It’s natural to feel nervous about prom: to over-prepare, wanting to make sure every little detail is perfect. But while it’s expected that many junior girls will want to look tan in pictures, there are four options to achieving this goal: self-tanner, spray tan, tanning bed or nothing artificial at all.

There are many factors to consider when deciding on which option to go with. Firstly, your skin tone could help eliminate some options. Junior Nikki Margeson says that if the tan looks “really different” from your natural color, “then it looks weird and it’s not going to look like you, and I feel like you’d regret that”- after all, you only have one junior prom that’s your own.

Another consideration is dress color. Junior Meagan James thinks your choice should “depend on the color of the dress” because, according to skincaretalk.com, darker colors make your skin look lighter, and lights colored dresses make skin look darker.

If you have thoroughly examined these factors and find a need to tan, which option is best- self, spray, or bed?

Margesson said that self-tanner “blends into your skin”, but Junior Daisy Culkins said that it can leave streaks. About.com’s beauty section recommended L’Oreal Sublime Glow for the Body as a “great, inexpensive gradual tanner,” sold for just $8.79 at CVS. The website offered specific instructions, so looking for tips and tricks online might be helpful when choosing and applying a product. The page also offers products costing anywhere from five to fifty dollars.

Another option is spray tanning. Culkins also reminded the group that she remembers “last year seeing people who had obviously gone [for a spray tan], and watching the number of orange people multiply every day. It just doesn’t look good.” Club Casa, a tanning facility in Cohasset, offers spray tanning at $40 for a single session, or packages of 3 and 5 sessions which are good for a year.

This leaves tanning beds. These cost just $12 before tax at Club Casa, in a level three low-pressure unit. Margesson said she had heard rumours that artificial tanning beds can cause cancer. But this isn’t just a rumour. Last fall, the British Medical Journal published a study saying that the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, one type of melanoma, was 67% higher from ever using indoor tanning, compared to never having used it.

It additionally estimated tanning beds to prematurely cause 170,000 cases of skin cancer every year in the U.S.

So when making your skin health choices for prom this year, make sure to consider all the factors: skin tone, dress color, cost, quality- but most importantly, your health.