Tanning Salon

Has anyone ever tanned here? Well if you did. I'm really curious about some things...

1.) Do you do it every other day?
2.) How many days does it take to get a tan? I know it depends. Whether you want a dark or light one. But umm... let's say if you wanted a gold tan. brown tan. whatever! ^^
3.) Do you need products?
4.) How much does it cost?
5.) Does it wear off easily?

I think they give you this stuff called 'tanning accelerator'. I've never been to one as i don't believe i can tan! A friend of mine went to one yesterday and it actually caught on fire and she ran screaming, half naked, into the reception area. They had to close it down.

I'm sorry, but that's really funny.

My first job was at a tanning salon (though it was also called a "full service" salon). I know lots about this topic! 🙂 Oh and by the way...this place caught on fire also, on a day I wasn't working. 🙂 Yep.

1) You begin by doing it 2 to 3 times a week, to build your base tan. You must establish a base tan in order to get darker and darker (to whatever level of tan you wanna get). Make absolutely sure that you do not burn - only tan for the minimal amount of time possible at first. This is because if you start out with a burn, you will never tan until that burned skin peels completely off of your body. Lunch, anyone? 😛

I myself am very, very fair-skinned and would only start out at around 5-7 minutes, for the first and second session. From there, you gradually increase your minutes by no more than 2 to 3 at a time. You just "keep doing this" until you've established the darkness you wanted. At that point, maintaining your color will require at least one session per week.

You must use a product, but be very careful what kind you use. Make sure it's not an "accelerator", at first at least (when you've already got your base tan, then you can use one)....I'll be right back to finish this. 😛

K...I'm back.

As I was saying, make sure not to use an accelerator at first. But, you must use a lotion of some kind, because if you try to tan dry skin, it will merely peel off. You must also exfoliate your skin in your shower (but not the very next time you shower after your session - wait at least a day to exfoliate for the melanin to darken). Before your appointment when you take your shower, loofah your whole body. This ensures that the skin you're trying to darken is free of dryness, uneven areas, etc. Scrubby scrubby. Your tan will look much more even and natural if you do this.

Apply your tanning lotion about an hour before tanning so that it soaks in nicely and you don't have uneven areas. After your session, you must not shower for at least 6 hours; if you do, you are pretty much wasting your in-the-process-of-tanning skin, and your money, because the skin cells that are transforming will be sloughed off and bye bye tan.

I recommend taking with you some disinfectant wipes to be absolutely sure that the bed you're laying on is free of icky diseases. It won't offend the salon people; lots of clients do this.

You asked how much it costs, which depends entirely on the establishment. I used to get packages of 200 minutes for, oh, say...35 dollars. You'll definitely want to start out with a minute package instead of a session package, until you've established a base tan. It's a better value for your money, because in the beginning you'll be working your way up to the maximum minutes, and see...if you add up the cost of "sessions" versus "minutes", a beginner will lose money if they use a session package (I can't explain the math very well, but if you divide the cost of the package by the cost of each session and compare that to the cost of a minutes package, you'll see. lol) Ew math...'nuff of that.

How fast your tan disappears depends entirely on your skin tone. You will fill out all sorts of new client paperwork, btw - and the girls or guys working there should be able to give you lots of information specifically for you, based on your skin tone and ability to tan. But for example, I'm really fair-skinned and although I usually burn easier than I do tan, once I get a base tan I can get fairly dark and my tans tend to last a really long time, even with exfoliation. Usually if I'm tan at the beginning of summer, I keep my tan until the following february (but it dissipates gradually the whole time).

Last year I stopped tanning altogether, because I don't want to get wrinkles, etc. Also I'm afraid of the cancer thing. I'm not going to preach to you about it, but that was a decision I made, to embrace my pale-ness. 😛

Have fun though, a few times isn't going to hurt you!

I have another funny story about a tanning machine. An old friend of mine worked in a nightclub that had it's own tanning machine out the 'back' (behind the scenes; probably out the back, near the office). Anyway, one night she decided to climb inside for a bit of a joke and knowing her, out of curiosity also. This particular tanning machine must have been an 'old-fashioned' type (an older model) which needed somebody else to open it from the outside so you could get out. Anyway, she climbs in, pulls the door closed on top of her and realises she's locked in. There was nobody around to get her out! I think eventually some guys came out the back and she must have been yelling 'help' and all of that... She finally gets out and is really embarrassed. I think it's a great story. Imagine if she had to spend the rest of the night in there! I don't think it was plugged in though thank goodness.

Anyway, just for your amusement.

Jesus christ pheonix *bows* heil!! heil!! I worship thee. That was so much information that I got excited just seeing the massive amounts of paragraphs which will enlighten me rofl. I should print it out LOL... but what is this "tanning lotion"...? just regular lotion, right? CAn i use um... Lubriderm? But what about on my face?

Libragirl, I feel sorry for that girl lol thank god I posted this so that I wont end up going through what your accelerator girl hahaa.

LOL....jeez, your poor friend!! Yes thank goodness the thing shut off, or wasn't on to begin with, etc. 😛 But how damn embarrassing...lol.

A lady in the salon, an "older" lady (maybe...late sixties?) accidentally bumped the emergency alarm button that's inside of the actual tanning bed and of course this horribly loud buzzing noise starts happening, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire building...and she freaked completely out, came running out to the lobby, where I was, with her shirt off (no, I'm not kidding...I don't wanna talk about it either. LOL) panicking. I was just about to walk up to her door and tell her how to shut if off...but nooo, let's get insane and run through the building with our clothes off. Jeez. lol.

Luz, you're welcome for the info. 😛

To answer your question, yes you can use any "regular" lotion that you might already use on a daily basis. However, once you've tanned once or twice, I would recommend switching to a lotion that says it's for indoor tanning (make sure it says "indoor", or it could damage the tanning bed, and they can sue you! eep!).

By your fourth or fifth session, OR when you've got a base tan, then you need to switch to an accelerator. I will look around the net and see if I can post some good products for you. 🙂

Australian Gold Dark Tanning Accelerator. Any good tanning salon will offer this as a very low-cost, but very effective beginner's tanning lotion. Make sure you don't get the tingling version, unless you like that "my skin is on fire" sensation. 🙂 This stuff, above, smells delicious, too...I've never heard of anyone who didn't like the scent. It's very tropical. It's also not too heavy and gives you time to massage it into your skin before it soaks in. Which means that your tan will be more even, using this stuff. You can also buy it at many stores, for even less than in the salon.

This is another not-too-expensive accelerator that smells VERY good, but it's a bit more moisturizing than the Australian Gold. It's great though. I think it's also a tad more expensive than the other stuff, but still very affordable. I want to say I paid around 8 dollars for a tube, a couple years ago at a local salon here.

Also Luz, I wanted to mention that if you're very fair, you won't see results until around the fourth session, and then only if you've gone regularly enough...don't let too many days go by in between. Some people are unable to tan, btw, depending on how fair you are. Some people will only burn. You will know by the third or fourth session if you're going to get color. Have fun...tanning is very, very relaxing. 😛

HOLY CRAP THATS ALOT OF INFO. I'm starting a tanning business, wanna work 4 me. ha 🙂

OHHHH MY GOD!! thanks pheonix!!! so much. That was very informative indeed >.> For me, I was a pretty dark child when i was younger but I slowly started to get lighter because I dont play 'chase' 'hide n seek' or whatever anymore ya know. So I'm sure I can get dark easily..hopefully. But I'll give you the updates when I do go tanning ^^

Please do 😛