though.

purplerein said:

While the connection between smoking and lung cancer is pretty clear, I'm not so sure about the connection between exposure to UV light (whether from the sun or a tanning bed) and skin cancer. Consider:

• While some studies have linked UV exposure to melanoma, other studies have linked a lack of UV exposure to melanoma.
  
• At least here in the U.S., melanoma becomes more common as you go north, where the UV rays from the sun are weaker. Seattle -- the northernmost major city in the continental U.S., with an average of 226 cloudy days per year -- has a relatively high melanoma rate.
  
• Most melanomas develop on parts of the skin that are usually not exposed to sunlight.
  

Don't get me wrong -- there very well may be some risks associated with tanning -- but I suspect they're overstated.

As for sunbathing versus tanning beds, I would think that all other things being equal, you're probably better off in a tanning bed where the UV exposure is controlled, and it's easier to avoid a sunburn.

matt said:

Well interesting enough. My aunt just passed away from her battle with skin cancer.

Tanning bed ...Stu don't do it to yourself hon. you may not pay for it now but in 20/30 years (if that!) you will



big, big

Rhondab said:

That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear it.

Skin cancer -- at least the melanoma type -- is a rather scary thing. My doctor basically told me that if I get skin cancer (esp. melanoma), there probably won't be anything that I could have done to prevent it, and the best thing I can do is catch it early. So I try to have a skin exam every six months. I'm way overdue, but I have an appointment scheduled for next month.

Tonight it's drinking wine instead of tanning. Tanning is always done nude. Might as well do the drinking nude - certainly adds to the experience.

matt said:

It just made me go because when they talk about skin cancer and the sun they always disregard black ppl so here was my aunt, a brown skinned woman with severe cancer on her back.

minneapolisgenius said:

I get enough sun without paying for my cancer. I say spray it on if you want to supplement.

NDRU said: