TANNING
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sunlamps and tan themselves indoors. During the 1960s artificial tanning creams also became available. Such products as Rapid Tan, QT (Quick Tan), Tan-O-Rama, and Man-Tan featured dihydroxyacetone, a colorless substance that turned the skin dark brown. The downside to such products was that they irritated the skin and stained clothing, and the tans they produced often were uneven or blotchy. In the 1970s and 1980s more and more Americans became concerned with feeling fit and looking good and, as a result, indoor tanning salons opened up across the country. Tanning salons were businesses that featured tanning beds, located in separate booths or rooms to insure privacy. Customers relaxed on the clamshell-shaped beds, while their bodies were exposed to the artificial sunlight generated by the tubular bulbs that surrounded them. Booths were equipped with timers to prevent overexposure to the light. At this time tanned skin became so associated with physical fitness and vigor that tanning beds and sun lamps even were featured in health clubs, which primarily existed to allow their members to lift weights, run on treadmills, ride stationary bicycles, or play tennis. Tanned skin had developed a reputation as a signal of health, but by the mid-1970s that idea had started to be challenged. Scientists discovered that although exposure to sunlight or the artificial light produced by sunlamps may allow the body to manufacture Vitamin D, which plays a primary role in building bones and teeth, only a tiny quantity of light is required for all the Vitamin D the body needs. Scientists also determined that even a moderate amount of the UV radiation that causes the skin to darken also harms the body’s immune system. Exposure to UV rays has been linked to the early aging of skin, causing it to look rough and leathery and, more seriously, can cause malignant melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. The negative effects of tanning often are not immediately apparent. Young people in their teens or twenties may not suffer the ill-effects of tanned skin until middle or old age. Despite these health concerns, tanning salons remain popular. In the early twenty-first century over 28,000 tanning salons were open for business across the United States. Additionally, relaxing and playing in the sun continue to be favorite pastimes, and beach resorts remain popular vacation destinations. BODY DECORATIONS, 1961–79
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