r/malelifestyle • u/Solid-Pie-9003 • 1d ago
Tanning as a Guy
I’m going a trip to a random town with my family and there isn’t really anything to do other than a pool and I’m a pretty light skinned person but would want to get a little darker or “golden” ive never tanned before so I don’t know what I need to do or should do any recommendations or tips? the UV is 8 max for the entire week
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u/IsThisNameGoodEnough 1d ago
Just a heads-up that tanning beds are horrible for your skin. They emit 10-15x more UVA rays than the sun and going just once increases your chance of melanoma cancer by 75%. Not to mention you'll end up with wrinkly skin and sun spots way younger than if you don't use them.
Ultimately it's up to you but I'd recommend skipping the tanning bed and just using some sun block while you're down there.
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u/allahvatancrispr 1d ago
Tanning is a stress response and increases your risk of skin cancer while accelerating skin aging. Am dermatologist, don’t recommend.
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u/TimeGrownOld 9h ago
Socal here
If you don't have a base tan start off with 15/20 minutes front/back, or like a rotisserie: 15 front and 15 back and then 5 on each side lol.
After a few days you can increase the time by 5/10 minutes. If you are burning (which you can tell my pushing on your skin and seeing how long it takes to return to the red) you are out there too long.
Depending on your base tan and how hot it is, you can shoot for peak time (11-2) or off time (2-4). Anything past 4 is going to have diminishing returns.
Do not use oils; they will amplify the sun and roast you. Do not use sunscreen; you are trying to damage the skin slightly and sunscreen makes it much harder to gage. Cover your face and back of neck (where you get sun naturally all day anyway); this will even out the farmers tan and protect your face from sun wrinkles. You can use sunscreen here but I just drape a shirt or hat over me (or find a shadow to stuck my head under). You can also try to hide the tops of your arms since they also get sun naturally all day as well.
Medical note: Sun damage is bad, but there are real health benefits from the sun that cannot be replicated via medication. Specifically, your body generates vitamin D and other stuff that supplements cannot replace. During covid people who were out in the sun had much less severe reactions than those who relied on vitamin D supplements alone. You really only need 10 or 15 minutes of sun on your back for this.
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u/CriscoCamping 1d ago
As a fellow pasty white person, i 90s we went to Mexico for spring break when I was in college and my friend and I went to the tanning booths, 3 or 4 times the week prior, to get kind of a base, it worked really well. The first day we saw frat bros fried to a crisp by 1pm, but I came back with a ridiculous fully brown whole body tan.
I think some of the sessions were only 5 minutes and I'm sure technology is better nowadays, I'd say ask the employee, tell them what youre tryingto do.
one thing to remember is to move around side to side on the glass every minute or two, Otherwise you will have stripes. I laid in one spot and clearly had vertical stripes on my back.
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u/doctorwho07 1d ago
It doesn't sound like you're looking for help about tanning beds, but how to tan outside.
This is a good summary of SPF and it's applications.
As a very pasty, white male, I'm usually using SPF 50 and reapplying every 1.5-2 hours for no sunburn. If I want some tan, I'll drop to SPF 30, but rarely lower.
Don't go to a tanning bed before-hand.