Tanning

Whether you tan outdoors under the sun or indoors on a sunbed the tanning process is the same. This natural process takes place when your skin is exposed to ultraviolet light. Here is an overview.

Light is composed of energy waves that travel from the sun to the Earth. Each energy wave can be identified by its length in nanometers, (nm), which is one-billionth of a meter. Light can be broken into three general categories: infrared, visible and invisible. Ultraviolet light is in the invisible light spectrum.

There are three kinds of ultraviolet light: UVA, UVB and UVC. Two of those categories, UVA and UVB, are used in indoor tanning equipment.

Tanning equipment is designed to replicate UVA and UVB produced by the sun, but tanning lamps emit the light in carefully controlled and government-regulated combinations. As a result, the user has control over their exposure. That's why people face greater risk of overexposure tanning outdoors than they do by using tanning equipment indoors.

Tanning itself takes place in the skins outermost layer, the epidermis. There are three major types of skin cells in your epidermis: basal cells, keratinocytes and melanocytes. All play different roles in the tanning process.

Everyone has roughly the same number of melanocytes in their bodies-about 5 million. Your heredity determines how much pigment your melanocytes can produce. Melanocytes release extra melanosomes whenever ultraviolet light waves touch them. This produces a tan in your skin.

The tanning process is your skin's natural way of protecting itself from sunburn and overexposure. Calling a tan "damage to the skin" isn't telling the whole story as your skin is designed to tan to protect itself.

Sunbed Types & Styles

We offer a number of different syles to ensure we have one that will fit your needs and your available space:

> SINGLE CANOPY:
This sunbed is excellent for limited space as it sits on a frame that goes above your bed and can be stood up after use and wheeled into a spare corner. There are 9 main tubes plus an additonal 4 facial tanners built into the concave top panel. They are all of a modern design, no old wooden ones, and are made from acrylic with mandatory twin-timers (this is now the law and has been since 2004).

> DOUBLE LAY-DOWN:
This sunbed is the size of a small single bed - 6 foot 2 inches (2 meters) in length and 2 foot 6 inches (76cm) in width. This has 9 main tubes and 4 facial tanners built into the top concave panel plus 9 tubes in the base providing an allover tan whilst you relax on the sunbed. All our sunbeds are of a modern design and come with the mandatory twin timers (this is now the law and has been since 2004).

> VERTICAL STAND-UP:
This sunbed surrounds you like a shower cubicle and is excellent for restricted space as it only takes up approximately 3 foot 3 inches square (1 square meter) of floor space. They come with 20 or 24 tubes and are 6 foot 2 inches (2 meters) in height. They require access to 2 mains sockets but come with 2 metre leads to reach across a room if required.