One of the first things we ask our customers to do is to exfoliate their skin prior to getting airbrushed. The outer layer of skin, the area that gets tanned, is subject to the regular, natural exfoliation that the body goes through. The body naturally leaves some areas drier than others and using a dermal exfoliator helps remove the dry skin leaving it fresh to serve as the base for the sunless tan. Exfoliating helps prolong the tan because your body won’t shed the fresher skin as quickly as it would have the drier skin.

The second step to getting a longer lasting sunless tan is by preparing the skin with a PH balance spray just prior to the spray tan. The PH balance treatment will help remove excess oils and perfumes and helps the tanning solution penetrate the outer skin layer.

Showering immediately after airbrush tanning is a huge mistake. Showering, and doing any activity that may cause sweating, right after tanning could cause streaks to form and does not give the skin enough time to absorb the tanning agent (DHA). It is best to ask your supply representative how long customers should wait before showering given that various airbrush tanning solutions have different development periods. There are accelerated solutions that require about 4-5 hours, and the more common solution requires about 10-12 hours to set.

Since the active ingredient (DHA)in the tanning solution has a drying effect, it is imperative that moisturizer is used, afterward, to help make the tan last longer. Keeping moisturized helps the body refrain from naturally exfoliating the skin as quickly, leading to a longer tan. In addition to regular moisturizing, there are moisturizers with DHA that help keep the tan maintained a little better by lightly tanning the skin.

Wearing loose clothing also helps prolong the tan. Any clothes that may cause friction against the skin acts as an exfoliator. Basically, you don’t want your skin to exfoliate, because that would mean you losing your tan at a quicker rate.

Some of today’s indoor tanning lotion accelerators also contain bronzers, tingle, cooling and sunless ingredient in them. Each of these ingredients does a completely different thing and you should choose the tanning lotion that will work best for you.

A tingle lotion or “hot” lotion as some people call them should be used only by people who have reached their tanning plateau and cannot get any darker. These “hot” tingle lotions will help stimulate circulation by bringing the blood toward the surface of the skin. You will notice that your skin gets a reddish color when using these “tingle” lotions and you will also feel a slight tingling sensation.

Tanning lotions that contain bronzers help tint your skin with plant derived ingredients. Using a bronzer lotion while tanning will give you that extra color you need if you are needing to look as dark as possible that same day. Lotions with the sunless ingredient called DHA is similar to a bronzer except that this DHA is the type of ingedient found in spray booths and airbrush tanning solutions. It will tint your skin as a bronzer and will last a few days longer.

Another main reason to use tanning lotions is because when you are tanning, you start sweating. Sweating this moisture out of your skin will also cause your skin to become dry. Most indoor tanning lotions have moisturizers to keep your skin moisturized even while tanning. Using an after tan moisturizer is also very highly recommended.

Editor’s Note: Please remember that “Indoor Tanning Lotion” contains no sunscreen and provides no protection from the sun.