- 04/07/2025
19-YEAR-OLD Megan has been getting sunbeds since she was 16 years old, and describes herself as addicted. "I wish I didn't start now", she said. "At 14 years old I started using fake tan. I was really white. My mom got the sunbed out of the garage and I thought, you know what? I'll use the sunbed while she's at work. I would calculate the exact amount of electric I've used and go top it up at the shop." Her mom wasn’t pleased and tried to stop her, but Megan carried on regardless, whether at home or going to a tanning salon. Megan explained, "I go on the sunbed 4 times a week, 15 minutes at a time. But when I'm at home, sometimes I'll go on for 20, 25 minutes. I use a tingle cream and I take tan injections five times a week." Now she regrets ever getting on a sunbed. "If I could speak to my 14-year-old self today, I'd say, don't change for anyone. You are who you are, you don't need to fit in with a crowd, just be yourself."
Follow Megan here -
https://www.instagram.com/megannblainn_xx_
https://www.tiktok.com/@blainnyy
Follow Megan here -
https://www.instagram.com/megannblainn_xx_
https://www.tiktok.com/@blainnyy
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm addicted to sunbed and tannin injections.
00:02I go on the sunbed four times a week.
00:04I take tannin injections five times a week.
00:07It's a lot darker than what most people would like.
00:10Loads of heads would turn in the street.
00:12People would look me up and down and laugh at it.
00:14I'd like the bottom of the sunbed
00:16because the tubes are meant to be stronger for your face.
00:19Skin cancer is calling.
00:20My toes when it's burnt.
00:22Girl, you're darker than me.
00:23I actually have melanin.
00:25I can't remember what I look like pale.
00:27Sometimes I cry after the sunbed
00:29because I know the damage I'm doing to my skin
00:31but I feel like I'm too far gone.
00:33I've got moulds all over.
00:34I didn't know if the moulds were cancerous.
00:36I'm Megan and I get hate because I'm this tanned.
00:39I'm 19 and I started getting sunbeds at 16
00:41and now I can't stop.
00:42I wish I didn't start tannin.
00:43Now I'm addicted.
00:44At 14 years old, I started using fake tan.
00:47I was lily white, like really white.
00:49And it looked nice, it did, but obviously a bit patchy.
00:51It was a faff on to get off in the bath.
00:53And then me mam got the sunbed out the garage
00:56and I thought, you know what,
00:57I'll use the sunbed while she's at work
00:59and I would calculate the right amount of electric I've used
01:02and go and put it on at the shop.
01:03Like, I actually would as well, I'm not even lying.
01:05Yeah, after using me mam's sunbed for a while,
01:08I thought, you know what, I'll go to the sunbed shop
01:09and noticed a drastic change of me colour,
01:13which I loved and I like wearing bright colours.
01:15So it made, like, your tan make your clothes look better.
01:18I go on the sunbed four times a week, 15 minutes at a time.
01:21But when I'm at home, sometimes I'll go on for 20, 25 minutes.
01:24I use a tingle cream and I take tan injections five times a week.
01:28I like the bottom of the sunbed
01:30because the tubes are meant to be stronger for your face.
01:33But I've also got a sunbed in my room.
01:35So sometimes I'll come off from the sunbed shop,
01:38go on my sunbed because it's different tubes.
01:41It just gives us loads of confidence.
01:43I just feel the top of the world when I'm tanned.
01:45In the past, I've been a lot darker than what I am now.
01:48And I used to go on the sunbed near enough every day for a year.
01:51Yeah, I am addicted to sunbed.
01:52I don't actually like going on the sunbed.
01:54I feel like I have to.
01:55Do you think Megan has gone too far with it?
01:59Personally, yes.
02:01It doesn't look very natural.
02:03It's a lot darker than what most people would like.
02:07If I had that relationship with Megan,
02:09I would probably say maybe drop it down to less sessions a week.
02:13But we always promote safe tanning.
02:14A year and a half after using sunbeds,
02:16I noticed that my belly was going a black, caul-y colour,
02:19not a tanned, glowy colour, but I liked it.
02:23Roads of heads would turn in the street.
02:25People would look me up and down and laugh at us.
02:26And I'm thinking, what are they laughing at?
02:28Because it was normal to me.
02:29It made me question myself as well.
02:32Like, what are they looking at?
02:33Is it because I'm really tanned?
02:35Is it because of what I'm wearing?
02:36It makes us feel uncomfortable,
02:38but at the end of the day, I'm not bothered
02:39because everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
02:41And I know I look great,
02:43so I'm not bothered what they think.
02:45Some people do actually compliment the tan,
02:47but heads turn everywhere I go.
02:53I never use sunbeds and I never use late tan.
02:55I just like, with all the cancer risks,
02:58like I'm already out in the sun,
02:59I don't need extra UV.
03:01If you want to use sunbeds, that's fine.
03:04That's your choice.
03:05But I just think any is too often, to be honest with you.
03:08So I think using sunbeds once a week would be too much.
03:11I wouldn't do it every day.
03:13I'm surprised they just don't let them really exist,
03:15to be honest,
03:16because especially with all the other options there are,
03:18such as the spray tans and the self tans.
03:22If you're going to go for it, go all out,
03:24but then maybe just remember what you're like,
03:27the health risks and stuff.
03:28I don't really have any experience with them,
03:30but if I did,
03:31like my first perception would be,
03:33I wouldn't use something like that
03:34because I would rather do it in a more natural way.
03:37you know, what repercussions that might have on your skin or health.
03:40I don't actually live here.
03:41I live in Asia and we have very warm weather.
03:43So we actually get naturally tanned when we step out.
03:45I don't really feel the need to use tanning beds.
03:48Because we, like I said, are naturally in the sun.
03:50Yeah, after going on the sun bed,
03:52I seen a girl on Facebook advertising tanning injections
03:55and I thought,
03:56I might as well get some and see what they're like.
03:59I was scared of needles.
04:00I had the tanning injections sat there for a week
04:02because I was actually dreading taking it.
04:04I took a tanning injection.
04:05It made me feel sick and drowsy,
04:07but I still went to the sun bed shop.
04:08I went on the sun bed
04:10and I come off like a complete different colour.
04:12I couldn't believe the drastic change of colour.
04:15I was putting too much melanin and going on the sun bed
04:18and obviously after the sun bed,
04:20your skin, I mean, it doesn't develop till 24 hours
04:23and you might as well say for a year,
04:25my tan was constantly still developing.
04:27So I was going on every day
04:29and you need to give your skin 48 hours break
04:32for your tan to come out.
04:33I started noticing moles on me back, me hands.
04:36I've got moles all over,
04:37but you do get moles off sun beds.
04:38I didn't know if the moles were cancerous.
04:41I've got a mark on me stomach.
04:42I've tried going to the doctors,
04:44but I freeze at the door and be sick.
04:46I've been going on sun beds for three years.
04:48I've got moles all over,
04:50but that mark is, I've never seen nothing like it.
04:53I think I could be scared.
04:55When I first started sun beds,
04:56I didn't know much about it.
04:58So I got some baby oil.
05:00I went, I used to go on the sun bed
05:01and now we're front and back every day for a year.
05:04Later on, after I've been laving baby oil all over us,
05:06I've searched things on the internet
05:08and it's really damaging for your skin.
05:09Basically, you're cooking your skin,
05:11making you look burnt, not tanning you.
05:13I tried injections and I've never looked back from there.
05:16And it's just, the addiction's just getting worse.
05:19I wouldn't recommend going on sun beds to anyone.
05:22I started looking dark a year and a half after using sun beds.
05:25I looked black.
05:26I posted a TikTok and I got loads of hate for it.
05:29People would call us two pence coin.
05:32I got three million views.
05:33One person even said the burnt chip
05:35at the bottom of the air fryer.
05:36Bottom of my foot after walking around
05:38when I was socks on for a couple of hours.
05:40The 2p coin from 1972 at the bottom of my bag.
05:44What feels illegal but isn't.
05:46Did it cremate you?
05:47And people calling us natural from Barbie.
05:50Skin cancer is calling.
05:52My toes when it's burnt.
05:54Why are you trying to switch sides in mid-game?
05:57Girl, you're darker than me.
05:58I actually have melanin.
06:00I'd honestly rather be pale.
06:01I don't know why people hating on her.
06:03She's gorgeous.
06:04Some good comments as well, but are mainly all bad.
06:07At the time, I thought the video looked nice.
06:09But now looking back at it now, it looks terrible.
06:119,522 comments.
06:14People tagging their friends.
06:1662.2k shares.
06:18Oh my god, I'm famous.
06:20That's what I thought.
06:22I'm not famous, but it went viral.
06:25Even me friends were in the comment section slating us,
06:27which at that point in my life, I was,
06:30it did affect us a bit.
06:32But then I started to learn to deal with the hate,
06:34and I just tossed it over me shoulder now.
06:36I watch one TikTok video about 100 times
06:38from now before I post it.
06:40Like, that's fine.
06:40I shouldn't have to.
06:41I should be able to be like,
06:43just post it without even thinking.
06:44But obviously, because of me past,
06:46I can't just post a video.
06:48I know, I was really dark.
06:49Like, it was hard to believe myself that I was that dark.
06:52I loved it.
06:53I was in my prime when I was that dark, to be honest.
06:55I didn't really care.
06:56I've cut down.
06:57And I did cut down well and truly,
06:59but I started to go on the sunbeds again.
07:00So I think there is pressure in society to look tanned.
07:04I think that's very much like the beauty I do in,
07:07like, Western society.
07:09I like looking tanned.
07:10I like getting a tan.
07:11But I wouldn't go as far as to use a sunbed to do so.
07:14I think I'd much rather use, like, fake tan.
07:16As far as I'm aware,
07:17there's not as many kind of health risks.
07:20I do think they're very special to look tanned.
07:21Definitely with the rise of all the celebrities in the 2010s,
07:25it was more like that was the beauty aesthetic
07:27and all the injections.
07:29Anything can become an addiction these days.
07:31I think if someone uses it and they like the results,
07:33then sure, they would want to use it again.
07:35And my tan causes lots of arguments between me and my mam.
07:38She tried to chop the plug off a sunbed one time,
07:40but she said,
07:40you're old enough to make your own decisions.
07:42You're 19 now,
07:43but stop going on the sunbeds.
07:45You're ruining your skin.
07:47By the time you're 30,
07:48you're going to look 50.
07:49Sometimes my mam doesn't like walking around with us
07:52if I'm fresh off the sunbed,
07:53because I look really tanned.
07:54My mam and my nana are really concerned about us.
07:56We've tried to make doctor's appointments,
07:58but I just failed to attend.
07:59I don't think I would ever stop using tan injections
08:02or going on the sunbed,
08:02because I'm that used to it now.
08:04I can't remember what I look like pale.
08:06If I start getting wrinkles,
08:07I think that could possibly make me stop sunbeds,
08:10but I've already noticed little bits of wrinkles on my skin.
08:13Dozen phases, to be honest.
08:14I'm that used to going on sunbeds now.
08:16It's just standard procedure for me.
08:18I'm trying to overcome the addiction,
08:19but it is hard.
08:20Sometimes I'll cry after the sunbed,
08:22because I know the damage I'm doing to my skin,
08:24but I feel like I'm too far gone.
08:26After the sunbed,
08:27I tend to use Corporal Radiant.
08:28It helps moisturise the skin,
08:30and makes me tan look really dark and blurry.
08:32And I also use this Aloe Sue Intensive Care Spray as well.
08:36For all of my body,
08:37it's great for helping my skin be soft.
08:39I've tried so many products over the years.
08:41I also use an E.T. cream,
08:43and with my eyes and that.
08:44When I have tried to cut down,
08:45I feel terrible.
08:46Sometimes, at one point,
08:48not now though,
08:49I wouldn't leave the house,
08:51if I didn't look tanned enough.
08:52It was like my life sort of started to revolve around tanning,
08:55but I didn't realise it.
08:56And then, when I started thinking about it all,
08:58I thought, like, it wasn't normal.
09:00Like, I used to search loads of things on the internet about tanning,
09:03ask the same questions over and over.
09:05What foods to eat for your tan?
09:06I was obsessed.
09:07I still am in a way,
09:09but, like I said,
09:10I don't go on the sunbed to get more tanned.
09:12I just feel like I have to.
09:13And,
09:14it's hard to explain it to put into words,
09:16but it makes me think,
09:17it could happen to someone else,
09:19and I wouldn't,
09:20I wouldn't wish I'm your worst enemy, to be honest.
09:22Well, half the tanning shops around here,
09:24you do let young'uns in to go on a sunbed,
09:26and which is concerning,
09:27I think they should spread more awareness about sunbeds.
09:30I think that could possibly,
09:31steer people away from sunbeds,
09:33and, like, show the bad sides of it.
09:35I used to get bullied a lot.
09:36I got off the kids in school.
09:38I started to change myself.
09:40I used to cry to me mum.
09:41This is why I look the way I am today,
09:43because of us being .
09:45So, I'm constantly working on me looks,
09:46going to the gym, eating well,
09:48just having a fake tan all over us,
09:50to fit in and just to make friends.
09:52If I could speak to my 14-year-old self today,
09:55I'd say, don't change for anyone.
09:57You are who you are.
09:58You don't need to fit in with the crowd.
10:00Just be yourself.
10:01If I go back in time,
10:02I'd tell myself not to go on the sunbeds the way I did,
10:04and to take no notes off people's opinions.
10:06Don't change yourself for anyone.
10:08In the future,
10:09I hope to be at Air Horses,
10:10not using sunbeds,
10:12and happy.
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