Health and beauty: alternative tanning methods

Have you ever had the totally orange experience? You know, you try some new tan-in-a-bottle stuff and a few hours later, you are completely orange from head to toe. No amount of showering will wash it away and t takes days to wear off. In the meanwhile, you have to hide out in your house for fear of someone seeing you like that. That’s the kind of ordeal you have to face when you’re trying to get a fabulous tan, without the harmful sun rays.

With so much focus on protecting skin from harmful UV rays, tanners have resorted to trying alternative methods for achieving a safe tan. Fortunately, new formulas of instant tan lotions have been much improved. Still, it’s important to work the lotion into the skin very well, using little around knees, elbows, heels, inside the bend of the arm, and behind the bend of the leg. These places tend to turn darker, and when using these types of lotions, these areas tend to turn more orange than brown. And, as you’re rubbing it in, you have to be fast, as prolonged contact with the hands will turn them extremely orange. Immediately after applying the lotion, wash hands thoroughly, especially between the fingers, with soap and warm water. Wash at least twice. Different manufacturers use different formulas and some work well better than others. Try the product when you know you’ll be able to stay at home, if necessary, for a couple of days, just in case you get a case of the oranges.

Then there’s always the tanning pill. There’s tanning pills that work with no sun and tanning pills that work with the sun’s rays, but once the pills are halted, the tan disappears. The capsules are usually taken once a day until the full tan is reached, then the dosage is usually cut in half. With the sunless type of capsule, it takes about a month to reach the full tan, with results showing in about a week or two. There have been some studies that indicate that the pills have unhealthy side effects. The type of capsules that require the sun’s assistance has an ingredient that duplicates the production of the skin pigment melanin with UV exposure. This tan is real and offers some protection against UV rays. Some people think that taking these pills will not only give them a nice tan, but protect them from getting a sunburn. Not true. Exposing skin to the sun’s rays, with or without the pills, can cause sunburn.

The newest in sunless tanning is airbrushing. This is the same method that is used for painting a car. The recipient wears a bathing suit or even their birthday suit, then is sprayed, using an airgun and compressor, with dihydroxyacetone or DHA. The person’s body is then spray painted with the perfect tan. After standing in front of a fan for 5 or 10 minutes, then tan is set and will last about 8 days. The Food and Drug Administration certified the use of DHA for cometic purposes in the ‘70's. DHA is actually sugar and is non-toxic. The spray-painted tan does not offer any protection against UV rays.