Well that’s a stupid obvious question.
Or is it?
Most people would be very surprised at the wide and varied reasons for sunbed use.
Im blogging as someone who sits at a desk and talks to people who come in, i make no claim to the validity of what they say.
I think the perception of a sunbed user, is some uber brown young to middle aged female.
Thats where the first suprise comes in.
50% of our customer’s are male.
If I was to put a figure on it, I would say 65% of people visiting our salons, do so for a tan. No other reason.
High yes, but still means 1 in 3 are there for some other reason.
So this blog post focus’s on that 35%, why are they there?
A high number just come for the social interaction. It might seem sad, but large numbers of people in our society are lonely. Every day i see lots of folk, who just want a chat. We are open early in the morning until late at night, we see, and hear it all. I firmly believe a lot of people would actually pay us just to chat to them. This is very sad, and it makes up maybe 1 in 10 of our throughput.
So down to 25%, 1 in 4….
All of these come for relief of some ailment, and there are many.
And too numerous to mention, so lets focus on the main ones.
Depression – This is hardly scientific, but most people who visit come in with a straight or drooped face. EVERYONE leaves with a smile on their face, and i mean everyone. Mr Google says – Exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the brain’s release of a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with boosting mood and helping a person feel calm and focused.
Its very clear to me that UV exposure releases all manner of pleasureable compounds, for those who have never used a sunbed, consider the same feeling sitting out the back on a sunny day, same thing.
Arthritus – The writer suffer’s from this, knee, shoulder, spine and finger’s. I find when it hurts most, i tense up, and tight offset muscles make things worse. Cant say sunbeds help with the knees and fingers, but boy it helps my shoulder and spine arthritus, just the relaxation of the muscles. We have a surprising number of elderly customer’s who swear by the benefits of sunbeds, especially with spinal arthritus.
Psoriasis, exzema – The jury is out on these conditions, its not clear, I think on reflection I have seen as many who do not benefit as those who do. I will be honest here, some have found it makes things worse, and some much better. There is no rhyme or reason. I do think these conditions often have stress as their cause, and the endorphins and serotonin mention above can help greatly. I have a friend who suffers terribly from Psoriasis, so its possible worth trying sunbeds, it may well help greatly, downside is fairly limited.
Acne – This one kills me. What a terrible affiction this is for young image conscience kids.acne is just the worst thing for a young person, especially in this instagram fuelled filter world. Im not going to claim sunbeds help acne, but it does hide it to a lessor or more degree, and to a lot of kids i see, this is huge.
So there you are, why do people use sunbeds.its a bit more complex than it seems.