It was over 400 years ago that Copernicus declared that the sun was the center of our universe. Throughout history, the human race
has had a special relationship with the sun. Primitive societies in every continent have worshiped the sun as the god that provided warmth and made the crops grow.

   But cultures changed over hundreds of years and class systems developed and the sun became a symbol of a different kind, one that clearly defined who you were. Skin color became that visible definer - one that separated working classes from the ruling classes, and separated the master from his servants. Pale skin belonged to the leisure upper classes, while darker skin indicated a life of outdoor labor. The paler one's skin the higher the class, and men and women went to great (and sometimes unhealthy) lengths to be pale.

   Women of ancient Greece and Rome used lead paints and chalks to whiten their faces. Unfortunately this beauty treatment could cause death through slow lead poisoning.

   By the mid-10th century, arsenic became the preferred skin whitener, once again with sometimes deadly results. Other methods of making the skin white were less poisonous -- during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, women painted thin blue lines on their foreheads to give their skin a translucent look, and carried parasols or wore masks whenever they ventured outdoors.

   These class distinctions found their way to America, where no Southern belle or Northern society debutante dare go out in the sun without her parasol to protect her delicate pallor. It wasn't until the 20th century that society began accepting bronzed skin.

Two French celebrities can be credited (or blamed) with the transformation from pale to tan. In the 1920s, as fashions were freeing women from confining clothes, thanks in part to designer Coco Chanel, she inadvertently gave the fashion world another new trend: while cruising from Paris to Cannes, she obtained a suntan, probably by accident.

   At the same time fashions were changing, so were lifestyles. Women came out of the house to enjoy outdoor life, with hiking, picnics, lawn tennis and other "acceptable" yet still "feminine" activities. Soon, fashionable women everywhere threw away years of tradition to be tanned.

 
   On beaches throughout Europe, women sunbathed, wearing decorative sun hats and shawls not for protection but as fashion statements. Brown and beige-tinted powders and creams were created to be brushed on the places the sun had missed. The fashion world featured clothes for women who wanted to flaunt their new tans; shoes were worn without stockings and sleeveless dresses became stylish. Bathing costumes that had covered women's legs with bloomers, now bared the leg, and swimming became an acceptable sport for women. The suntan had arrived...as the symbol of wealth and leisure. A tan in the winter meant the bearer had enough money and status to afford a vacation to an exotic, warm climate. Today, however, you need only to go up the street to your local tanning salon to achieve this.

As with many technologies that we take for granted today, the machinery for indoor tanning was actually developed as part of medical research many years ago. In fact, the world's first UV indoor tanning lamp was made in Germany by a medical company named Heraeus in 1906. This UV indoor tanning lamp was used to help patients with diseases like ricketts develop more calcium and stronger bones. Today's scientific research on the value of sunlight in creating vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium, shows that Heraeus was on to something big.

   In the early 1970's, a German scientist named Friedrich Wolff decided to use artificially produced indoor tanning UV light to study athletes and how they might benefit from more exposure to sunlight. During his studies, he noticed an interesting side effect on the athletes - the golden glow of a healthy tan. Given the rise of the tan as a fashion statement at that time, Wolff used his scientific knowledge to create the first indoor tanning beds - and a new industry was born.

Cosmetic indoor tanning made its debut in Germany, and the first mass-produced indoor tanning beds came out of Europe. Today, indoor tanning in Europe is government-regulated and considered a very professional industry.

In the US, however, early indoor tanning beds were not as well made, and the technology behind them was not as well researched as those in Europe. These early American-made indoor tanning beds emitted high levels of ultraviolet B (UVB) light. UVB light jump-starts the skin's production of melanin, the substance which creates a tan… but uncontrolled, it can also cause sunburn and other skin disorders.

The early popularity of these high-UVB indoor tanning beds caused many in the medical community, especially dermatologists, to seek out opportunities in the media and in governmental forums to decry their use.

In reaction to this, researchers in the tanning industry conducted studies that found that tanning beds that used lamps with higher percentages of ultraviolet A (UVA) light could provide tans with a decreased risk of sunburn. Once that was determined, the industry acted voluntarily to change the standard lamps in equipment to include higher percentages of UVA than UVB.

That change created the modern bed that provides tanners with a bed that, with smart, sensible use, can provide a healthy tan with minimal risk of sun burn or skin damage.

The unit that was the result of Dr. Wolffe's research has now been through more than 30 years of laboratory and anecdotal development, and as one of our customers, you reap the benefits. Today's beds offer tanners a comfortable, efficient experience and a smart way to develop a tan without the burn. So enjoy the advances that 30 years of research can bring - and enjoy that golden tan that Salon West beds will provide you!