Im currently doing CW’s 10/10 program, and am getting good results. I want to get a tan though, and am not sure what my best options are. I am not trying to get super dark or anything, just not be so white. I have a couple of questions though.
1.) Can I just lay in my backyard for 20-30 minutes a day, and get a “safe tan”?
2.) If I lay in my backyard, do I NEED to wear sunscreen or is it ok to go without it for such a short duration?
3.) If I do this, is it best to go for a shorter duration when the sun’s rays are stronger, or longer duration when the sun’s rays are weaker?
4.) Lastly, should I just go with a fake tan, like tantowel, or some cream?
How white are you? If you are like me (very white) I would recommend using SPF 15 and lay in your backyard for about 5-10 minutes a side (front and back) a day. It takes a while but this is the only way I can get close to tanned without burning like a motherfucker.
Fake tan is OK for the face in winter, but otherwise to me it looks fake.
For me the best way to get tan is to put waterproof spf 30 on face and shoulders and spf 15 everywhere else, reapplying often and spend about 4 hours at the beach or pool. Have someone rub lotion on your back or you will be sorry. Repeat again one week later. Takes about 4 weeks for a decent tan. From here I can maintain or start getting really dark if I want. I usually stay pale now due to limited free time for sun worshiping and health concerns.
If you are worried about a “safer” way than just go to a good tanning bed and ask for advice on which bed and how much time based on your complexion. It will still probably take a month this way for a decent tan.
[quote]dankid wrote:
Im currently doing CW’s 10/10 program, and am getting good results. I want to get a tan though, and am not sure what my best options are. [/quote]
I don’t have any experience tanning while doing CW’s 10/10 program. I did have good results tanning while doing his Total Body Training…he had a whole section on tanning during the program…doesn’t CW’s 10/10 program specifically tell you the best way to get a tan while getting good results on his 10/10 program. Did you read the whole program? Maybe send CW a pm…or post this question in his locker room.
Or go with the Analog Kid’s advice…just watch out for the tanned boner phantom.
A tanning bed is the best way to get a gradual controlled tan. The sun’s strength varies a lot and it’s difficult to judge how long, how much sunblock etc. especially if you have never tanned before and have no idea about these things. You can also tan nude in the tanning bed.
I was gonna tan naturally in my backyard for an hour or so a couple days a week, but dont think I can get the sunscreen on all areas of my back. Thats why I was thinking 15-20 minutes with no sunscreen might work? Is this a good idea?
I wont burn in 15-20 minutes my skin isn’t that fair.
[quote]AmandaSC wrote:
A tanning bed is the best way to get a gradual controlled tan. The sun’s strength varies a lot and it’s difficult to judge how long, how much sunblock etc. especially if you have never tanned before and have no idea about these things. You can also tan nude in the tanning bed.[/quote]
Hey now back off. Let’s not forget what happened to YOUR tanning thread.
[quote]AmandaSC wrote:
A tanning bed is the best way to get a gradual controlled tan. The sun’s strength varies a lot and it’s difficult to judge how long, how much sunblock etc. especially if you have never tanned before and have no idea about these things. You can also tan nude in the tanning bed.[/quote]
Amanda,don’t I recall you got crisped by a tanning bed?
[quote]AmandaSC wrote:
A tanning bed is the best way to get a gradual controlled tan. The sun’s strength varies a lot and it’s difficult to judge how long, how much sunblock etc. especially if you have never tanned before and have no idea about these things. You can also tan nude in the tanning bed.[/quote]
assuming you don’t mind the skin cancer, if you keep doing it consistently.
be careful with the music that’s on. for instance i’ve heard it’s impossible to get tan while listening to coldplay or radiohead. and in case you didn’t know using an i-phone has an spf of 45.
If you have trouble tanning, take a boat load of l-tyrosine as a supplement. (Boat load as in a couple grams.) It’s in PowerDrive (3 full grams per serving!), or you can get it alone at a health food store fairly cheap. This way you can get the vitamin D from the sun (or tanning bed) also.
L-Tyrosine is a precursor to melanin, so if you don’t have enough tyrosine, you won’t produce much pigment.
I was white as a ghost until I started taking l-tyrosine. Now I’m pretty dark.
I hate to be the skin cancer scaremonger here, but I find it very sad how so many young people think tanning is such a “cool” thing to do.
I never tanned in my life, but I did suffer a few bad sunburns in my very early youth. Last year @ age 26 I had this tiny mole that appeared on my abdomen after summer vacation. I paid no attention to it at first; it was just like a tiny freckle. After a while I noticed that it had definitely grown much larger and the color had turned from a light brown to a very deep dark brown. It started to look really ugly and had an irregular blotched pattern exactly like this one:
That’s when I decided I needed to go to the doctor’s office. When I arrived there the doctor took one look and said: “That does not look good. Well, we’re definitely going to have that one taken out and looked at.” The three days it took for the labs to come back were some very long days for me, let me tell you that. Luckily, it wasn’t cancer. The pathology did however come back as “precancerous” which was definitely not good. I now have a 1.5" keloid scar just below my sternum, but I’m very thankful to have that thing out of me.
Now no one is saying your going to get cancer from tanning, but it will increase your odds. I question whether it’s worth it to “look good” for just one summer when you have to risk some very terrible things possibly happening to you later in your life. For me, just from my experience the answer is “FUCK NO!” I’m not pale white, but even if I was I could really give a damn. I understand the thought process though, everyone thinks it will never ever happen to them and we live always in the here and now. Again, I’m not trying to scaremonger. I just wish people would give two seconds of thought to some supposedly “harmless” activities.
[quote]analog_kid wrote:
Tanning is ghey. Unless you do it naked in your front yard with an erection the whole time.
Be sure to mist. [/quote]
I’ve found that if I don’t rotate while doing this, I get a ‘non-tanned’ patch on the north side from the boner shadow. Also, you end up with a lobster boner from burning on one side…
Be sure to rotate 'round the boner!
One other benefit to this technique is that when you’ve gotten enough sun, you can affix an umbrella hat to said boner for shade. Heights may vary.