Below are a few FAQ's about tanning in general. For a complete list of FAQ's, please visit the ITA website.
  
 
 
  Q: Is tanning natural?
A: Yes. Tanning is your body’s natural protection against sunburn; it’s what your body is designed to do. Anti-tanning lobbyists falsely refer to this process as “damage” to your skin, but calling a tan “damage” is a dangerous oversimplification.

In fact, it’s much like calling exercise “damage to your muscles.” When you exercise, you are actually tearing tiny muscle fibers in your body. At first glance, when examined at the micro-level, this tearing could be called “damage.” But this damage on the micro-level is your body’s natural way of building stronger muscle tissue on the macro-level. So to call exercise “damaging” to muscles would be misleading. The same can be said of sun exposure: your body is designed to repair any damage to the skin caused by ultraviolet light exposure. Developing a tan is your body’s natural way of protecting against the dangers of sunburn and further exposure.

It is the professional indoor tanning industry’s position that sunburn prevention is a more effective message than total abstinence, which ultimately encourages abuse. We believe ours is a responsible, honest approach to the issue.		  
 
 
  Q: How does your skin tan?
A: Whether you tan outdoors under the sun or indoors in a professional tanning facility, the tanning process is the same. This natural process takes place when your skin is exposed to ultraviolet light. Here is an overview.

Light is composed of energy waves that travel from the sun to the Earth. Each energy wave can be identified by its length in nanometers, (nm), which is one-billionth of a meter. Light can be broken into three general categories: infrared, visible and invisible. Ultraviolet light is in the invisible light spectrum.

There are three kinds of ultraviolet light: UVA, UVB and UVC. Two of those categories, UVA and UVB, are used in indoor tanning equipment.

Tanning equipment is designed to replicate UVA and UVB produced by the sun, but tanning lamps emit the light in carefully controlled and government-regulated combinations. As a result, the user has control over their exposure. That’s why people face greater risk of overexposure tanning outdoors than they do by using tanning equipment indoors.

Tanning itself takes place in the skin’s outermost layer, the epidermis. There are three major types of skin cells in your epidermis: basal cells, keratinocytes and melanocytes. All play different roles in the tanning process.

Everyone has roughly the same number of melanocytes in their bodies—about 5 million. Your heredity determines how much pigment your melanocytes can produce. Melanocytes release extra melanosomes whenever ultraviolet light waves touch them. This produces a tan in your skin.

The tanning process is your skin’s natural way of protecting itself from sunburn and overexposure. Calling a tan “damage to the skin” isn’t telling the whole story. Your skin is designed to tan to protect itself. 		 
 
 
  Q: What is a base tan?
A: A tan is the body’s natural protection against sunburn. Your skin is designed to tan as a natural body function.

Each year, millions of Americans visit professional indoor tanning facilities in the spring, prior to sun-filled vacations or outdoor summertime activities, to establish what tanners know as a “base tan.” Doing so enables vacationers to gradually increase their exposure to ultraviolet light without burning.		  
 
 
  Q: How is “moderate tanning” defined?
A: Moderation means avoiding sunburn at all costs. How to accomplish this goal will mean something different to each person. That’s one way the indoor tanning industry can help. Salon professionals attempt to educate each tanner on how to best avoid sunburn for their individual skin type.