Sometime last year, I shared that our family hair stylist closed downthe tanning portion of their business.
Two tanning beds, one tanning booth, and one leg tanner were shut
down! However, the machines have
remained in place for over a year. I
finally decided to ask why they still haunted the back section of the building
(although gathering dust rather than causing cancer). I was told that the owner was having trouble
getting rid of the machines. Apparently,
there just is not as many people starting up tanning businesses as there used
to be. I suppose this is a cause for
celebration. Or caution.
I wondered where one tries to sell unwanted goods. In the case of personal garage sales, the
newspaper classified would be the logical choice. But then again, classified ads are becoming a
thing of the past thanks to internet sites such as Craigslist. So, I decided to take a peek and see if maybe
closing tanning salons were offloading their equipment on Craigslist.
Most definitely yes. Here’s a
sample of today’s ads:
In short, it looks like at least one tanning bed is posted per day in
the Raleigh area alone. When I dug in a
little more, the prices range from a few hundred to a couple thousand
dollars. Overall, the cost was
relatively cheap compared to new units.
Out of curiosity, I decided to respond to a few of ads. I used an alias name (Mel Carson) and
mentioned that I was shopping for a tanning bed for my daughter and asked if
there were any regulations regarding radiation control. (Yeah, I felt dirty typing the emails) Here’s the most detailed answer I received:
There are no regulations if you have a
personal tanning bed in your home. Of course, you know to never exceed 20
minutes in a tanning bed in one day. The bed does have a 20 minute timer on it
and a built in fan. You can set the time for as little as 2 minutes to 20
minutes. Always start out slow, usually 7 minutes to see your skin reaction.
Then gradually increase to the full 20 minute time frame. It takes a 220 amp
for hookup. I use tanning bed cleaning solution that I buy at Sally's beauty
supply store, it's really cheap. Me and
my daughters have really enjoyed it, but they are older now and have new
interests, lol! The bed really is good, we have one bulb out but it really
hasn't made any difference with tanning. Bulbs are ordered on line when you
replace them. I would just keep tanning until I needed more replaced which
should be a while!
I was pleased that this person mentioned time limits and some sense of
caution, but very displeased to read that her daughters were “older now and
have new interests.” To me, this says
her daughters were in their teens, maybe even early teens when they used the
bed. Not good. I was also surprised to read that Sally’s
sells the tanning bed cleaning solution.
Tsk tsk. But I digress.
I was suspicious about there being no regulations for home tanning
beds, so I contacted the North Carolina Radiation Section of the Division of
Health Services…the people who regulate tanning salons. They confirmed that there are no regulations
for those individuals who own tanning equipment for personal use.
This doesn’t surprise me.
Despite regulations on cigarette and wine sales, it’s legal to make your
own at home for personal use without any type of home inspection. I’m not opposed to that at all…I once made my
own beer from a kit. It tasted like
crap, but I made it. But my concern is
that folks who are able to buy these industrial tanning beds for pennies on the
dollar will not properly monitor their own use.
Also, they’ll not properly maintain the equipment causing all kinds of
potential risks to their own health.
The point of this post is not to warn folks against buying used tanning
beds. (Those who will do so don’t read this blog anyhow). While we’re advocating the elimination of
tanning beds (at least preventing use by minors), let’s not forget that raising
awareness about the dangers should be our most important mission. The only way to prevent the redistribution of
the cancer coffins is to educate folks as to why such usage is a bad idea. Changing a cultural mindset is a daunting and
frustrating task that could take years, but it’s a task well worth taking on.
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