With the weather warming up and vacation time nearing, beach bunnies are showing up on shores around the coast. Many ladies and gents would like to know how to get the best tan — and keep it.
Denise Borte, manager of Sun-N-Side tanning salon, offered a few suggestions for getting the perfect glow a few weeks before hitting the beach. The salon offers both spray tanning and tanning beds. Its most popular package is the unlimited monthly deal, which allows tanners access to beds up to three times per week for a month to get the bronzed god/goddess look. Go get your glow on.
1. Exfoliate — it serves as the best base for working on that tan.
“Exfoliation clears any dead skin cells. The fresh skin underneath is going to tan better,” Borte said.
Using a body scrub with moisturizing beads or a regular washcloth provides enough exfoliation to remove dead skin cells that may block rays — or tanning spray — from penetrating the skin.
2. Use products with quality ingredients — it is worth it.
“What you pay for is what you get,” Borte said. “Lotions with really good ingredients are going to help you maintain your tan.”
The salon offers a variety of products, including sample packages that start at $2.50 and can last for about one to one and a half tans.
The most expensive bottle — Obsidian — offers “30 times the bronze” and comes with a hefty price tag of $125 per bottle. “It’s supposed to be worth the money,” Borte said of the lotion she sells about once a week.
3. Be consistent with tanning to see the results.
 “You should come two to three times a week. They’re 20-minute beds if you have a base tan. But if you’re just starting out, we recommend you go for eight minutes.”
4. Almost as important as exfoliating, be sure to moisturize after tanning — inside or out.
“That’s the No. 1 (rule). Moisturized skin … it tans a lot better,” Borte said. “If you can find a lotion with vitamin E, it conditions the skin and helps absorb the light.”
5. It’s a tanning bed, not a burning bed.
For those who are looking to get some color, getting a sunburn on top of another sunburn is not the answer. 
“You don’t want to start off with too many minutes at one time. If you burn, you have to worry about peeling and all that,” Borte said. “We don’t recommend tanning on top of a burn, and if you do burn, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.”