Another good tanning salon tip for you is to not get burned. Burning will only make your skin exfoliate faster and you will have to start the tanning process all over again. A good way not to burn if you are tanning for the first time this year is to ask the tanning employee to cut down your time based on your skin type. Most salon employees should be able to make a recommendation for you. Don’t feel that if you are not going in for the full time, you are not getting your money’s worth; you are. You need to gradually build up a tan and even a few minutes in a tanning bed for the first couple of sessions will get the process started.

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.