If this is your first time tanning in a bed, take it easy (about 5 or 6 minutes) for the first few days, if your skin is peachy or pale, or lighter. If you are "ghostly" white, then do not tan, it does terrible things to your skin. After your first time tanning, make sure you go at 5 or 6 minutes for about the first 4 times you go. Then, you can increase 1 minute every next time you go. If you notice your skin burning at all, skip a day, and the next time you go, take it down 1 minute.