staying tan for the swim team

[SaSaRai]

hey guys, i'm 17 and a guy on the swim team, i want to stay tan because i feel self conscious around 200 other people who are all darker than me and make me look pale. i tan pretty easy but its mid december and everyone would wonder "where in the world" i became tan from, because i definitely wasn't outside in the sun (i live in VA and it hasnt been above 50 degrees Fahrenheit since the end of august.)

 

so i've used a tanning bed 2 times this week.... do you think it is ok for guys to use a tanning bed? and it is BARELY noticeable since i havent used it many times, but where i've worn the safety glasses, i can barely see "tan lines" on my eyes and nose ...... is it safe to not wear the tanning glasses as long as you keep your eyes shut?

[freedom]

dude, are you serious??

[annie24]

tanning is very dangerous for your skin and can lead to skin cancer later on. No form of tanning is good for you, and when you get older, your skin will look wrinkled.

[xmrth]

You absolutely HAVE to wear goggles-- the UV rays go through your eyelids, and I wouldn't try putting anything else on. If you're afraid of lines or "raccoon eyes," use Wink-Ease because they stick on and eliminate that look.

 

Not wearing goggles will permanently damage your eyes and you WILL get cataracts and you CAN go blind. You HAVE to wear goggles or Wink-ease, it's absolutely crucial.

 

A lot of guys go tanning and I was really surprised to see this when I started going. It's really not good for you, though. If you are that self conscious, go once a week and in between use Dove Energy Glow. If you have more money to spend and try, then go for higher end sunless tanners. But as soon as you can, stop going. You could get "addicted," and it would be hard to stop going so you really need to take that into consideration.

 

Or you could also do what I do-- I have trouble getting sunless tanner to stay on parts of me so I have actually resorted to wearing sunscreen on my hips, thighs, chest and back because those areas tan extra easily. But my shoulders and lower legs and feet don't. You could try doing that method and wear sunless tanners in between if you can see which parts of you tan the easiest. It's really not good for you and it's hard to not go once you get into it.

[SaSaRai]

you can get addicted? omg.... well i went thursday and friday and today i wanna go really bad... i was going to drive 40 minutes away to my mother's makeover spa just to use her tanning bed. it makes me feel really good for some reason. i've never "tanned" until starting this recent summer. I've always worn a shirt etc because of MANY MANY people I know age 30 some younger and some older who have developed skin cancer and look much older. i've never been sunburnt before in my life besides my arms or face or legs until the last 6 months.

 

where can you buy wink-ease?

[xmrth]

You can get them at a tanning salon, maybe the one you go to, and also online... but I would try to stop, or like I said if you have to go and you can't get yourself to say no to it then go seldomly and use sunless tanners in between.

I want to try to stop going but it's hard. I was reading the other day about the different kinds of skin cancers and how they develop. I never knew the skin cancer could get into your bones and then you're done for. It's beyond watching out for changes in the skin and it's really scary.

[DN]

link removed

[agent1607307371]

Tanning beds will age you like you wouldn't believe and give you skin like old orange leather if you use them too much. They are also linked to skin cancer. Perhaps a better option would to use a fake tan which will give you a better look quicker and have none of the negatives of bombarding your skin with uv rays.

[xmrth]

You know what you could use too is the spray booths. They spray you with really good sunless tanner, and they supposedly won't make you look orange. I'm thinking of my New Years resolution to be stop (sun) tanning for good and maybe use those since my commitment is up in January. You should try those and maybe only use those.

[applepie]

You are much better off staying the way you are. Lots of people are white in the winter. It's to be expected. Every tanning method has it's down side.

 

The sun/tanning bed= skin cancer risk, premature aging of the skin.

 

Bottle tan/spray tan= all smell horrible because of the chemical involved in changing the colour of the skin. They might not smell bad in the bottle...but give it a couple of hours and you'll smell like swamp water. Many brands also look orange and streaky.

 

Bronzer= washes off immediately in water

 

Pills= will make you look orange/have no effect. They are harmful to the liver too.

[hosswhispra]

Getting a tan is not worth it. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can result from sun damage. An oncologist that I work with (MD who sees many cancer patients) told me that the only cancer that would cause him to commit suicide would be melanoma (if it progressed beyond the treatment stage). He was serious when he shared this with me.

[SaSaRai]

oh man.... i never knew that uv rays were so bad for you! but who would've guessed? i mean all teens these days lay miserably and roast in the sun and tan hours upon end to get as dark as they can..... maybe they don't know how bad it actually is for them?

 

so maybe it is a good thing to try and stay white to prevent skin cancer and ageing? and like everyone said, those "spray tans" and everything never seem to work well.

[applepie]

Getting a tan is not worth it. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can result from sun damage. An oncologist that I work with (MD who sees many cancer patients) told me that the only cancer that would cause him to commit suicide would be melanoma (if it progressed beyond the treatment stage). He was serious when he shared this with me.

 

I believe it too. I saw this show recently where a man developed melanoma and he had to get his entire arm amputated. The cancer spread and he eventually died.

 

Not having a tan is a small price to pay for your life.

[annie24]

I have used the spray tanners and they work ok for the short term, like for when I have to be onstage. apart from that, I wouldn't do it all the time.

 

and yes, tanning is just so bad for you, so many risks, and looking orange, yuck!

[redandblack]

I used to swim, too. Get comfortable in your own skin. Artificially tanned skin is obvious and quite tacky. It's the winter. Nobody cares if you don't have a tan!

[annie24]

yeah, whenever I see people in the winter with a tan, it just looks....weird. unless you live in a perpetually sunny climate. the people who go to the tanning salons in the winter, they have this weird orange glow and it just looks strange....

[Mrs Elliott Smith]

Don't go in those tanning beds. I've known 2 people who got melanoma (skin cancer) from it. One was a 17-yr. old girl, the other was a 40-something yr. old man.

 

Why don't you just get a spray tan? Or buy the at-home spray tans? L'Oreal makes a good spray-tanner, no streaks, and it doesn't make you look orange.

 

Good luck.

 

PS: You don't want to look radio-active . . . making it obvious that you use self-tanner (or even that you go to tanning beds) will get you that unwanted attention. Be subtle about it- don't go overboard.