Sunless tanning lotions are on the rise now more than ever as more of us realize that sun bathing is dangerous for our skin and subsequently, dangerous to our health. Many believe that because of global warming, the sun has become a real danger for our skin; causing premature aging and serious skin problems such as skin cancer. In recent years, we've seen increased concerns when it comes exposuing our skin directly to the sun.
So how can we maintain a healthy glow year round without subjecting our skin to the harmful rays of the sun? That's right! Sunless tanning lotions!
Have you ever wondered how sunless tanning lotions work?
Our skin naturally protects us from the UV damage by producing something called melanin. This is a substance that absorbs the harmful rays of the sun to protect our DNA. When our body produces melanin it darkens the skin thus, creating what we know as a tan.
Sunless tanning lotions replicate this process by using a chemical called Dihydroxyacetone - DHA. DHA colors our skin by interacting with the amino acids in dead skin cells; when the dead skin cells shed so does the color.
You'll get the best results with sunless tanning lotion if you have a fair complexion. This is because fair skinned individuals tend to burn, rather than tan, when exposed to the sun. But if you do have fair skin, you do need to be careful when applying sunless tanners, not all of them are created equal. If you don't know what you're doing, your tan can end up looking orange or blotchy.
The following products have been picked as the best value on the market in regard to the quality they offer.
There are many more sunless tanning lotions to pick from and experiment with as you like. Some top house lotions like Lancome, Clarins, Estee Lauder and YSL to name a few have excellent products as well but can be a bit more on the expensive side.
To get the best results from your sunless tanning lotion, try doing the following:
- Exfoliate the areas that you wish to apply the lotion before application. This will eliminated the dead skin cells and prolong your tanned look.
- Do not take a shower, take a bath or use water just after you applied the sunless tanning lotion. This will prevent irregular streaking.
- Don't forget to use gloves when applying the lotion, unless you want to have orange hands for the next week or so.
Sunless tanning lotion is a great product and a fantastic alternative to the sun's harmful rays. Not only can you mimic a natural tan more effectively than ever, but you can ensure that your skin will look healthy, young and refreshed as you mature over time.
Nowadays sunless tanning means are divided into 2 main categories - external and internal means. External means (lotions etc.) use Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) as their active ingredient. In the 1970s Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) was added by the FDA to its list of safe cosmetic ingredients, and it is still on that list. The internal means (tanning pills etc.) contain beta carotene or canthaxanthin - the ingredients which were banned by the FDA many years ago due to being unsafe.
The main advantages of sunless tanning include:
- You can achieve the tan in several hours after applying sunless tanner onto your skin. This eliminates the need of taking weeks or even months to achieve a nice tan.
- Modern sunless tanners give you a completely naturally looking tan. You just want to make sure (by reading what other users say) that the tan will be of a brown, and not orange-shade brown color.
- Sunless tanning will not give you tan lines - you can apply them in private all over your body.
- You will achieve a nice tan even if you are a person with fair skin due to which your skin does not produce much melanin (pigment that gives skin the pink, brown or black color)
- Sunless tan is a temporary tan - it will disappear in about a 5-7 day course of time.
There are people that are actually obsessed with their tan. They can not picture themselves without having a tan. If those people want to keep their skin looking younger for years to come they should opt to use sunless tanning instead of tanning in the sun.
What about people with psoriasis? Will they benefit or not from the use of sunless tanners?
There is no information about the sunless tanning helping to treat psoriasis. But there is information that some people with psoriasis say sunless tanning helps them to feel better about their skin and they started wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts in the summer. This happens due to that sunless tanning makes your skin brown which makes the red psoriatic lesions much less noticeable than if they were on a pale skin.
It is probably more comfortable to apply sunless tanning means with the use of special tanning towels saturated with the tanning lotion. After you wipe your body with such towels and rub the tanning lotion into your skin, the tan will start appearing in about 1 hour. First it may look red or orange. But within a few more hours the orange nuance should disappear and the tan will turn brown.
Scaly psoriatic lesions may also first appear orange but after you shower (in about 24 hours of the achieving of the tan) these scales will be gone.
You may want to shower right before you apply the tanning lotion because after applying of the lotion it is not recommended to take a shower or even to sweat (like with exercises) for about a 24 hour period.
Sunless tan will usually last for about 5-7 days and then disappear. Tiny remainders may stay for up to 2 weeks.
Most people with psoriasis that have tried sunless tanning did not experience any inflammation nor blocked or clogged pores. However, some people with psoriasis noticed that a sunless tanning lotion can block skin pores and dry up psoriatic scales, making them look flakier.
Both Christopher Smith & Psoriasis Aid are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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