How Often & For How Long Can You Use Sunbeds? If You Overdo It You Will Suffer The Consequences

As they have grown in popularity, people have become more than aware of the potential risks that come with using a sunbed. Though there are risks when using sunbeds, if you know how to appropriately use the sunbeds then you’ll be able to lessen the risks, but not totally eliminate them.

One of the main elements that people who use sunbeds are not completely aware of is how often a bed should be used. This is one of the most important bits of knowledge and will not only protect the health of your skin, but will ensure that your tan continues to look good.

As a general rule, you should always wait at least 48 hours between tanning sessions, but more space inbetween is safer, no matter how experienced you are when it comes to tanning. This will give your skin time to develop any tan that you may have picked.

Waiting will give you a good idea of whether or not your tan timing is giving you the results that you want. Not only this, but tanning too often will dry out your skin and leave you with unappealing results as it overuse can cause blotches.

If you are someone that has little to no experience with sunbeds should only really be using the beds once a week. This may not give you the immediate results that you are looking for, but it will allow you to be able to build up a gradual tan and lead to more natural results.

It is important to remember that using sunbeds means that you are exposing yourself to some very concentrated UV rays, if you are someone who doesn’t have any build-up of melanin in your skin then you won’t be as protected as someone who already has that build up.

Again, not only will initially limiting yourself to one session a week protect your skin, but it will make your results look a lot more natural.

If you are someone who has experience with using sunbeds or just has naturally darker skin, then you will be able to get away with using the beds more than once a week.

Again, it’s not recommended that you use a sunbed more than twice a week. This is just because you really don’t need to use it more than that and you won’t really be giving your tan a chance to develop.

Overusing will just make your tan appear unnatural and even lead to skin damage. Sunbeds can be really bad for your skin so there really is no point using them when you already have a nice tan.

Overusing the sunbeds can also lead to acne break out as the sunbeds can really dry out your skin, when it does this your skin overcompensates and overproduces oils that can clog your pores.

So if you do plan on regularly using the beds, make sure that you do all the appropriate aftercare.

So Now You Know How Often You Can Use A Sunbed Each Week, But For How Long?

Now that you have an idea of how many times you should use a sunbed per week, you may be confused as to how long you should use the beds. How long you use the sunbed is again determined by your level of tanning experience and skin type.

No matter what level of experience you have, you should never spend more than twelve minutes in a sunbed (although less minutes is safer) due to the adverse effects that prolonged exposure can have on your skin.

This is especially the case if you are someone with fair hair and skin. If you fall under this category then you should really be doing the bare minimum in terms of tanning starting with around three minutes for your first session.

This will allow you to build a base tan that will protect your skin and allow you to slowly increase your time in the beds.

Someone that is naturally fair is also far more susceptible to burning, because of this you really shouldn’t do more than five minutes in the bed because you may cause damage to your skin.

People with very fair tan also take a longer time to tan, so there is no point pushing it and attempting to get a dark tan fast. Instead, you should do weekly tans and gradually build up how long you spend in the bed by about a minute a time, then you will notice that your tan will begin to naturally arise.

If you are somewhere in between and have darker features but still have light skin, then you will be less likely to burn. This means you can push it a bit further than someone with really light features and spend up to around seven minutes in the bed at one time.

However, you shouldn’t start at that time immediately. For someone who is in between, it can really go either way in terms of your skin burning, so you should test the waters by starting out at a 4-minute session for your first time on the bed.

You can then increase that if you have a good experience, but again you shouldn’t just jump to seven minutes, you should instead start to build up your base tan. Once you have a base tan then you will tan easier too, so by not rushing the process, you’re really doing yourself a favour.

If you are someone with naturally dark skin then you will not need to be as cautious when it comes to using the sunbeds. Due to the natural amount of melanin in the skin of a dark person, they have a natural layer of protection.

This means that someone who has darker skin will be able to spend a longer amount of time under the rays without worrying about any burns. But, because of their already dark skin, they won’t actually need to spend too much time in the sunbed as dark skin is far more susceptible to darkening and will just catch the light better.

This means that someone with dark skin should only need to use the sunbeds once a week to get great results.

But, only you know how your skin reacts to being exposed to UV rays so you should cater your time in the sunbed to its usual reaction. Just take into account that sunbeds are far more concentrated than just being out in the sun, so your experiences will be different.

Please take note that it’s better to underdo it than overdo it. If you overdo you will end up burning your skin, you will age your skin faster, and you may also develop much more serious problems further down the line.

You can continue reading about sunbeds by following this link.

Disclaimer: It is best to not use sunbeds at all as they are proven to cause damage to your skin and health.