Why do British travellers look so pale on arrival and then so ‘sun blasted’ after a few days in a warm climate? Compare that with the locals who seem to have the most natural colour available to them. It’s hard not to feel a touch of envy.
The easiest way to understand this is that we in this country have limited UV stimulus on our skin and that means our melanin (tanning pigment) is sitting too low beneath the skin. It’s not near the surface. Then when we do expose our skin to UV the melanin pigment is not high enough to tan, which means the skin cells take the UV and the skin becomes ‘sun blasted’.
It’s difficult in this country to constantly tease your melanin pigment closer to your skin surface. It’s much easier if you have UV exposure little and often like a Mediterranean person who will not ‘binge’ expose their skin but stimulate it consistently and naturally.
So how can we act like a Mediterranean right here in the UK? First of all think about having a constant and consistent attitude to tanning throughout the year rather than big breaks and then binging to try and catch up. By keeping your melanin pigment closer to the surface it will mean that your skin will look more naturally tanned and react instantly because the melanin pigment is always there to tan.
Once you have your melanin pigment closer to the surface you will probably find less minutes every 5 – 7 days ( around 50 – 60 sessions per year) will keep your ability to have an instant colour up every time you use the sunbed. Leave it too long between sessions and you will have to start again to try to stimulate your melanin to the surface. It’s a bit like alcohol – a little bit often is better than none for a while and then over doing it all on one day.
If you need to get on the right tanning program then we can help you on our sunbeds with a proper course. We can help you on our great sunbed and lamp combination to tease up your melanin initially and then adopt a more realistic ongoing strategy. Remember that your skin type (HERE) will predict the amount of melanin pigment you have so that will commit to the amount of minutes you have per session. You can’t tan what’s not there!
Please do not hesitate to talk to us about your skin at any time and have a good think about 2022 being the year for you to be a proper ‘melanin tanner’!