With all of the daily warnings about the dangerous effects of too much direct sun, there is a way to get a sun-free tan without suffering any sun damage. Skin cancer, or melanoma, oftentimes doesn’t show up right away. The dark tan you are so proud of every summer may show up years later with dangerous repercussions.
Another good reason to avoid the sun is increased exposure adds wrinkles to our skin. With our obsession with youth, everyone not only wants to look young, they want to stay that way. Every day more and more products are created to keep our skin looking smooth and supple. Wrinkled skin can make you look years older than you really are.
So why risk your life and your skin by laying out on the beach with the ultraviolet rays of the sun beating down on you? You can still achieve that healthy glow by using a good sunless tanner.
Don’t worry, it’s not like the Sixties when Coppertone came out with the first self-tanners that made people look orange. Today you can hardly tell who has a real tan and who used a sunless tanner to get that bronze glow.
The key ingredient in sunless tanners is dihydroxyacetone or DHA. While it sounds like just another chemical to be leery of, the truth is DHA is a form of carbohydrate based from the likes of sugar cane and sugar beets.
Created in the 1920s for another purpose altogether, DHA was found to change the color of people’s skin when it spilled on them. The sunless tan is created when the DHA meets the amino acids on your skin. The FDA approved DHA in the 1970s and it has been on the permanent list since that time.
The selection of self-tanners has expanded into a whole new industry. You can choose from gels, sprays, lotions, creams, mousses, and wipes. The best self-tanners allow you to see how much lotion or cream you have applied so you get an even-looking tan. You start out with one application and you can add to it to create the depth of color you wish to achieve.
In order to get the best results from a self-tanner, you should always exfoliate your skin first. This will give you a nice even surface to work with. Most products suggest that you apply the self-tanner at night before you go to bed to give it a chance to work. The lotion may come off on your clothes but don’t worry, it will wash out. The next morning, once you see the way the self-tanner colored your skin, you can make additional applications to build your tan to the darkest level you would like.
It doesn’t make sense to risk the repercussions that come from roasting under a hot sun to get a tan. You can easily and safely achieve the same results at a fraction of the time by using a good self-tanner. You can check out any number of products on the Internet and choose the best one for you.
