A Shopper’s Guide to Tanning Lotion
With today’s tanning lotions, there’s no reason that you can’t keep your golden glow year-round. But unless you’re immersed in the tanning culture, it’s easy to get confused by the variety of products in the marketplace. Here, then, is a quick start guide that will help you find just the right product to suit your needs.
Indoor, Outdoor, or Sunless?
Tanning lotions can be broadly divided into three categories: those for outdoor tanning, indoor tanning lotion, and sunless tanning lotion. As its name implies, outdoor lotions are perfect when you’re going to the beach or lying out by the pool. If you’re going to a salon to get that golden glow, you’ll need a tanning bed lotion. If you want to avoid the rays altogether, you’ll want a sunless tanning lotion that you can apply yourself in the comfort of your own home.
Before you select a tanning lotion, it’s helpful to think about your tanning goals. Would you like a tan for a special occasion, like your wedding day or a class reunion? Are you a committed sun worshipper who relishes the deep bronze color of a lasting tan? Or are you planning a week at the beach and want some color while avoiding ruining your vacation with a sunburn on your first day out?
Face, Body, or All Over?
Advances in chemistry and technology mean that we can find products that are specific to our needs. There are special lotions for facial tanning, for example, while others are developed just for the legs. There are bronzers, tingle lotions, and hybrids that contain both bronzing and tingling properties. There is also an abundance of sunscreens, from regular SPF lotions to lip balms to sunscreen specifically designed for tattoos.
Tanning Accessories
When you decide upon a tanning product, you may also want to purchase an array of accessories. These might include products that will protect your manicure and pedicure while you’re tanning, a back lotion applicator, a shower cap (for sunless tanning), or a solar cap (to protect your hair color treatment from UV rays).
Go for Quality
Not only are there many different types of lotion on the market, but you’ll find tanning lotions at a variety of price points. As with many things in life, to a great extent you get what you pay for. The designer product lines are generally made with better ingredients, have longer staying power, and are often used as part of a system. For example, a product line might have a three-part system where one lotion is used to establish your base tan, another tanning lotion is used to moisturize your skin and extend your tan, and a third helps darken your tan once it’s been established.
Buying quality lotion doesn’t always mean paying top dollar, though. There are online sources that offer a wide variety of tanning lotion – including the designer lines – for the same price you’d pay at the drugstore for a lesser quality lotion. The bottom line? It pays to shop around and buy great lotions at affordable prices.
How To Apply Tanning Lotion Correctly?
Every day, millions of dead skin cells are sloughed off or worn away from the surface of your skin. In fact, every 35 to 45 days, you have an entirely new epidermis. This is why tans from sunless- or self-tanning lotions will gradually fade — as the dead cells are worn away, so is your tan. For this reason, most of these products suggest that you reapply the sunless- or self-tanner about every three days to maintain your tan.
Although gels, lotions or sprays that contain DHA are said to be the most reliable and useful, there are dozens of other types of products on the market. Tanning accelerators — lotions or pills that usually contain the amino acid tyrosine — claim that they stimulate and increase melanin formation, thereby accelerating the tanning process.
Hot Tips for Proper Application!
Wait AT LEAST 15 minutes before getting dressed (remember that self-tanner can stain clothes). Do not exercise or swim for at least three hours.
If you make a mistake and end up with streaky or dark areas of skin, consider using an exfoliant such as my 2% Beta Hydroxy Acid Liquid over those spots. Then, in the morning, manually exfoliate those areas with a wet washcloth. This should rub off any uneven stripes. Take special care with problem areas.
As an option for your hands (which can be particularly tricky to get looking natural) apply self-tanner as you would a moisturizer, but then quickly wipe your palms off on a slightly soapy washcloth. Then take a Q-tip dipped in cleanser, eye-makeup remover (one that is not greasy so it doesn’t spread or smear), or nail polish remover and carefully use it to wipe around the nails and cuticle area and between your fingers. You can also use a makeup sponge to apply self-tanner to the back of your hands, tops of your feet, temples, and hairline. By holding the sponge deftly between two fingers, you only need to worry about preventing this small area from changing color.
Skin-care products such as AHAs, BHA, topical scrubs, Retin-A, and topical disinfectants can affect the self-tanner’s action on your skin or even eliminate the color by exfoliating the surface skin cells (self-tanners only interact on the surface of skin). It is best not to apply these products the evening you apply a self-tanner. However, if you must do so, wait at least two to three hours before you do.
Reapply self-tanner as you feel the need. Generally it will start fading in about three to four days as the surface layers of skin shed.
It is important to tan correctly and we urge you to come find out more about self tanning! Learn about the common mistakes made and gather hot tips of looking totally fabulous!
