Indoor Tanning: Spray Tanning vs. Tanning Bed

Everyone loves that bronze color we get during summer vacation, but many of us go to great lengths to keep the golden-glow year-round. As the trend of indoor tanning has risen within the last few years, more experts have been coming out with conflicting opinions of the harms of hitting the tanning salon. Here is a comparison of the two different forms of indoor tanning:

Spray tanning: Spray tanning (also known as Mystic tanning) is the application of a colorless chemical called dihydroxyacetone (DHA) in the form of a mist or a spray. DHA interacts with the amino acids in dead skin cells to produce a brown color change. There is no evidence that DHA is toxic and it is not absorbed through the skin. However, you need to follow directions exactly when getting a spray tan: wear the hair net, put on the nail stickers and apply the tan-resistant lotion just as the tan technician tells you! If you don’t follow the rules, you’ll come out looking streaking and splotchy. It takes a few hours for the skin to darken, and the tan usually lasts for about a week.

Image courtesy of GoogleImages

Tanning bed: Tanning in indoor beds carries many of the same risks as tanning outdoors in natural sunlight. A tanning bed contains a concentrated form of UV rays that could increase the risk of skin cancer. You also run the risk of damaging your eyes if you do not wear the proper eyewear. However, the tan you get in a tanning bed generally lasts longer and looks more natural.

Image courtesy of GoogleImages

Fohawk’s, Stiletto’s, Fake Tans…Oh My!

Photo Credit: Google Images

Have you ever been pushed around, stuck in a sweaty mob full of fohawk’s , stilletos, and people shouting that they are on the list? Welcome to the place that you will be spending half your Friday night outside of, Scottsdale’s newest hot-spot. It’s 11 p.m and I finally convinced all 10 of my dolled-up girlfriends to put their game face on and battle through the crowd to get into the bar. This was my first mistake. All for what? To see people spinning a wheel, having cheap tequila poured down my throat, and having a table with a keg attached to it?…..heck yea! Anyways, back to my night,  I look down at my Blackberry; 11:30 p.m, got my eyes locked on the head bouncer like a cougar that has just found her prowl. He finally looks over at me with his too tight of a v-neck shirt and L.A Looks hair gel and informs me that we will be the next group to get in. 11:45 p.m., I still found us standing outside next to the girl who’s extensions are falling half way out of her hair and reek’s so bad of self-tanner, making me that much more determined to get inside the club. One-by-one I found my friends dropping like flies and walking further away from Lady Ga-Ga’s overplayed music. So the moral of the story is….choose wisely, there’s only one Friday night a week!

Xoxo,

Frustrated Patron