How To Remove a Spray Tan

Home > Beauty and Cosmetics > How To Remove a Spray Tan

Learn how to remove a spray tan gone wrong and how to get the right tan next time you go under a sunless tanning product

Beautifully bronzed skin is still as popular as ever. If you were not born with a tan, you can get one in three ways, from the sun, from a tanning bed, or from a bottle. The sun is known to damage your skin by drying it out and causing wrinkles or worse yet, developing skin cancer. You can have beautifully tan skin with out the harmful rays of the sun by using a sunless spray tanner. Sunless tanners are also called spray tanners, fake tans, and tans from a bottle among other names. Sunless tanning products have improved greatly in the past ten years, however, some can still turn your skin orange or streak and blotch your skin. This article will teach you how to remove a tan gone wrong and teach you how to get the right tan next time you use a spray tan.

Sunless tanning products are made with the active ingredient called dihydroxyacetone (DHA). This ingredient is thought to be safe for the skin with no lasting side effects, however as with all products use with caution. The chemical DHA temporarily colors or stains the skin to make it appear tan. The tan color can affect everyone different, since we all have different colors of skin tone to begin with. Your color can range anywhere from brown, bronze, to light tan. Any or all of these color tones may or may not end up with an orange undertone. Most of the new tanning products have eliminated this orangey color. Sunless tanning products are offered in a variety of ways, in a lotion, spray, foam or gel. Your tan will begin to appear within a couple of hours after applying the product to your skin. It will continue to get darker for the next 12 hours or so and then will begin to fade. It will be gone in about five to six days. If you want to keep your tan, you will need to put more of the product on.

Some of the problems with fake tans are they may turn your skin orange or you may end up splotchy and streaky. For some people the color they get from the bottle may be so un- natural and un-realistic that they look like an oompah-loompah from the movie, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Here is how you can fix a tan gone wrong. If you notice immediately that you do not like the color of your tan, hop into the shower and lather up as soon as you can this will remove most of the product. Once you are out of the shower use a heavy moisturizing lotion. If you were unable to act quick enough the process of removing the tan is a little more time consuming. Most of the tanning products will tell you to exfoliate your skin before you apply the product; this will also work after the product has been applied to remove it.

Exfoliation is simply scrubbing your skin to remove dead skin cells. This process will also work after the tan to remove it more quickly. You will need to soak in a tub of warm water or better yet, go in a hot tub or sauna for 30 minutes. If you are in a hot tub or sauna, you may shorten the amount of time in it so you will not feel sick. While you are still in the water, take a loofah or scrubbing sponge to your skin and rub in a circular motion. You can also use a shower gel that has a little bit of texture or grit in it. If you do not have any of these products and do not want to be seen in public to purchase one just soak in the tub or shower for 30 minutes and use a washcloth with soap on it to scrub your skin. Some tanning products tell you on the bottle to stay away from lotions, showering and shaving for and hour after applying. Therefore, you can do these things to remove your tan more quickly. Soaking and exfoliating may only remove your tan partially, but it will certainly fade quicker than if you do nothing. You can also go through the process of soaking and exfoliating again in a few hours. Follow by using a heavy moisturizer.

If you like the color of your sunless tan on most of your body but there are a few areas of streaking or your hands, heels or inner arms that look unnatural there is a way to remove these small areas. Beauty supply stores sell a product used for hair bleaching called 20- volume peroxide developer. This is a harsh chemical so do not use it on your entire body or even on large areas as it can burn your skin. However, on a small streak you can dip a cotton swab into the bottle and dab it on the streaky tanned area. Rinse the area off immediately. This should remove the streak quite well.

What To Know About Tanning Products From a Bottle

Remember sunless tanning products do not contain a sunscreen and therefore will not protect you from the sun. You can still be sunburned or get a suntan or do damage to your skin when you are out in the sun while using these products. Sunless tanning products color your skin, hair and clothing. Be careful not to get any of the product on clothing, carpets or towels that you don‘t want turned brown.

Next time you apply your tan from a bottle and want to be successful remember to do the following. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the bottle of tanner. Do a skin patch test on a small area of skin before applying to the product to entire body. Exfoliate your skin and remove all of your makeup before you apply. Shave your legs before you apply the product. Moisturize your skin for several days beforehand so your skin will not be dry. Avoid swimming, sweating, or wearing tight clothing for two hours after applying the tanning product.