To wonder why sunbeds are fashionable again??

[LocoCocoa]

I remember them being popular in the early 00’s used them a few times myself as a young teen but then we all realised they were awful, most salons closed. Now people are using them again and it’s all over social media, mostly with young adults, except now they squirt tanning drops up their noses and put drop under their tongue before they go on, I don’t even know what’s in those things, darker the better seems to be the aim 😐

@jannier- I have read the NHS advice. I've also read the poster in the tanning salons which clearly state the risks, which they are now required to put up!

But I have decided to use them at times anyway, like I said they don't ban them because adults should have freedom of choice

I had a little spell when I was 18/19 when I used sunbeds - what an idiot I was and I hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the future. I don't even try for a tan now - cover up, wear a hat, sit in the shade and factor 50, even in the UK. A bit like a reformed smoker I suppose (I am one of those too).

Are you SURE you understand statistics?

First Google result:

More than 419,000 cases of skin cancer in the U.S. each year are linked to indoor tanning. More people develop skin cancer because of indoor tanning than develop lung cancer because of smoking.

I used sun beds in my late teens/early twenties. I now live in fear of the damage I have done to myself and the potential for skin cancer. I apply factor 50 religiously. That said, I feel and look so much better when I have a tan. I can see why it’s so addictive. For me these days, it’s just a fake tan but the tan from a sun bed is much quicker, easier and lasts longer.

@ThatFraggle - yea I understand. Like I said, freedom of choice. I was diagnosed last week by a rheumatologist with a really debilitating, quite rare condition! Did I do anything to get that? Did I take foolish risks? Nope, that's just how it is, shit happens as they say.

Why not embrace your natural colour?

Do people still need to prove they have had a good holiday by the colour of their skin?

Intentionally exposing yourself to DNA-altering rays just to look what you think is attractive, is madness. And you will also be more wrinkly twenty years from now if you survive.

A relative died of malignant melanoma due to sun exposure. Diagnosis to death was six weeks. It had spread throughout his bowel and liver. Not a nice way to die at all.

Stop the denial. For you and your loved ones.

This.

I wish the UK would ban them.

I've just booked some, having last used them in 2003. I've really tried with fake tan, but it ends up looking claggy & yellow. I can't be arsed to put enough effort into exfoliating, preparing and maintaining the single layer of dyed skin cells.

I'm really not vain any more, which is why I've had zero tan for the last several years, but am trying to start looking a bit nicer for no particular reason. Sunbeds always used to lift my depression, and am hoping for a bit of that too!

I'm gonna die soon anyway

Obviously all cancers are unpleasant in different ways. But sunbeds can increase the risk of eye melanoma. The idea of treatment/surgery in your eye and needing eye removal makes me particularly squeamish.

I was stopped and told off by a little old lady in Oz years ago. I had foolishly assumed that my several months in SE Asia meant I knew what I was doing. Nope, the Australian sun is something else. I had a little bit of red on my forehead and this woman absolutely destroyed me.

She was right of course.

@Derailing - I don't like my natural colour!

I cover my face with my T shirt to prevent wrinkles.

Very sorry about your relative.

I'm not in denial at all. My relatives would not be what you call overly scrupulous about avoiding the sun either etc, a lot of my relatives sat in the sun with olive oil on before sun screen was invented, and they are all still here, in their 80's and enjoying life....

My friend used to use sunbeds. Get a base tan before holidays, it's nice to have a healthy glow and all that.

She ended up with skin cancer, which then invaded her lymph nodes and spread throughout her body. It was awful seeing her go from bubbly hard working career Mum who liked running as a hobby, to being in a wheelchair and struggling to manage the basic of tasks.

She died and two children are growing up without their mother.

Before she died, I promised never to go on sunbeds and to take care in the sun as she didn't want any of us to go through what she went through.

@GarlicGrace - I agree about the tanning regime. It is exhausting! I actually lifted a bit of skin of my leg from exfoliating so hard to try and remove the tan before applying a fresh Coat! 🙈 like an actual patch of raw skin on my leg....I don't know how people do that 'routine' every week. And I agree I don't like tje yellow/orange patches and messy hands

@Derailing / i would never use a tanning bed without protective eyewear, ever!

Well I just hope you don’t have any kids or loved ones who would miss you if you died of a condition you might have avoided. And that the NHS is functioning for you.

I see sunbeds are normalised for you in your community which is why you think it’s ok.

If you are not in denial then you are coming across as a bit stupid. Of course not everyone will get skin cancer. Not even all smokers get lung cancer. But why risk increasing your chance of getting cancer to look wrinkled old ‘good’?

Anyway enjoy your tan.

I used sunbeds in my late teens/ early twenties. I actually hired one to the house. I wish my parents had objected. I have a skin cancer growth that I'm waiting to be removed.

I live in Essex. Tanning salons left right and centre.

People are more interested in looking brown now and don't give a shit obviously that they will look like a bit of beef jerky when older and also probably get skin cancer. They can't say they didn't know as everyone knows going in the sun or on sunbeds increases your chances of skin cancer significantly. Thick, vain idiots.

So, because you had a car accident, you won't wash your hands anymore?

That doesn't make sense in the same way what you said doesn't make sense.

Event 1. Rare condition. Cause out of your control. Shit happens.
Event 2. On purpose, touch a hot iron. Hand gets burnt.
Event 3. Do something that causes half a million new cases of skin cancer a year. Get skin cancer.

Event 1 is not in the same category as events 2 and 3. They are not 'shit happens' they are 'make a stupid choice, because it's not illegal'.

Why do you keep coming out with all this bollocks?! There will always be outliers, but it is an undeniable fact that sunbeds are a major cause of skin cancer, just like smoking is a major cause of lung cancer. Someone's granny living to 103 in perfect health while smoking 40 a day doesn't alter that fact.

My (hypothetical) cousin not getting skin cancer after using a sunbed twice a week for forty years doesn't mean anything either.

@Derailing - please don't call me stupid. It's rude....and I'll informed. I have a decent job in an investment bank, so I'm certainly not stupid.

Not really sure what you mean by 'my community' either....the salons are widespread over the whole of the UK.

I won't be having children as I don't want to pass on the rheumatic disease I have. Would I use sunbeds if I had kids? Nope, I wouldn't, because I would put my love for them first.

But that's not the situation I'm in. I'm not hurting anyone else by my decisions.

Freedom of choice!

So you acknowledge that you are increasing your risk of a painful death.

Many academically clever people make foolish decisions. It's not protection from a lack of common sense.

I love being tanned.

But I've been too close to someone who has died of a Melanoma.

And yes indeed @WitheringTights000 shit does happen.

But I don't think anyone who had been close to that would even think about using a sun bed.

Had this exact conversation in work yesterday. Its like because so many people stopped using them the warnings/horror stories about them weren't around circulating as much and now the younger generation don't realise how bad they are. My 18 year old and all her friends are on them every day and I've tried telling her till I'm blue in the face and even my husbands (44yo) cousin having multiple melanomas cut out still from them, doesn't put her off. She also uses the melanotan stuff up the nose.

Why do people get so agitated about others' choices?

A handful of times a year I have a short session on a sunbed. I exercise practically everyday, I'm a healthy weight, I eat a clean diet, almost free of refined sugar and processed foods, rarely drink, have never smoked. Can everyone so upset about sunbed use claim they do everything possible to protect their health?