There is no industry standard for determining UVB output, just as there is no industry standard for determining Tingle Factor in a lotion.
What are UVB percentages and what do they tell you about a sunlamp’s tanning performance?
There is no industry standard for determining UVB output, just as there isn’t an industry standard for determining Tingle Factor in a lotion. For example, a Tingle Factor 30 made by Company A may perform completely differently than a Tingle Factor 30 from Company B. However, you know within the lotion lines from Company A that their Tingle 30 is stronger than their Tingle 20, and the same goes for Company B; however, you can’t compare Company A’s tingle to Company B’s tingle.
It’s pretty much the same with tanning lamps. A UVB% is just a number that companies use to market their lamps – percentages are derived from dividing a lamp’s UVB energy by its UVA energy. This is a common method of “rating” sunlamps, but only produces a relative figure and tells us very little about a given product’s tanning power, effectiveness or useful life. It is not an accurate measure of a lamp’s true performance.
For the purpose of achieving a cosmetic tan, UVB rays are a critical component for the production of melanin, which is then darkened by exposure to UVA rays. The total amount of UV energy, and whether the UVA and UVB are from the most effective spectral regions are the determining factors in a sunlamp’s performance.
Two sunlamps are shown in the simple graph below – both deliver the same amount of UVB energy, but deliver greatly differing amounts of UVA. The lamp on the left (1) has a 5% UVB ratio versus that on the right (2) with only 4%. If one only looks to the UVB% values, lamp 1 with its higher UVB/UVA ratio could mistakenly be construed as a stronger or more effective sunlamp. Not true; lamp 2 has a lower UVB ratio because it delivers so much more UVA.
An effective sunlamp must produce a balance of both UVA and UVB. Adding more UVB typically creates more of a “reddening” lamp, not a better “tanning” lamp. Professional tanning salons should choose a sunlamp product that is manufactured based on research and unique phosphor blends that produce high-quality tanning lamps that deliver outstanding, reliable and profitable results.
Please call or email sales@wolffsys.com for questions about lamps that you’d like answered in a future issue of IST Magazine.
