Eugene’s frequent cloud cover sometimes sends students searching for UV rays in other places. For some, this means spending an occasional 15 minutes in a tanning bed. However, this machine-made sunshine can become an obsession.
Junior Pamela Hobson goes tanning on occasion and once worked at a tanning salon in West Linn. She said customers sometimes tan beyond a healthy glow.
“There was one lady who would try to go to a bunch of places a day,” Hobson said. “She’d try to bring in treats — cookies and magazines — to try to get us to let her tan. We called her Leather Lady.”
Most tanning salons limit customers to one session a day.
Express-O-Wash Tanning employee Cheryl Sutton said she sometimes has to turn customers away from the business, located at 595 E. 13th Ave.
“We have tanners that come in every day and tanners that want to come more than once a day,” Sutton said. “There are people that buy packages at multiple salons so they can tan more than once a day.”
While any amount of tanning has the potential to be harmful, Sutton recommends a dose for those interested in achieving darker skin.
“Once you’ve got your base tan, you don’t need to tan more than three times a week,” she said. “Or even two times a week to maintain a healthy tan.”
For some, the benefits of tanning are not aesthetic.
“For a lot of people, tanning is a source of stress relief,” Sutton said. “It’s their quiet time.”
Inger Janemark, who works at The Sunshine Station, located at 631 W. Centennial Blvd., said her customers feel better about themselves after they start tanning.
“I think a lot of people go tanning because it feels good,” Janemark said. “It releases the same endorphins that being in the sun does.”
Nonetheless, there are physical consequences to habitual tanning.
Hobson said the way someone’s skin looks can be a telltale sign of the frequency of their tanning sessions.
“Their skin is really leathery and orange — very fake looking,” Hobson said. “They can be young and have wrinkles around their eyes.”
Sutton added another negative side effect for those addicted to tanning.
“We have had to tell people, ‘You can’t tan here anymore,’ because they make the beds smell,” Sutton said. “They’ve processed their skin so badly that their skin smells burnt.”