If you are new into skin tanning, you should brace yourself and learn the basics of the activity. As always, it is not advisable that you abruptly get into the process without first taking ample and appropriate preparations. You know that everything in excess can be bad for the health. So is tanning. If you over tan or burn your skin, there are several risks that you may be facing, some would damage the skin, while others would expose you to greater and more severe total health conditions.



Getting started

Before getting into any skin tanning activity, it would be imperative that you first assess and evaluate your overall skin condition. It would be advisable if you would accurately determine your skin type so that recommended and prescribed method of tanning would be attained and provided. Knowing the skin type also serves as a passport to using different skin tanning products like lotions, bleaches, creams and others. Remember, a skin tanning procedure and product that has been proven to be effective in a person might not be working on your skin because your skin might be of different type. Always, there would be a more appropriate skin tanning procedure and product for your particular skin type.

Before going to a tanning session, decide first whether you like to get a natural skin tanning procedure or an artificial one. In the natural process, you are about to go outdoors for several hours and expose your skin to natural sunlight. In the artificial, you could choose to get tanning at a tanning bed or a tanning booth, which would take just about 20 minutes normally at the maximum.

Natural or outdoor tanning

If you have decided to tan your skin the natural way, be prepared to expose yourself to outdoor sunlight. Before anything else, get a tan in the morning, before 10 am, and in the afternoon, after 3 pm. Remember, the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays are at its worst and most destructive during 10 am to 3 pm when the sun is closer to your location. During these hours, tanning would surely be faster, but there would be risks of skin burning, which could also lead to possible onset of skin cancer.

Wear lotion and moisturizers before, during and even after the tanning session. Doing so would help the skin absorb tanning completely. Moisturizers are essential because they help prevent skin from excessive drying, which could become destructive and adherent in the long run.

Indoor tanning

There are several forms of indoor tanning. The most popular are the use of tanning beds and of tanning booths, which both offer artificial exposure of the skin to ultraviolet radiation. Tanning beds and tanning booths are the same, only that in the first, you would be asked to lay down, while in the latter, you would be standing up like what you do in an ordinary room. It is also advisable that you still use lotions when undergoing indoor tanning. Moisturizers are also welcome prior to and after the tanning session.

If you want to continue having successive indoor tanning sessions, it would be better if you would eventually evaluate the progress of your skin and its response to tanning stimuli at least after six tanning secessions. If you have already achieved your base tan by the time, perhaps, you could decide to go slow within a month or use lower levels of ultraviolet exposure. Regularly consult your dermatologist or a skin expert so you could consistently monitor the progress your skin is doing. If you want and need to get a tan, there should be no factors to stall your plans.