Do you tan before going?

[Ender1981]

Its the dead of winter and I work in an office. If we were to go right now i'd blind people. I was thinking of going tanning a few times to get a base layer. My wife was thinking about a spray tan, but those flake off after a week and might look funny. Do you guys walk around with nothing but sunscreen bottles? Or will I be the only one?

[ITGuy]

We did some tanning before we went last time and plan to again. Mainly for 2 reasons. 1)We didn't want to ruin out vacation with a horrible sun burn. 2) To even things out a bit. we didn't want to have bright red "fun bits" since they usually don't get to see the light of day. We were really happy with how things turned out.

[mrcaj]

We go in Feb so we are pretty pale when we arrive. We bring a couple of bottles of sunscreen lotion and enjoy rubbing it all over each other while at the beach.

[hedo2desire]

We always tan before we go. We try to have a good base tan for when we arrive. Then, when we're there, we always strategically use different sunblocks on various parts (anything from SPF15 to 50). And yes... applying the lotion to each other out at the pool or beach is LOTS of fun!!!

KnD

[Ontario]

We normally start the tanning process about half way thru Feb, for our April trip...for the same reasons, it's a nice base tan and less burn...

[CapnMorgan]

We used to pre tan but haven't the past 2 years and it hasn't been an issue. Lots of 30 sun block with 60 in the most sun exposed areas the first few days. However, we do not lay in the sun for extended periods of time and try to find shade whenever we can. We did see someone with a very nasty burn this year but suspect by the look of it that someone fell asleep in a lounger in the sun.

[ScottGail]

We always tan before going. We start about 30 days before we leave and tan every other day. We don't want to look like lobsters after the first day. It also adds to the experience of getting ready to come home. We do the catamaran cruise and you can get really burnt easily on the water. It's not far away now till our next trip. We are home on the 26th of this month.

[Sassy*]

I tan for about month before our trips. Hubby doesn't. Either way your fine. I have heard spray tan not so good in salt water, but have never tried it.

[stiffonealways]

I have been tanning for 3 weeks since I'm a red head and fair pale skin. So for me it works so I don't get burnt . 4 days and we're their so excited

[Talisman]

We start tanning roughly two months before, nothing worse than being sunburned on vacation!

[takemetonegril]

I tan for a month before I go. Don't really like the electric tan, but it is better than an all over burn. The sun is very intense in Jamaica. The Jamaican's say 45 minutes in the sun, 15 in the shade.....I can usually try for the first half day then the beach, pool and rest make me forget and it's just a lot of sun.

Cheers

[jeanie_hotpants]

I always tan for a month or two before going. I would hate to burn those naughty bits that never see the light of day. Boris is black and doesn't have to worry about such things.

[funfortwo]

Either way is fine. Husband here tans for a month ahead and wife doesn't. But you do need to be careful of the spray tans. We've never seen a nice one there. They are almost always a bit of an off-color and if they aren't they quickly get that way once you get in the water. And you will want to get in the water. Even if you don't usually go in the water when you are on vacation you will want to get in the pool here and probably into the hot tub. Those tans quickly become a barfy looking yellow color after a bit of time in the water.

Even with a spray-on you will need a lot of sunblock. And, no, you will not be the only one hauling around sunblock. You'll see it laying with everyone's stuff. And you'll see everyone putting it on. We used to bring a selection of different strength sunscreens but now just bring all SPF60. It's just simpler.

[mac_r_a]

we always pretan for 10 tans before we go to prepare our skin and get a nice glow

[GoodTimesCandC]

We pre tan for at least a month, 3 times a week before we go anywhere (Hedo, LS Cruises, Vanilla). That way we can use spf 15 and get more of the "Natural" tan effect from the real sun as the pigment in your skin is already "activated" (according to our Dermatologist friend!!)

C&C