Most people agree… even dermatologists… that tans can make people look better… and very simply… when we look better we feel better. So today I’m going to talk about how to get a beautiful yet safe tan.
[INTRO]
Tans from UV rays, whether from the sun or in a tanning salon, are dangerous and promote premature skin aging like wrinkling, brown spots and that awful weather beaten look… and they also cause deadly skin cancer. But there IS a safe way to get that tanned look we all love: from a sunless tanner in a bottle.
Sunless tanners, the only way to get a safe tan, give you the best of both worlds… a safe and a beautiful tan. And the reason the new sunless tanners can give you a truly beautiful tan is because the dye ingredients that temporarily and safely impart the desired color to the skin have been perfected to give you a deep, rich natural looking tan completely indistinguishable from a dangerous ultraviolet one.
And here’s a tip that will surely make your sunless tanner work even better: make sure you exfoliate your skin regularly with a gentle glycolic exfoliant to remove uneven accumulated surface dead cells. That’s because self-tanners work by staining the dead surface cells on your skin. Those dead surface cells are supposed to fall off after four weeks, and therefore, the surface should be smooth. But, the cells don’t always do that. They can accumulate into clumps and mounds and when that happens and you put a self-tanner on, the self-tanner stains the mounds and clumps a darker color than it does the areas around it, which can give you an uneven tan from the self-tanner. So for the best results, be sure to exfoliate regularly before use, and of course, use a streak-free product.
However, since those tan dead cells do eventually fall off as well, sunless tanners, like any tan, fade over time, so to maintain your beautiful sunless tan, make sure you apply and reapply it as directed.
So for a beautiful yet safe tan, get yours from a bottle!
Email
Twitter
Facebook
On June 12, 2012, "Good Morning America" (GMA) reported on alleged dangers of dihydroxyacetone, the active ingredient in self tanners. After reading the transcript I will now say that self tanners are certainly much safer than ultraviolet induced tans whereas before I would have said self tanners are safe. I have no reason to believe at this time from the current evidence cited in the report that self tanners may not be completely safe in humans but studies need to be done to establish their safety on the basis of the GMA report. Two points that were raised need to be addressed. First is the fact that the active ingredient, dihydroxyacetone (DHA) in fact not only stains the dead cells of the skin but can be recovered from some of the live cells below. In addition, the percent that is absorbed or penetrates beyond the dead layer is higher than previously known. While initially that could raise questions, the fact is that DHA in the current form has been applied as a sunless tanner for over 30 years and there are no clusters of self tanner induced skin cancers or reports of any association clinically of self tanners causing skin cancer regardless of the amount absorbed or the depth of the absorption. The fact that DHA was shown in non-human lab studies to cause some abnormalities in no way changes the fact that there’s a greater than 30 year record of safe use of this product in humans. The second issue raised was the potential absorption via the lungs of the aerosol form when people are having a spray on tan whether self sprayed or sprayed in a salon. I would like to believe that when people spray underarm antiperspirant that they avoid inhaling those fumes and the same common sense applies to any fumes including those from self tanner. The recommendations that people take measures to prevent inhaling the fumes or absorbing them through the lips or eyes are common sense and I endorse them and they should be adhered to. Provided those guidelines are followed I see no reason at this time for spray on tans to be avoided unless or until studies are done that are relevant to humans. In conclusion, in my opinion, a sunless tanner is much, much safer than any ultraviolet induced tan. -Neal Schultz MD