I wasn't sure where to put this... so I decided to put this in the Newbies section. I was reading a thread in the Managing forum about the apartment tanning and started thinking about the first time I tanned in a real tanning bed.

I was sixteen years old and traveling with a school organization. We were staying at a pretty nice hotel... like a Marriot or a Sheraton with all the amenities, including tanning. I'll never forget it. You paid for the tanning in quarters, like you would a video game. I remember it being cheap, like .25 cents for five minutes. We each took turns and for the life of me I can't remember how many "sessions" we did. But it was a lot. There was no bed cleaning going on. There was no eye protection. As a matter of fact, the bed was in the middle of the weight room, outside the pool area and we all sat around while the bed glowed as each of us took our turn. There was no monitoring of time by anyone. And there was no lotion of any kind. Just a group of 8 teenagers all sitting around, taking turns frying ourselves like crazy. I got a bad burn and it was many years before I tanned in a tanning bed again.

I'm so thankful for sites such as this. I'm so thankful for the groups, organizations, manufacturers and distributors who take the time to educate salon owners and their employees. I'm so thankful for certification courses that enable us to tan smart and tan safe. I'm so very thankful for all of you... the salon owners who take the time to educate their staff and to monitor the tanning environment. I'm proud of how far this industry has come.

No way "coin operated" tanning beds!
wow, I don't blame you for being scared of tanning after that.
mj

The sad thing is that it is still going on and we as responsible salon owners can't get through to alot of these people when they happen to stop in our salon to tan. Maybe it's just the area that I'm in but it's very frustrating to be competing for business with salons being ran this way.

Cutiepup

I remember tanning in beds that used tokens.

I think a lot of people have had bad early tanning bed exp. I am like you proud of haow far it has come.

I first used a home tanning lamp years ago, it burned really fast and did not tan.
My first time in a salon was a uvb booth , same story burn, no tan.
It was a few years after that I used a tanning bed, It was the first time I ever tanned. I never tanned out side I only burned.
I am so glad UVA was discovered, with out uva machines I would probably never have achived a tan.
I now tan very fast , never burn, and can go out in the sun for the day with out getting sun stroke.
Look at this freak!

SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST TOO WHITE!

_________________
TanTalk Tanning Booth MODERATOR


Tanning Booths, for people that want only the very best.
Fast, Comfortable, Dark Tanning and Hygienic.

[ This Message was edited by: Chippp on 2002-03-20 12:56 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Chippp on 2002-03-20 12:56 ][ This Message was edited by: Chippp on 2002-04-01 09:24 ]

yup, burned, burned , burned, then blistered, threw up, chilled, itched, the shed skin like a snake.
Thank god they dont make them like they used to..

The first time I tanned, was in the Warehouse of Australian Gold. If you can imagine a huge open warehouse with boxes of Lotion, crates, packing material and one tanning bed.

I got the worst case of red caboose, I have ever had!

in high school, someone had a sun lamp and it found its way to my house. My girl friend and I layed under it all night on one of those silver blanket like things that "helped" you tan, oh my God were we red.

dumb!

Wow! Memories.

I had just graduated from high school and was working at a local gym. For some reason the silly owner of the gym had entrusted an 18 year old with the keys to the gym. One night after closing everything down I decided to try out that contraption everyone called a tanning bed.

It was in a room by itself. There was a door on each side. One door went into the ladies dressing room and the other door into the mens.

The bed itself had a turn nob kind of like a microwave to set the timer. You could just keep turning the nob as often as you wanted and no one would ever know.

I tanned in that thing every day for a week trying to get rid of some tanlines for a XMas party dress. No luck. From what I've learned about the owner of that gym since I left there I don't think she ever changed the bulbs.

Eyewear? That didn't exist. I don't think she ever knew what that word meant.

Some great memories here. It's amazing just how far this industry has come along. WOW! I can never actually remember burning from a tanning bed, I can't believe that...I do remember a really bad outside burn though, that's for sure.

Stacey