tanning salons (szolarium)

Hugh, I don't know, I've newer been inside, there could be a cover charge :-)

Proverbially it's for women with huge, glued-on nails and eyelashes, and the general air of the most ancient profession.

If you visit any of the big night clubs in Bp you can see lot of people who clearly visit these places regularly (as well as myself...). Maybe it is a bit less popular than used to be but in my salon you can see all kind of people (men, women, old, young)...

my theory for what its worth about solariums is they are pieces of history, obsoleted by fallout from chernobyl and the arrival of budget air travel.  in their heyday its possible they were the commie equivalent of the western beauty parlor, a place for women to meet and have a good chinwag (chat), while making themselves beautiful.

i wouldnt want to jump to conclusions about women with long nails and eyelashes, szocske, it would be disrespectful to the manager and all the tellers in my local bank.  in my observation nails and eyelashes are simply items of personal jewellery, like rings and tattoos.  next time youre putting out a fire, don't reprimand the lady for using acetate, instead try complimenting her on her manicure, see what that does for the firemans fund !

tomasc, thanks for sharing your experience with solariums, i hadn't realised its still a universal culture. im particularly interested in the historical perspective, how the tanning salon originated, what they were like in their heyday, and what led to their relative decline.

The nightclub-subculture is quite alien to me, I'm no good at telling apart the audience, performers, and other associated personnel. As tomasc confirms, tanning (or orange makeup in lieu thereof) are common fashion trends for them all, even today.

With no further disrespect towards Logger's bank tellers, I must liken their benign choice of fashion accessories to insects, to the extent that they are not all beetles, even though all beetles are insects. (this is the usual explanation of subset-superset relationship to children in Hungary.)

i am not sure about the decline, fashion trends come and go. Personally i just find tanned people better looking and being superficial as i am, i like that - when i was liviging in UK i was seriously  suffering from the pale chicken skin syndrome that was so common there (obviously chernobyl did not help there and budget airlines just created the "red chicken skin" effect which, if anything, is even worse). Actually they are pretty popular in lot of places in non communist countries, as well as certain groups of people (fitness, body building etc).

Environmentally they beat of course budget travel.

tomasc wrote:

Environmentally they beat of course budget travel.

Overexposure to UV causes cancer and is therefore a drain on the healthcare system. Look at Australia.

Just guessing here but I expect the overall "benefit" is much lower than just the environment. Just wondering just what are the benefits of being browner than someone else, how is it offset and what's the most healthy way to obtain the appropriate level of toasting?

Obviously a slow day here at the workplace....

I can see how tanning salons and fitness bodybuilding go hand in hand.  When the emphasis is on the body beautiful, a bronzed set of bulging muscles is clearly preferable to the sickly white color induced by long winter months.  Remember, we're talking muscles here, nothing else.  I also understand, the carrot effect of the szolarium sun ray lamp is more attractive than the more extreme red chicken beetroot color associated with those infrequent budget vacations to the sun.  What really surprises me is, no one yet invented a reliable spray or paint on natural bronzing product.  Considering the amount of time and equipment required to produce and maintain a good tan in the szolarium, this kind of product has to be a no brainer !

Actually that is true, too much solarium is definitely not great idea - whether it has been really proven to cause skin cancer or not, but definitely there is possibility for that it might cause increased risk. Whether solarium causes higher risk than sun tanning in general is another question (especially as the highest risk is not caused by generic radiation exposure but burning yourself in the sun and solarium might decrease the risk of burning yourself in the first spring sun). On the other hand, unfortunate side effect of living is death anyway.

There are also self tanning lotion and even body painting options, however, the result is not as nice (some bodybuilders etc who look silly are typically painted).