Indoor Tanning Bed Lotions – Why Indoor Tanning Lotions Work

Estimated Time to Read: 3 minutes

It’s the middle of summer, and it’s been raining for days and days. You want nothing more than to go to the beach and bask in the sun for a few glorious hours while the weather is still warm, but the sun is nowhere to be found. You like nothing more than a nice, brownish tan, but alas, nature has other plans. So you figure, no problem: I’ll just go to the tanning salon that’s two blocks away and get nice and toasted up. You drive there, eager to keep that bronze hue it’s taken all the summer so far to work up to. Then you make a mistake. Thinking, “well, I’m not in the sun”, you neglect to use indoor tanning bed lotion, having heard that suntan lotion can potentially damage a tanning bed. You climb into the tanning bed, close it up, lay for some time, and…you get a burn, plus a nasty case of dried skin.

Where did you go wrong? After all, you have heard that the SPF in suntan lotion can damage the acrylic hood of tanning beds when they expand and contract, so you act prudently and don’t bother applying any. But you overlooked something: no matter what the source of your tan, be it the sun or a tanning bed, it is important to protect your skin for several reasons. This is why you should always consider using indoor tanning bed lotions anytime you go to the tanning salon. Lotions are crucial to keeping skin moisturized and to preserving a deeper, darker tan for longer.

Why Indoor Tanning Bed Lotions Work

Like the sun, tanning beds emit UVA and UVB rays. However, tanning beds generally give you a faster tan than the same time spent under the sun. Tanning beds give off amplified UV radiation that is 2-12 times as intense as that of the noonday sun. As such, it is increasingly vital to protect your skin from drying out; but if you can’t use sunscreen, where do you turn? To indoor tanning bed lotion.

An indoor tanning bed lotion works differently from sunscreen in a few key ways. First, unlike sunscreen, which is designed to block UV rays, indoor tanning bed lotions actually enhance them. This is, of course, designed to control the rate at which you tan, but it also means that the tanning sessions are shorter and more intense, whereas sunscreen is designed to protect skin during prolonged periods in the sun.

This enhancement of UV rays is due, in part, to the indoor tanning bed lotion keeping moisture in your skin, opening the pores. This results in a longer-lasting tan over a shorter period of tanning time. Additionally, indoor tanning bed lotions are designed to smooth, soften, and moisturize your skin. With constant moisturizing and skin conditioning, you can protect your tan from fading and promote further tanning, if desired.

Some Things To Watch Out For

Because of your open pores receiving more UV, when using an indoor tanning bed lotion, it is paramount that you limit the time of your tanning sessions. Also, though they moisturize your skin while tanning, indoor tanning bed lotions are not a substitute for moisturizers. Constant moisturizing is required to make sure that you not only maintain your tan but that you prevent itchiness that could result from the UV exposure. An after tan moisturizer is also effective in replacing vital nutrients that are lost in the tanning process. Dry skin can, in fact, inhibit tanning since it reflects UV light.

It is also vital that you don’t substitute sunscreen or suntan lotion, both of which contain SPF, with an indoor tanning bed lotion. Indoor tanning lotions do not contain SPF ingredients; they can also enhance the sun’s rays, and since much more time is spent in the sun procuring a tan than a tanning bed, indoor tanning solutions are highly discouraged for outdoor use.

The Bottom Line

Clearly, there should be no question as to why indoor tanning bed lotions work. They are suited specifically for tanning beds, enhance a tan over shorter periods, keep skin from drying out while tanning, and work to preserve an even tan for longer, especially when the weather prevents you from being able to catch some rays. With an effective indoor tanning bed lotion, those dark and misty days of summer can be a little easier to wait out.