I think this whole converstion is very interesting. I am willing to bet that the younger people, teenagers and people in their early 20's are ok will tanning and are wishing you luck. While the older ones 30's and up are warning you about all the dangers on tanning. Why? Well us old folks have seen what skin cancer can do. It is not pretty. Not just the cancer but the long term effects on the skin. But when you are younger then 30 you don't care, because 30 sounds so old and far away. Heck I did such dumb, dangerous things when I was young, me and my friends are all amazed we are still alive. We grew up in the drug world of the 70's. Our teachers used to smoke pot in the morning before coming into class. Only way they could get through the day. If my kids did half of the **** I did when I was younger I would have grounded them for life. And what did my friends and I learn from all this some 30 years later, all the drugs, boys, parties? We learned how dumb, stupid and worthless our lives were. How uncool we really were. Sad, sad, sad. We should have buckled down and studied and once we had our college degress and we were making $70,000 a year, we could have partied in a nicer house with a way cooler crowd.
So here is my two cents on your tanning. Go ahead and do what makes you happy. You like everyone else will pay or not for what you do now. Maybe you will win the contest and it will lead to great things. At least you are taking a chance, be brave, be true and study hard. 30 is right around the corner.