High Pressure Tanning Beds

The tanning bed hysteria has taken all by storm and all seem to be enjoying it. People love the new innovation called tanning beds. These tanning beds are a device or a machine (whatever you prefer to call it) that contain high voltage electrical lamps, emitting UV rays, just as the sun rays, that tan your skin. They are preferred because you don’t need to actually sun bath, instead just lie inside the tanning bed, listen to your favorite music; and get tuned and tanned the same time.

Commercial salons that keep these tanning beds have had great success. Tanning bed salons have opened up like spas and hair style salons. Tanning is now an essential way to maintain a healthy and stylish appearance. Tanning beds have advantages that you can use them in all types of weather. There are basically two kinds of tanning beds - low pressure and high pressure. Low pressure tanning beds are the ones in which UV rays emitted are quite similar to sunlight. On the other hand, high pressure tanning beds emit higher proportion of UVA rays than the harmful UVB rays that are responsible for burning and many skin problems.

Using a tanning bed is quite simple. However, there can be a slight confusion between the two equipments - low pressure and high pressure, though they are almost similar in terms of the principal involved. In high pressure tanning bed, the lamps or bulbs are arranged in such a way that they point towards the body, stimulating melanin production that gives a darker tan. They are in demand because they contain radiation filters which filter out UVB rays while letting enough shine to stimulate the melanocytes. This results in more of the UVA light reaching the melanin, providing a tan. This method has less risk of skin hazards than the low pressure tanning beds which use a higher proportion of UVB rays.

You take at least 15 sessions to establish a good base tan while using low pressure tanning bed, i.e. two tanning sessions a week. The reason is, higher proportion of UVB dries out your skin and causes epidermis to regenerate itself faster, whereas in high pressure tanning beds, much of UVB rays are filtered out, reducing the negative effect on epidermis. This holds your tan longer by keeping the skin moisturized. If using high pressure beds, it takes only 3 to 5 sessions to acquire a base tan.

What makes high pressure tanning beds so effective is the fact that they don’t use the traditional tanning lamps that are made of phosphor coating. They instead, use ultraviolet light quartz lamps. These lamps are attached at the backside of expensive glass filters which only pass the rays that have a defined wavelength. Also, the gases packed inside the quartz lamps are packed at a pressure that is more than the normal atmospheric levels, that is the reason why we call tanning beds using such high pressure lamps as high pressure tanning beds.

Although, high pressure tanning beds may seem a bit expensive but, they are the future of tanning industry. The prices will surely come down slowly and they will become affordable. Till then, enjoy the experience in tanning bed salons.