Warning to Salford suntan fans

BEAUTICIANS have urged people to tan responsibly following reports Salford is one of the tanning hotspots of Greater Manchester.

A study conducted on behalf of Cancer Research UK revealed that Salford had over 20 sunbed outlets per 100,000 people - putting Salford second only behind Wigan in the area's ‘sunbed league table’.

Salford sunbed worker Tina Bradley, of Langworthy Road's Tan Spa said staff always told people to tan sensibly to ensure they are aware of the risks.

She said: "If we do have a regular customer coming in and we think they’re going a bit overboard then we do have a little word with them.

“I think people are aware but they don’t want to talk about it. They don’t mention it.

“I use sunbeds once a week. My daughter’s 18 now, but she doesn’t go on the sunbeds. If she started coming in regularly I’d say ‘hang on a minute’. I would say to her not more than twice a week.”

Tina said the popularity of sunbeds was down to people wanting to feel good.

She added: “People come in and you hear them chatting.

"They say, 'You feel better when you’ve got a glow - I’m going on my holidays and I feel pasty’.

“I think it gives people a bit more confidence. People like to dress up when they’ve got a bit of colour. It’s mad in a way, it is mad that you’ve got to get a glow to feel better.”

Salford resident Paul Fisher had just been on a Tan Spa sunbed for six minutes.

He said: “I just use the sunbeds to get a bit more of a tan - girls like it don’t they?

“I come here once a month. It’s just to keep it up, you don’t want to be pale.

“The health concerns don’t worry me at all, I only do six minutes. There’s worse things out there than doing a bit of sunbathing.”

But at nearby Vintage Nail & Beauty Spa, beauty therapist Kirby Hurst championed the spray tan as a safer option.

She said: "I did used to work in a sunbed shop and saw people abuse them.

“There were people that used to do silly things. They’d work everyday and it was in their routine to go and use a sunbed every day for 6 minutes and they would see no wrong in that.

“I did see people that would abuse them too much and the way their skin would age was unreal.

“That was a major point really, you would frighten women a hell of a lot more with that than you would any sort of skin cancer scare, which sounds ridiculous.”

"I do think it is very much this syndrome that some people have got ‘tanorexia’ where, when you stop going on the sunbeds, you really do feel unwell.

“I think it’s a younger generation that are starting to use it and playing ignorant to it. If you do walk into a sunbed shop nine times out of ten the people that are sat around you are 18-20.

“Things that are going into articles and the papers and whatnot aren’t hitting home for the younger generation whatsoever. Like we all did at one point they don’t think it’s going to happen to you.”

Cancer Research UK’s ‘SunSmart’ campaign outlines the risks of using sunbeds.

The cancer charity says using sunbeds just once before the age of 35 increases the risk of developing melanoma skin cancer by 75%.

It has warned that the amount of UVA rays given out by modern sunbeds can be 10-15 times higher than the midday sun.

Last month, London fashion week banned models from using sunbeds and today, the Melbourne equivalent followed suit.

By Steve Feekins