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How long should I tan? Tanning Exposure times explained.
Perhaps the most important part to successful tanning is deciding how long to tan for. This is known as the exposure time, or the time that you will be exposed to the UVA and UVB from the tanning lamps. Several different factors affect the answer. How strong is the piece of equipment you are using? How new are the lamps? How tan is your skin already? Will you be tanning areas that have not seen the sunlight? How easily does your skin tan? How much time do you have before you need to be tan.
Skin type affects exposure time more than any other factor. Skin types vary from olive skin that tans easily to pale skin that will not tan. Most people are in the middle of the spectrum. For those with olive skin that rarely burn longer exposure times are fine. For most people it is important to start with low exposure times to see how much UV their skin is able to handle and then slowly increasing as a base tan is developed. Certain skin types do not react well to UV light and should thus choose spray tanning as a better alternative to standard UV tanning.
The question of how strong the tanning booth that you will be using is can be answered by your certified salon technician. Equipment is usually rated by the amount of watts that it can supply to the bulbs and the type of lamps that it contains. Commercial tanning equipment varies greatly in its performance. The FDA regulates a maximum exposure time on each piece of equipment based on these factors and you should never tan for longer than this number.
Besides skin type the age of the bulbs along with the strength of the piece of tanning equipment is the second most important factor comb in determining exposure time. Tanning bulbs deteriorate over time and the more usage they have on them the less UV light they give off. The lamp life varies from manufacture to manufacture, and can range anywhere from 500 hours to 1000 hours for VHR systems. Good salon practice includes taking meter readings when new lamps are installed. Meter readings should then be conducted every 50 hours and when the tanning lamps have lost 25% of their output they should be replaced.
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April 23, 2010 | 3:41 pm
[...] Booths and Tanning Beds Everything you need to know about indoor tanning « How long should I tan? Tanning Exposure times explained. What tanning salon software should I use? [...]
May 3, 2010 | 10:54 am
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