Sunless Tanning Products, The Way To Go

If you are thinking about spending the weekend getting a tan in the sun, then think twice. The fact remains that tanning is not good for your skin. Exposing yourself in the sun, even up to a moderate extent, can put you at an elevated risk of getting skin cancer. However, if you do want the look of tan skin, then there are options. Sunless tanning lotions are everywhere and they are absolutely safe to use.  Just by following a few easy instructions you can get a very natural looking tan.

• How to prepare your skin for self-tanning products?

If your skin is flaky and dry then it will not be able to absorb the tanning product evenly. This can lead to an uneven tan, which is worse than not having a tan at all. Therefore, before you apply, try to make your skin as smooth and as clear as possible.

You can do this by first exfoliating your skin. This will cause the removal of any dead skin as well flakes. After that, you can follow with a moisturizer every day. It may take a few days before you can see your new and good skin to come forth.

• How to get the best tan?

Those days when applying tanning lotion caused your skin to become orange are long gone. Now, you can get a more enhanced and natural looking better tan.

The formula has of course changed over the years, the methods of application are varied.  The texture of the lotions are thicker and some even come in the form of mousses or foams. In addition, they are slow to get activated and fast to get absorbed. All of these factors are enough to give you a natural tan.

First, you will need to picture how the sun tans you. Generally, it is darker on your forearms while lighter underneath. Your armpits will rarely be the same color like your shoulders. Therefore, when applying the lotion, you can apply them slightly darker to those areas, which you think will be darker. This should be very subtle because you do still want to tan evenly. To achieve this, apply evenly and then buff off those areas that you do not want so dark.

This will help the dark tones to blend easily with the lighter ones. This will also include elbows, kneecaps as well as your hairline. Now, one more thing about these areas is that generally, they have rough skin and hence, you should exfoliate well prior to application.

• When should you apply your self-tanner?

It depends on your plans for the day, or night.  There is no specific time you need to stick with when applying your self tanning products.  However, you should remember that they do not have any sunscreen. If you are planning to hit the beach the next day, then apply it the night before. Then you can awake to a natural and beautiful glow and you’ll just need to apply your SPF sunscreen and off you go!  You’ll arrive already looking like a beach-goddess!

Once you achieved your desired tan shade, maintenance should be easy.  However since build-up can occur over weeks and weeks of use,  you may want to do a good exfoliation to start over the proccess every few weeks or so.