by ☆ ƒåitĥ ☆
Member since:
August 8, 2006

I used to tan...

October 14, 2009 04:03 AM EDT (Updated: October 14, 2009 04:04 AM EDT)
views: 62 | comments: 20

 

I used to tan in tanning beds every Spring to get myself ready for summer.

I haven't done it as much due to lack of time and money but also because I've always known it was bad for me.

Even though I knew it was bad for me, I'd still do it because I thought it always made me look so much better.

Well I'm glad I didn't tan all last year and didn't have any plans to tan any time soon because I was reading a reputable magazine the other day and was actually shocked by what I saw:

"SICK BEDS - Are you considering a visit to a tanning salon this winter? Then you might also consider this: The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer has now moved tanning beds into its top cancer risk category -- right alongside arsenic, mustard gas, and tobacco. The researchers' analysis of more than 20 studies, recently published in the medical journal Lancet Oncology, found that all types of ultraviolet radiation (UVA, UVB, and UVC) cause mutations in mice -- proof that the radiation is carcinogenic. And there's another sobering conclusion. The risk of melanoma increases by 75 percent when tanning use begins before age 30."

Holy cow! I'm using self-tanner from now on!

~ Faith

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Comments: 20

Krystal Harwell Oct 14, 2009, 4:10am EDT
I only tan when I'm outside when I AM outside, lol.
Karen R. Oct 14, 2009, 4:58am EDT
I have never had any desire to try a tanning bed. Of course, I did lay out in the sun back in my high school days. But that ended after I left high school.
Dorothy H. Oct 14, 2009, 6:42am EDT
Hubby and I used tanning beds, about 10 years ago, for one season, and then dropped it.
Jerry S. Oct 14, 2009, 6:55am EDT
It's not worth the risk if you ask me. Thanks Faith.
Cheryl W. Oct 14, 2009, 7:44am EDT
I gave up on tanning years ago...lol. I always figure I will have less wrinkles as I grow older so it will pay off in the long run...:) Be safe!
MrsRoad Runner Oct 14, 2009, 8:00am EDT
I have never done this.
My brother had to do this since a small child due to his skin condition, all paid for. However I always wondered what it was doing that was bad for him, but the good outweighed the bad.
Need to be careful out there.
I no someone (oldest boys dad) who has always tanned outside. He is not wrinkly or nothing and um he is a older adult.
Digital Diva S. Oct 14, 2009, 8:46am EDT
I read that in the news too. We usually go someplace warm and sandy in the winter to get away from the snow and I usually started my tan on a tanning bed - not so much for the tan but to save myself from a huge burn when we changed climates.

Won't be doing that anymore.
☆ ƒåitĥ ☆ Oct 14, 2009, 11:04am EDT
That's what I'd tan for too - to get ready for summer because I ALWAYS burn the first time sun hits me. I always liked to have a nice base tan prior to summer so I wouldn't have to worry about being in the sun and burning from it. I also won't be doing that anymore!
Wow, the evidence against tanning beds is mounting. I used them for about a year once, not even a full year. But that was it.
Melanie S. Oct 14, 2009, 9:27am EDT
What I find even more scary, Faith, is how many people have no idea what Melanoma is or how deadly and dangerous it is. When my husband was diagnosed as Melanoma stage 3A, people we knew everywhere said things like, "Melanoma, what's that? Ohhhhhh it's just skin cancer. You lucked out, at least you didn't get one of the bad cancers."

Most people don't realize that Melanoma is something you can die from.
☆ ƒåitĥ ☆ Oct 14, 2009, 11:00am EDT
Oh WOW, I can't believe that people would actually SAY something like that to you & your husband!

Many people really are clueless when it comes to things like that -- wish there were better ways to get information out there.
☃ Aunt Shanny Oct 14, 2009, 10:37am EDT
I used to be obsessed with tanning too. And because of money, I stopped going to the tanner. It has probably worked out for the best that way!
☆ ƒåitĥ ☆ Oct 14, 2009, 11:02am EDT
That's what I think too, that it worked out for the best.

I really miss having a tan though. When I'm my normal pale self no one ever knows I'm half Sicilian.

:o)
☃ Aunt Shanny Oct 14, 2009, 11:04am EDT
LOL!

Yeah, I miss it too, I must admit.
Carla B. Oct 14, 2009, 11:31am EDT
I used a tanning bed for a couple of months when I worked in a salon that had tanning as well. I don't have a problem with being pale, but it wasn't so great for the image there. ;) I haven't used a tanning bed since then, that was in 2005.
tammy b. Oct 14, 2009, 11:36am EDT
my daughter loves tanning, I can't seem to convince her of how bad it is. I will show her this. Thanks.
Heather ~of the Whippets~ M. Oct 14, 2009, 8:21pm EDT
I'll never understand why people want to do that to themselves. I have no desire to end up looking like burnt shoe leather when I get older. It's bad enough that I got several bad sunburns (when I was a kid) due to other people's stupidity; now, I get to worry that I'll end up with skin cancer due to that early exposure.
Larry H. Oct 14, 2009, 9:10pm EDT
never used a tanning anything. Never put anything on my body that is supposed to help you tan... God's sun is all I need.
**AngelEyez** a. Oct 14, 2009, 10:58pm EDT
I used to be the same as you until about 2 years ago,when I realized what Id do to my skin by time I am 35 ,,I have seen it in some women,and well its not that important anymore lol,and the beds are gross...
Donald M. Oct 15, 2009, 1:06pm EDT
I have always felt like it was putting your body in a microwave. My darling daughter forever is tanning in the tanning bed. Useless talking to your children.

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