Indoor tanning is a sophisticated process - The Tanning Salon understands this.
Therefore, each and every tanning visit is carefully diagnosed by our staff of trained professionals.
Our knowledge and training is part of a complete program that can only be found in a professional salon .
Tanning takes place in the skin’s outermost layer, the epidermis. About five percent of the cells in your epidermis are special cells called melanocytes. When exposed to ultraviolet B light (short wave ultraviolet), melanocytes produce melanin—the pigment that is ultimately responsible for your tan. The pinkish melanin travels up through the epidermis and is absorbed by other skin cells. When exposed to ultraviolet A light (longer wave), the melanin oxidizes or darkens. This darkening is your skin’s way of protecting itself against too much UV light.
Everyone has the same number of melanocytes in their body—about five million. But your heredity dictates how much melanin your body’s melanocytes naturally will produce. For example, the skin of African Americans contains enough melanin to create a black or brown skin color, while the skin of Caucasians has less melanin and is pale.
Tanning occurs gradually through the stimulation and oxidation of melanin in the skin during exposure to ultraviolet rays.
UVB (shorter ultraviolet rays) stimulate melanin production deep in the skin.
When these activated melanin granules travel to the surface, UVA (longer ultraviolet rays) cause the melanin to oxidize and turn brown. Too much UVB is the cause of sunburn. Natural sunlight contains more UVB (burning rays) than tanning beds.
Indoor tanning controls both the UVA/UVB ratio and your exposure time, giving you the perfect balance for developing a deep, dark, healthy looking tan.
Although some people may see a skin tone change after only one or two sessions, most people need 7 to 10 sessions to get fully tanned.
With a good base tan, two or three sessions a week will maintain a radiant, dark tan throughout the year.
In order to most effectively avoid overexposure, a tan should be acquired gradually, according to the guidelines prescribed by our tanning center. A sunburn, or erythema, occurs when too much ultraviolet light reaches the skin and disrupts the tiny blood vessels near the skin’s surface.
Why does a tan fade? Cells in the epidermis’ germinative layer (also called the living epidermis) are constantly reproducing and pushing older cells upward toward the horny layer (dead epidermis), where they are sloughed off in about one month. As your skin replaces its cells, the cells laden with melanin are removed. So the tanning process must continue with the new cells.
The Epidermis. Your skin’s epidermis consists of two layers: the germinative layer (sometimes called the "living" epidermis) and the horny layer (the "dead" epidermis). When exposed to ultraviolet light, melanocytes in the germinative layer produce melanin, which is absorbed by the surrounding cells. This creates a protective barrier from ultraviolet light reaching deeper, more sensitive layers of the skin. This whole tanning process is the body’s own natural defense against sunburn and skin damage.
