Increasingly, tanners are experiencing the joys of sunless self-tanning rather than exposing their skin to the potential harmful effects of sun tanning or tanning with tanning beds. Although self-tanners in the past resulted in fake looking tans that were very easy to distinguish from the real thing, self-tanning lotions have come a long way. In fact, today's self-tanners are impossible to identify when applied correctly.

Getting Your Skin Prepared

Before applying a self-tanner, it is important to get your skin properly prepared. You can do this by taking a shower and exfoliating your skin. This will remove dead, dry, flaky skin while leaving behind your healthy, glowing skin. As a result, your skin will be better able to accept the special bronzing agents included in self-tanners.

There are many products currently available on the market that will assist you with this process. After exfoliating your skin the first time, it generally is not necessary to do again until about the fifth or sixth reapplication of the self-tanner.

Applying the Cream

When you apply self-tanning lotion, you should use only a little bit more than you would normally use when putting lotion or cream on your skin. In order to prevent streaking from occurring, you should apply the tanner with a circular motion until it is all rubbed in. Be sure to cover all areas of your body, including in your armpits and along your sides. At the same time, you should focus on just one area at the time in order to make sure each part of your body is properly covered.

Try to remember how natural tans look on the body. For example, jointed areas such as your ankles, knees and elbows do not tend to get as dark. Therefore, you should use slightly less tanner on these areas. The same is true for the top of your feet. Areas such as the palms of your hands, the bottom of your feet, and your hairline generally do not get tanned at all, so avoid putting self-tanner on these areas.

After you have applied the self-tanner, it is important that you avoid putting on clothes for fifteen to thirty minutes. This way, your clothes won't get damaged and the self-tanner will have plenty of time to get absorbed by your skin. It is also important to avoid letting water come into contact with the areas where you have put the self-tanner on your body. After applying your first layer, you should wait one day and reapply for a solid base coat. Then, you should be able to simply apply the tanner once per week in order to maintain your beautiful new color.