When I recently told an acquaintance that I had started to use the sun beds at a local tanning 
center my ‘confession' was received with the kind of look normally reserved for confessions of some bizarre fetish!
Granted, the recipient was one of the ‘new age environmentalist' brigade who had shunned her cell phone fearing brain tumors, thrown out her micro wave oven and had long since lost the ability to trigger the ‘on' switch on her TV set...but come on....this was hardly a shocking statement!
However, the subject matter was ‘sun beds' and it has to be said that they have become more than a little controversial in the past few years. So, with this in mind (and considering the fact that I was now using them frequently) I decided to adopt my ‘detective' persona and try and get to the bottom of this controversy.
The target of my questions was Alex Moffat who owns two upscale tanning salons named ‘Solar Salon' in New York City. First of all I wanted to know what the difference was between the tanning beds that I used to lie under for 30mins in the 80's and the ones I was using now which only needed 6-7mins of exposure per session.....
"The beds that they used to have back then had lamps that were less powerful. They gave you a lot of UVB range and they would have a tendency to burn you rather than tan you. They would also give you a striped look as the lamps were spaced too far apart and so many areas of your body got too much exposure and got burned whilst the other areas got too little exposure and were left white.
The new beds have a much better UVA and UVB range, the lamps are more powerful and the overall design of the beds is far superior."
I also notice that we have the choice of booths or beds. Now I tend to suffer from claustrophobia
and get a panic attack at the thought of being ‘trapped' under the canopy of a bed(I have many ‘crazy' fears...lol!). However, despite the fact that they are less restful - since you have to stand up - I feel much safer in the booth.
In terms of effectiveness though, is there any difference?
"Well in order to get the best results we normally suggest switching back and forth between lie down and stand up. It's like when you are working out....you don't want to always be repeating the exact same workout day in and day out. It's all about switching it up between the two technologies when it comes to tanning.
"The bed has the facial technology so that is going to give you a little less UVB but it is going to give you a higher percentage of UVA. If you have an existing tan the bed will tan your face better...you will get a darker color on your face. On the other hand, if you are just building color I would suggest the stand up booth is the best to start with. However, you are going to want to go to the bed every once and a while to get better color on your face.
The other thing is that on the bed you don't stimulate the melanin production as much with the UVB rays. This means that you are not going to get as dark a color as you would if you switch between the two. The stand up also tends to give you a more balanced exposure since you are standing in the middle of all the tubes and you have the handles above you so that you can lift your arms above your head and tan under your armpits."
Getting to the controversy surrounding tanning beds....the media are quick to point out that using artificial tanning methods increases the risk of skin cancer. However, we also associate having a sun tan with being healthy....your thoughts?
"Well there is a reason why we think people look healthier with a tan...and that's because they are! There is a lot of research out there that associates moderate sun exposure with a reduction in certain cancers like colon cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. The trouble is it never gets published because the press have adopted a one sided approach to it...that being the supposition that too much tanning is bad for you. I mean for many years they were saying that ANY tanning was bad for you. However, if you look on line now the holistic community is talking about moderate exposure being good for you. So it is not ALL exposure that is bad for you, it is OVER exposure.
So, when it comes to using sun beds, what would you consider to be ideal in terms of exposure?
"Bringing the workout analogy back into play....if you train your biceps every day your biceps are not going to grow...in fact they will probably shrink. When it comes to tanning, if you tan every day you are not going to get as dark as you would if you take a day off in between. So we recommend people take at least a day off in between sessions."
On a business level, do you think that the tanning business has suffered due to the media attacks?
"Oh yes, there are several salons that have gone out of business and there has certainly been a lot of consolidation within our industry. However, the media are slowly coming around to a different way of thinking regarding tanning. I think it was probably about three or four years ago that the Australian government saw that there was a sharp rise in vitamin D deficiency in their female population and a subsequent rise in osteoporosis which was linked to women being told to stay out of the sun as much as possible. So they did a complete turn around and said that you should go out in the sun every day for a little bit because without that you are going to experience detrimental health effects. They changed their whole attitude towards sun exposure; however the United States is still behind on that..."
What about the fears that many women have that using tanning beds will accelerate the aging process in terms of their skin.....
"There is a big difference between ‘leather lady' who is hanging out at the beach five days a week with a reflector under her, applying baby oil, and a woman that comes to a tanning salon twice a week and tans under a safe and controlled environment. Our computer system is designed to calculate safe and effective tanning times in order to receive maximum benefits without subjecting the user to any risks. In addition we supply all the latest lotions and creams to offer maximum protection when tanning and also continue to enhance the tanning process following each session."
Well I have to say that after speaking to Alex I was left with no lingering doubts as to the safety of using sun beds. In fact, in a lot of respects it was a lot safer to rely on a sun bed for your tan than to lie out in the sun all day with no control over the amount of rays you were subjecting yourself to.
I have to also comment on the whole atmosphere of Alex's ‘Solar Salon' establishment. It is completely laid back and relaxed and infused with enough state of the art technology to make you 
feel like you had just stepped onto the set of a science fiction movie. The whole tanning process is carefully monitored using the latest computer technology and, for people such as myself who haven't approached a tanning bed since the 80's, the staff were very good at explaining things to me and answering my never ending questions.
I doubt if I will ever lose my panic response to being ‘trapped' under the canopy of the bed...but the tanning booth I can definitely handle since I can see the door handles in case of emergency!
So, all in all, my return to the artificial tanning process has been re-assuring and, like all things, moderation is the key. Done right, in a controlled environment, I can only see benefits when it comes to acquiring a sun tan....oh and from a purely narcissistic point of view...a tan does make you look more ripped!
You can find out more about Solar Salon and its NYC locations by visiting http://www.solarsalon.com or calling 888 282 6669.
