Aibu to use sunbeds instead of fake tan?

[Wantachangefor2024]

As a way of focusing on myself, I’m losing weight and making myself a better version of me. Due to getting so large I have bad stretchmarks. Am I unreasonable to use sunbeds as they actually blend the stretch marks more. I find fake tan doesn’t stain the skin the same and makes them stand out more! Really trying to make an effort. Get a colour. Lose weight. Dye my hair. I’m on a mission to regain my confidence through my appearance I’m thinking once I’ve lost the weight in a year to reward myself with veneers and a breast uplift with implants. So yes to fake boobs, tanned and blonde or no stay natural, brunette and pale

Am I imagining it or did you used your be able to buy sunbeds in Argos?

How times change. I would think they'll be banned altogether at some point much like smoking

Yup. About £500, I think. And an extra one just for the face from Philips.

They don't. You're focusing on the brown, not the silver/white. It's really noticeable in a way that they don't show on white skin.

I don’t think anybody here really cares- do what makes you happy

I used one once in my teens. Gave me patchy pigmentation that didn't go away for about fifteen years.

No a few minutes here and there won't harm you, it will lift your mood too

Surely the parts of you with stretch marks will only be visible if you’re in swimwear day to day? Mine are stomach/thighs the majority is covered by clothes all of that can still be self tanned? You can still look tanned and healthy and glowy? I’m pale and I don’t mind being pale, I am crap at self tanning and at 45 I’m not super bothered about being tanned, I live in Scotland so am v fair. But try to be happy about your weight loss and confident about who you are not what you look like, that will shine through, then do the hair and boobs if you want but I wouldn’t put my skin/life at risk for tanning/premature aging using a sun bed.

Also what about those chemical on the skin? Who knows what that's doing to your skin

I wouldn't do it. I'm about to book a doctor's appt for a suspicious change in my skin and, even though it may be fine, I'm kicking myself that I used them when I was younger and for prioritising vanity over my health. There are so many great fake tans, why risk it.

My mother died of melanoma. It was a particularly unpleasant death.

Is this for real? Rewarding yourself fake teeth and fake boobs and dying your hair. Not for me, but then you would probably think I'm ugly and plain. I've come to realise my external appearance isn't as important as how I feel about myself.

I personally think the scars from melanoma removal look far worse than stretch marks but you do you. If fake tits, fake teeth, fake tan and fake hair is what will make you feel confident in your skin why not. Just be careful, and think of sunbeds as what they actually are - a tube you lie in to receive doses of radiation to your skin. Use sparingly.

Of course it does harm - from earlier in the thread

Even one sunbed session can increase your risk of developing squamous cell skin cancer by 67% and basal cell skin cancer by 29%. Even more importantly is the increased risk of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. If you have ever used a sunbed your risk of melanoma increases by 20%

Many things do, and only you can way up if the increased risk of skin cancer is something you’re prepared to do to look good. Many women ignore those risks daily, some come to regret it hugely, and for many there’s never any come back. For me even though a tan looks great I couldn’t tell my kids I had skin cancer and they’d seen me using sunbeds and wondering why I thought it was worth risking.

You probably won’t find what you’re looking for in a fake tan in all honesty, so it’s something you’re going to need to weigh up, it’s your life and your risk to take. Good luck

Do whatever you want - it all sounds great!

But please don't use sunbeds.

Well fake looks fake an anyone but if you want too it is your choice

I personally think it looks awful and cheap but so do lots of things

I am a bit self conscious about my tiger striped belly. So I have accepted that fabulous one piece swimsuits are best for me. I look amazing, and no one except dp sees my tummy, and he loves it.

Sorry OP but it is incredibly disingenuous to say SPF has ‘many cancer causing chemicals’ as if it’s also a risk to use. The air we breathe has ‘cancer causing chemicals’ in it technically. Sunscreen has time and time again been shown to be incredibly safe and protective against skin cancer.

Don’t get your medical advice from TikTok.

I was walking through a town centre a few weeks and saw a sun bed tanning salon and was surprised that they are still legal, being used and can actually manage to stay in business.

news.sky.com/story/amp/package-holiday-boom-of-1960s-fuels-record-high-in-skin-cancer-cases-12916496

Never been on tiktok in my life. But as someone who has researched becoming vegan and the toxicity in our environment I wasn’t being goady but genuinely interested as to how many unsafe products we do use and without the research who is to say one is worse than the other. My vitamin D levels were 13 and I was put on high strength vitamin d as I’ve not gone in the sun. How badly has that damaged me?

And wrinkles!

Not worth it. At all.

I don't think it's worth the risk of skin cancer. Spray tans are good or those body lotions that build up a tan gradually.

So the skin cancer thing aside ( which should put everyone off tbh) Those i knew back in the late 90s who loved a sunbed truly look so old now… it really ages your skin. Even with botox and fillers they don’t look great…. Not just the face either!

You will regret it in later life…

What is the point of this thread OP? You've been given good advice, and you keep coming up with posts which show you have no intention of taking any of that advice, so why did you bother asking?

Use a sunbed if you want to, it's your skin and your health. You know the risks and if you are silly enough to be prepared to take them for vanity reasons nothing anyone can say will change your mind.