heres a sucky part they didnt give me a freaking warning! lol

when i signed up at the tanning place, there was a sheet that i had to fill out. it pretty much explained everything. and there are the warnings on the tanning beds themselves. i get bored when i'm in there, so i read them hah.

they had a cheat of the payments and fines if it didnt draw it out of the bank for some reason i dont have the money IN there, and when i could get rid of the member ship by the 25th of the month or 30 days prior notice

Just be safe girlie. Surreesssleee, u dun wana go barr bee Que'n up ur pretty lil insides, especially not before your wedding!!! :D :D :D

Just out of curiosity, if you know the risks, and know you're increasing your chance of skin cancer (and potentially your chance of dying from a rather nasty death while your children are still young), why do you do it? Why is having a tan more important than your health?

I'm just trying to understand why someone would do that to themselves (and their family)...

And also out of curiosity, do you smoke?

i don't do it anymore, actually. i stopped about a month ago, not that it really matters anyway. i think it's my own personal choice to go tanning, i wanted to be tan for prom last year, and i wanted to get somewhat tan for the summer, since i tan easier in a bed than i do laying outside. and tanning isn't more important than my health, i just like to do it. my family and i will cross that bridge if (god forbid) we ever get to it. just like how people like to smoke, even though they know it's bad for them. it still happens. and NO, i don't smoke.

Most people will tan easier in a bed than laying outside, because the rays are stronger. It simply means that the damage being caused to your skin is greater, and the increase of skin cancer is also greater (than laying outside).

I do agree that it is your choice. I'm just trying to understand because it baffles me why someone would risk their life for a bit of colour. I don't understand why people smoke either for that matter.

By tanning despite knowing the risks, you are effectively saying that the tan is more important than protecting your health. Still, at least by stopping you may be lucky enough to have stopped before doing yourself serious damage. I really hope you never have to cross that bridge.

One of my friends (who has olive skin and doesn't burn particularly easily) used to be a big fan of sunbathing. She never used sunbeds, just sunbathed outside, but she never wore suncream. Then she developed this huge evil looking mole on her back. The dermatologist she saw was convinced it was cancer. I've never seen her so scared. Thankfully for her, when it was removed, it turned out not to be cancer, but she takes greater care now and always wears sun cream. I know that after that she would never go near a sun bed. She realised the hard way how scary it can be to think that you could die for your tan.

yeah, your friend never used sunscreen. that was bad on her part. and i still don't see how just because i go tanning, that automatically means i don't care about my health. i go tanning because i want to look good, is that a crime? i go tanning because its relaxing, and time away from my kids. i PROTECT my health WHILE i am tanning, despite how redundant (is that the right word) that may be. i wear protective eye wear, i don't tan for extended periods of time in one session, and i use a tanning lotion that has sunscreen in it.

You're right, it was bad on her part (and strictly speaking she was using sunscreen, but only factor 8, which provides next to zero protection, so effectively she wasn't using any real protection. Now she uses a minimum of factor 15). However, the rays she was exposing herself to (natural sun rays) were FAR weaker than the ones you expose yourself to when you use a sunbed. So using a sun bed with sunscreen is little to no better than sunbathing outdoors with no sunscreen.

So, while using sunscreen is good (out of interest, what factor is the sunscreen you use when tanning?), and will reduce your risk, you are still putting yourself at risk of cancer by using the sunbeds. A tan is skin damage. The fact that you can still get a tan despite the cream means that your skin is still being damaged by the rays.

It is impossible to completely protect your health while tanning (unless you use a high factor sun cream, which would prevent you getting a tan, and kind of defeat the purpose!).

Wanting to look good isn't a crime (nor is using sun beds a crime for that matter). It's why I straighten my hair and put make up on in the morning. Because I want to look good too. But it's a different thing wanting to look good and wanting to look good so much that you'll risk your life for it. And, putting yourself at risk of cancer (and using cream and goggles does not eliminate that risk) for the sake of getting a tan does show some disregard for your health, and does show that you are prioritising your tan over your health. Like I say, it's good that you're trying to minimise the risk, but it is still dangerous.

I don't know why you care so much what I think though. All I said was I can't personally understand why someone would put their health at risk for the sake of a tan. It's your choice. But I'll never understand it. Particularly with you being a mother. But then I think the same about mothers who smoke. No child should have to lose a parent early because that parent isn't completely responsible with their health. But the reality is that many parents aren't completely responsible with their health. Still your choice though.

like i replied to "Genes", we take risks every single day, and whether or not those consequences catch up to us is not really anyone else's business.

Yes, dealing with the consequences is your business. But that doesn't change the fact that I cannot understand it, and since this is a public forum, I am entitled to express my confusion over why someone would take such risks with their life for the sake of vanity.

that's fine, express your opinions all you want. and clearly i'm allowed to do the same. i just don't like getting called a retard because i go tanning. (i realize you weren't the one who said this, i'm just simply saying) i'm not putting my children's life in danger.

No, you're not putting your childrens life at danger. You're putting your own life in danger and risking leaving your children motherless. For the sake of a tan. I'm afraid I will never understand that.

that's fine.

Did you reply to my question about what factor sun cream you use when tanning? Just out of interest.

i didn't even see it, actually. but i have no idea, the lotion is in my car at the moment.

If you don't even know what factor it is, how can you know it's protecting you? Factor 6 ot 8 sunscreen provides virtually no protection whatsoever from the sun (and certainly not from the stronger rays on a sunbed). You should be using factor 15 as an absolute minimum if you want to provide yourself with any protection. Seeing as you were so adamant that you were taking precautions to reduce your risk, I would have thought you'd at least have checked the factor of the sunscreen.

lol it's in my fucking car. i don't feel like going to get the bottle JUST so i can answer a question that you asked me. sorry i didn't memorize it?

Lol. I don't expect you to get the bottle to answer the question. Keep your hair on. My point was, if you'd really tried to ensure you were using a high enough factor, you'd have looked at the bottle when you bought it and checked, and you'd know it. Most people, when they buy sun protection, ensure that they choose a suitable factor of cream according to their skin tone, where they live etc. I could easily tell you that every bottle of suncream in my house is a factor 30 or 40. You clearly didn't ever bother to look that closely. So much for being responsible.

lol, yeah. okay, so i'm supposed to remember everything that was on the lotion bottle? how is that me NOT being responsible?

Lol. Not everything on the bottle. Just one thing, the one very important thing, the thing which tells you how much protection you're getting from skin cancer, the factor of sunscreen. Given that you're claiming to be being responsible and protecting yourself, you really should be sure that you're using a sufficient level of sunscreen. Clearly you aren't.

are you being serious now? suddenly i am not responsible because i don't know what spf my tanning lotion is? it's ONE number that i've read maybe once or twice in my life. numbers are going in and out of my head every day, and i'm supposed to remember one that i read months ago? wow, you're ridiculous.

But it's one important number. If you'd actually bothered to think about it at the time, you would at least have a rough idea of what it was. It could be anything from 2 (no protection) to 45 (good protection). And a responsible person would know. What is ridiculous is that you're not taking the health risks here seriously enough to ensure your lotion provides you with some reasonable level of protection.

Not to mention numbers are going in and out of my head every day too. And I still know that my sunscreen is either factor 30 or 40 (I keep both). I think most people would be able to tell you quite easily what factor sunscreen they routinely use.

and as for your "me not being responsible" comment, you know absolutely nothing about my life. if you think that me not knowing what spf my tanning lotion is is considered being irresponsible, you have no idea what you're talking about.