Brief History of Tanning Beds

Many people believe that white skin is sick and dark skin is healthy.

Well, this is true, isn't it?

All jokes aside, the real reason why tanning beds were developed were to help out people with diseases such as rickets. They wanted to provide a patient with stronger bones and more calcium. It was researched that vitamin D which can be provided by sunlight can help. So a medical company based in Germany named Heraeus developed machine way back in 1906 to help those people out.

During the 1970’s a scientist named Frederick Wolf decided to study the effects of indoor ultraviolet rays on athletes. He wanted to see how this might affect them and the result was a golden healthier tan. At that time, tanning was also becoming a fashion statement. So Wolf took advantage of the trend and created the first indoor tanning beds.

Cosmetic indoor tanning made its debut on Germany, and it was also in Europe where it was first mass-produced. Now because of certain complications, tanning in Europe is strictly regulated by the government. While in the United States, tanning beds were not professionally made during the earlier times. This caused problems as they emitted higher
of ultra violet rays. When the rays are so high, this can cause skin diseases and sunburn because the melanin of the skin is reinvigorated.

Now tanning beds come in two designs. One design is the most common clam shaped design that the user lies down. The other design is in the shape of a booth where the user would prefer standing up. I don’t know why some would prefer standing up.

The technology of tanning beds includes the emission of both the UVA and the UVB rays. Both these rays are what the sun also emits. Research says that UVB has harmful effects so most tanning beds have removed or reduced the emission of UVB rays and focused more on UVA rays. UVA rays can penetrate the skin more deeply anyway and also less harmful.

So if you think that by getting a tan it will make you more fashionable, try it. You’ve got nothing to lose. Just remember to put some lotions to prevent from getting roasted.

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Brief History of Tanning Beds