Many people feel that skin tends to look healthier when it possesses a slight bronze tone instead of a pale and colorless look. Obtaining the desired bronze color is referred to as tanning and can be done using various methods and types of tanning equipment. The three basic categories of tanning equipment are natural sunlight, tanning beds or booths and spray tanners.
Natural sunlight is the most inexpensive method of obtaining a tan, as well as the most commonly used. The sun contains a mixture of three types of ultraviolet radiation: UVA, UVB and UVC. Of these three, only UVA and UVB rays are able to penetrate the atmosphere and react with the chemicals in the skin to cause tanning. UVA rays are able to penetrate the deeper layers of skin to create a longer-lasting tan, while UVB rays affect the outer layers of skin and provide a more temporary tanning effect. Once considered the only option for tanning, exposure to the sun has been found to cause adverse side effects, such as skin cancer and premature aging.
When it comes to manufactured tanning equipment, tanning beds are the most popular form of tanning for individuals who either don't have the time to pursue a natural tan in the sunlight or who believe the effects of artificial UV radiation are less harmful than natural UV radiation. Tanning beds essentially use specialized light bulbs to produce both UVA and UVB rays in order to provide the same effects of natural sun tanning in a fraction of the time. They can be found in either horizontal or vertical models designed to target a specific area, such as the face, or the entire body. The two basic types of tanning beds are high-pressure beds and low-pressure beds, each distinguished by the ratio of UVA and UVB rays produced.
High-pressure tanning beds produce a higher percentage of UVA rays than UVB rays. This allows them to affect the deeper layers of skin, producing a longer-lasting tan in a shorter time span. This allows individuals the ability to visit tanning salons less frequently and spend less overall time utilizing the tanning equipment. The cost per use for high-pressure tanning beds, however, can be somewhat costly.
Low-pressure tanning beds emit a higher percentage of UVA rays, requiring more frequent visits to the tanning salon and longer time periods using the tanning equipment. The cost per use of a low-pressure bed is significantly lower than a high-pressure model, making the extra time needed to tan in a low-pressure bed a willing trade-off for consumers with limited budgets. The majority of home tanning beds and tanning equipment would fall into the low-pressure tanning bed category.
For individuals who wish to avoid the potentially harmful effects of UV radiation altogether, spray tanners are the preferred method of choice. This variety of tanning equipment uses a high-pressure aerosol method to coat the body in a solution of DiHydroxyAcetone (DHA), a sugar-like substance which reacts with chemicals in the outer layers of skin to produce a bronzing effect. For more accurate coverage, this solution can be applied in an airbrushing fashion with a hand-held device. While this is the method of tanning that offers the least amount of potentially harmful side effects, the tans produced by DHA exposure last for a much shorter time period than those resulting from exposure to UV radiation.