‘Tis the season for a tan – a safe tan that is

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Indulgence Salon of Mt. Pleasant provided the following information on the safe effective way to quickly gain a tan for the spring and summer seasons. If interested in treating yourself, visit Indulgence during April to get a jump start on your TAN (the safe way) for only $15!

“The spray-on tan, introduced in a popular form in 2000, has lured customers once wary of tanning salons, salon owners said. The spray-on method is generally endorsed by dermatologists, who have been putting increasing pressure on the ultraviolet tanning industry as tanning salons have attracted teenage clients.

The spray-on tan is a liquid solution that typically combines aloe vera; a bronzer; and dihydroxyacetone, or DHA, a chemical that interacts with the skin to produce a brown color over several hours, much as the flesh of a cut apple turns brown if left uncovered.

Preparing before spray tan is crucial. What you do can mean a difference between a good and a bad spray tan. Exfoliate and moisturize well before you go for a spray tan.

The spray tanning solution affects only the dead skin cells. Your skin has a build up of dead skin cells on top of it. The thicker the layer, the sooner it will rub off. If you exfoliate, the layer will be very shallow, and it will take a while for it to “build up”. Your tan will last longer.

Wax or shave your legs before spray tan.

If you need to shave or wax your legs do it definitely before and make sure that you wash your legs after waxing to remove any wax residue. If you shave your legs after spray on tan, you will take off some of your tan with the hair.

5 tips for caring for your tan — Keep your spray tan moist

1. Moisturize like crazy. Before your spray on tan, you exfoliated, so the layer of dead skin cells is flat and shallow. Then you had your tan, which was developed in the dead skin layer. After your tan you have to guard it from becoming dry and rubbing off. The best way to do it is to moisturize it morning and night. (You start after you had a shower.) It means, dead skin cells will be moist, and stay “plastered” to your body.

2. Avoid things that will exfoliate your skin excessively. How about hot, luxurious bath after your spray on tan? I don’t think so! That will make your skin exfoliate faster, as will rolling in the sand on the beach. A short swim in the sea will not take much off however, but a swim in the chlorinated pool will. (Chlorine will not exfoliate the tan, it will bleach it).

3. Use gentle shower products.
Some soaps are too harsh, using them can take tan off in patches. If you have to use the soap, use good quality ones that moisturize. Better still; a gentle shower gel will be much better for your spray tanned skin.

4. Too much of a good thing? Hands, feet elbows and knees seem to take on more spray tanning solution than the rest of the body, because they have more dry skin on them. It is important to exfoliate those places extra carefully before you have your spray tan. Personally, I do not worry too much about the knees, because I figure that when I used to tan in the sun, my knees were always darker than the rest of my body, so I think that having knees spray tanned darker just makes it look more natural.

5. What to use to take the stains off after spray tan.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you still get darker stains. (Ever since I started using spray tanning solution without the bronzer in my spray tanning booth, I don’t seem to have that problem any more). The way to deal with them is to rub them off with exfoliant. If you use exfoliant on top of exfoliating glove, it seems to do a great job of removing spray tan. If you have done this, and not all has come off, a little bit of lemon juice, liquid bleach or hydrogen peroxide will do the trick.”

Thank you Indulgence!

-Shauna

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