Why is it that people look so good and healthy with a little colour, yet tanning can be so harmful to your skin? Recent studies and the news report that there are more cases than ever of melanoma and we all know that extensive exposure to the sun will cause your skin to age more quickly.

There are solutions to the problem of harmful UV sunlight that allow you to have all of the aesthetic benefits of a rich tan without the harmful side effects. The answer is in the types of tanning products you use to care for your skin while in the sun and after.

Pre-Tanning Preparation

It is always good to keep your skin moisturized. Cold weather and dry air can dry it out as well as salt water and chlorine. Always protect your skin with moisturizers day and night. They are most effective if applied immediately following a shower because the skin is moist and freshly exfoliated from washing.

Before going out in the sun, even in the winter, it is important to protect skin with a moisturizer that has a SPF protection factor of 15 or more. This rating is how many times more protected skin is than if it had nothing on it. It is so important to protect the face because it is more susceptible to sunburn.

Tanning Beds

Tanning beds are only slightly less harmful to the skin that the actual sun. However, there are tanning bed lotions meant especially for tanning beds that give a deeper tone to the skin and protect it at the same time. Artificial tanning bed light bulbs are extremely strong, and that is why you can tan in just a few minutes per session. This also prepares the skin to deepen in colour each time you go to the beach.

Many salons have tanning booths where you stand or beds where you lie down and get all areas of the body tan at once. This is a good place to go if you are planning to go on vacation to a warm weather climate in the middle of winter. You can enjoy all of your holiday without having to worry about sunburn, because you can condition your skin to the sun before you leave home.

Lotions & Creams and other Tanning Products

It can be confusing knowing what type of lotion to use to best protect your skin and still give you great colour. There are spray on lotions, facial tanner products, a lotions with all kinds of number on them! Much of what you should use depends on your skin type.

If you are fair skinned then you need to choose a tanning product that protects the most. An SPF rating of at least 15, but 30 would be better. Those with darker, olive skin tones can use a lotion with an SPF of 8 and be adequately protected, provided they reapply the lotion frequently if there are going to be in the sun for long periods of time. There are also sunless tanning products that offer no protection from UV rays, but will change the skin colour without the sun.