Below you will find answers to the Frequently Asked Questions that were received by the European Sunlight Association.

Question: We hear such a lot about the negative effects, but does tanning have any possitive effects? I really would like to know this. Thank you.

Question: What is the 'Feelgood' factor?

Question: How long does it take to get a 'safe' tan?

Question: How many times a week can I go tanning without it being harmful?

Question: What is 'moderate' tanning?

Question: What is a sunbed 'session'?

Question: Why am I allowed to tan for 20 minutes in one salon but only for 8 minutes in my nearest one just down the road? It makes me furious!

Question: My son is 15 and he always burns when we go on holiday abroad. I would like him to get the protection of a pre-holiday tan before we go but my local salon won’t allow anyone under 18 to use their equipment. Can you help?

Question: Is there any difference between indoor tanning and outdoor tanning?

Question: Is it possible to get sunburn outside when it is cold and windy?

Question: Is it possible to get sunburn on a cloudy day?

Question: My sister went to Malaysia and stayed in the shade all day - and still got sunburn - how is this possible?

Question: Why is the sun stronger at mid-day than it is in the afternoon, and stronger in the Sahara than in Sheffield?

Question: My girlfriend went ski-ing in Switzerland in December for just one blue-sky day and got severe sunburn. Her face went red, swelled up, blistered and she had to have cortisone injections. Have you heard of this before?

Answer: The only positive effect of tanning that has been established so far, and agreed upon by scientists, is the cosmetic benefit. A tanned skin looks better, and looks healthier, than an untanned skin. What has not yet been established, but what is generally suspected, is that when you look good you also feel good, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for this. Thus it is pretty well accepted that there may be psychological benefits of tanning, but they have not been measured yet. These benefits may turn out to be considerable, as feeling good becomes more and more accepted as being necessary for good physical health, and this concept of wellness is more widely relied upon by medical professionals.

There are positive side effects of tanning, of course, such as Vitamin D production, which is very important for health, but these benefits can be obtained at far lower doses of UV light than are required to get a tan – perhaps one-fiftieth of a tanning session will be enough. There can also be beneficial side effects of the waste heat (Infrared radiation) produced by sunbeds, which may have an effect on joint mobility and certain forms of arthritis. Beyond this, there are extensive medical benefits of UV light, but these can only be claimed by qualified medical practitioners.

UV light is used by dermatologists, for instance, in the treatment of psoriasis, eczema and certain forms of acne.

Answer: This is based on the observations and testimonies of thousands of people who use sunbeds each day. When they look good, they feel good. We all know how unsightly pale white skin can look by the end of winter. Equally, most of us know how attractive such people can look and how much better they feel once they’ve acquired a golden tan.

A tan gives you social confidence. Many people also claim they have more energy after going on a sunbed. Others say that sunbeds have saved their lives – and how sporting a tan has made them the talk of the office or workplace, attracting a sudden wave of interest from the opposite sex. Such anecdotal evidence abounds – call into any tanning salon and they will fire off a list of such incidents. It is also a fact that many celebrities use tanning salons and many of the top scientists who oppose tanning can often be seen at scientific conferences sporting a deep, dark tan.

A tan makes you feel good about yourself, which is a considerable benefit these days. When you think of all the ways your confidence and self esteem can be knocked out of shape on an average day, it is comforting to know that getting a tan can help put some of that confidence back. On top of all this, there is the sheer sensual pleasure of lying on a sunbed, or on the beach, soaking up the rays.

Whether you go down the ‘Disco tanning’ route, and add dance music to your sunbed session, or down the ‘Sensual tanning’ route, and ask for soothing music or relaxation tapes, aromatherapy fragrances, fresh towels and a luxury skin care lotion – your tanning experience can be designed around you, and your needs, to give the perfect ‘feel-good’ pampering highlight of your day.

Answer: Whilst moderate use of tanning equipment has not been proved to be a risk factor for anything, it can never be claimed that tanning is completely safe. The same goes for sunbathing, although the risk of overdose here is considerably greater because the output from the sun cannot be controlled. It takes about 8 to 10 sessions over 4 weeks to develop a proper tan … sensibly. Nothing is gained by rushing this process. Trying to rush a tan serves nothing; it only increases the risk of premature skin aging. Enjoy tanning, but respect your skin.

Answer: People in high risk categories should not tan at all (eg. skin type 1, children under 18, people with a lot of moles or freckles, or with a history of sunburn as a child, or on medication, etc. – your local tanning salon can advise, especially if it is a member of a trade organisation). Unless you are in a high risk category, the likelihood is that moderate tanning will not be harmful (see next FAQ).

Answer: Moderate tanning is two or three sessions per week, with at least 24 hours rest for the skin between sessions (at least 48 hours rest for skin type 2). Enjoy tanning, but don’t overdo it.

Answer: A sunbed ‘session’ is the correct length of time for your skin type to be exposed under a specific sunbed on a specific date. This is to get a tan with the minimum UV dose. Thus, it is impossible for any two tanning sessions to ever be exactly the same. Four factors must be taken into account:

1. Skin type. The correct length of time will need to be adjusted by a professional tanning salon to suit your skin type (ie. considerably shorter for a lighter skin-type and untanned skin, otherwise sun burn may result, which is dangerous).

2. Tan condition. Your skin type never changes,but your tan condition does change. Tan condition includes many factors, but mainly: protection; look or colour; and moisture content or feel. How long is it since you last tanned? If it is 6 or 7 weeks since your last tanning session, in the sun or on a sunbed, you will need to start again from the beginning.

Even if you still have some colour, your tan’s protection factor has fallen back almost to zero. After 6 weeks from your last session, you should start up again with a half session, whether on a sunbed or on the beach. The longer it is since you last tanned, the more half sessions you should have before going onto a full session.

3. Sunbed. Sunbeds differ markedly in the power and composition of their UV output, so no two sunbeds tan the same. A session on one may be very different from a session on another. Correct manufacturers’ recommended session times, for instance, vary from 2 minutes to 40 minutes, depending on what type of equipment you are using and for what purpose.

Equipment falls into five basic categories, depending on what type of lamps they are designed to use. Only a professional salon will be able to advise on the correct use of different sunbeds for different purposes. If you know what you want from a tan, they will advise which sunbed to use at each stage.

4. Date. The date affects indoor tanning because sunbeds are fitted with lamps that drop in out put significantly over their lifetime. Some lamps do not tan well after 500 hours. Some salons do no replace their lamps until after 700 hours. A good sunbed will not give a good tan if the lamps are old and tired.

During their first 50 hours lamps are very aggressive and the risk of sunburn is very high. The length of the session should be lowered for new lamps and increased for old, depending on their age and drop in output. Outdoor tanning is also affected by the date, but for reasons of season and angle of the sun.

Answer: The answer to the question ‘What is a sunbed ‘session’?’ will explain how very different sunbeds can be, and the huge differences between the UV lamps themselves.

Manufacturers specify correct session times for all their equipment for each skin type, ranging from 2 minutes on one, to 40 minutes on another. Please do not be angry with your local tanning salon, they are only trying to stop you from burning.

Answer: This is always a difficult one because parents want what is best for their children, naturally. In this case, however, it is simply not permissible for a child under the age of 18 to use a sunbed because the health risks are so much greater in children. If your son wears a hat and a T shirt as much as possible outdoors, and stays in partial shade between 11am and 3pm, and wears a high factor sunscreen (SPF 15) the rest of the time (re-applied every 2 hours; more often if he is swimming) then he should be well protected. Learning this will serve him well in the future, maybe with his own children too.

Answer: Basically, no. Sunbeds offer a controllable UV dose, generally in a shorter time than lying in the sun, that’s all. Between the hours of 11am and 3pm in summer, it is easy to get too much sun, meaning that you then have to spend the rest of the day indoors, or risk sun-stroke. Due to the different ratios of UVB: UVA in different UV lamps, however, a tan can be customised to suit the individual’s needs, at any convenient time of day. This should be done under careful guidance from a professional tanning salon, or member of The Sunbed Association, as there are many factors to consider.

Answer: Yes. You can feel Infrared radiation on your skin, as heat, and you can see whether visible sunlight is very bright or not, but you cannot see, and cannot normally feel UV light. UV light is always present in bright conditions even when it is cold and windy – you just can’t feel or see it.

Answer: Clouds do stop some UV light, but not all. Some always gets through. If the cloud cover is broken at any time, more will get through, obviously. This all adds up during the hours of daylight, and in some countries could lead to sunburn, even though you think it has been cloudy all day. If it really is dull and overcast all day, you are fairly well protected, but if the cloud thins at times, you could be at risk.

Answer: UV light reflects like ordinary light. Even in the shade you could be at risk from reflected UV light. White concrete, glass windows, white sand, water and snow are the worst culprits, but many light or polished surfaces will also reflect UV light. If your sister was near high glass buildings, white concrete, sand, or the water’s edge, and she spent several hours receiving reflected UV light, she could easily get sunburned.

Shade helps, of course, since without it, reflected UV light simply adds to direct sunlight, to double the intensity. Even so, in many situations one needs the protection of clothing plus a sunscreen, even in the shade. Strictly speaking, if you are outdoors, only when it is dark is there no UV light present at all.

Answer: Everything depends on the angle of the sun in the sky. Nearer the equator, the sun spends more of its time directly overhead. When the sun is overhead it has less distance to travel through the earth’s atmosphere and so more of its power gets through. The sun’s rays lose power the more atmosphere they have to travel through. So, early in the morning, and later in the evening, when the angle of the sun is low in the sky, and the sun’s rays have to travel all the way across from the horizon, they have the greatest distance to cover to get through the atmosphere, and so are at their weakest. In addition, we should mention that not only atmosphere, but also things like cloud cover and pollution can absorb UV light.

Answer: Yes, this is not uncommon. At high altitude the air is very clean and thin so there is not as much filtering of UV light as there is at sea level. On a clear day at noon the sun in the mountains can be ferocious, even in Winter. As if this were not enough, the reflectivity of snow can be higher than 80%, thus almost doubling the effect. Many people go out in such conditions each year without adequate sun protection simply because they did not know. Remember when ski-ing to apply sunscreen to the underside of the nose, eyebrows, and chin as well as the usual surfaces which receive light from above.