How to Choose the Right Sunless Tanning Products

If you have decided to get a sunless tan, your next practical and logical move should be choosing an appropriate sunless tanning product. If you do not have much time to spare going to the beach for sunbathing or to the tanning salon for an indoor artificial tanning procedure, getting a sunless tan surely would be for you.

Choosing a good and effective sunless tanning product would be imperative so that the tanning procedure would be ensured.

One top reason why people should prefer sunless tanning is its overall safety. At first glance, you may have an impression that sunless tanning is risky because it mainly depends on chemical reactions in the skin, but looking closely and more carefully, you would find that the procedure is the safest there is so far.

That is because in sunless tanning, you would not be required to expose your skin to ultraviolet radiation, which could cause formation and surfacing of manifestations of skin cancer and accelerated aging.

Main forms of sunless tanning products

Basically, there are four main and usual forms of sunless tanning products available in the market, namely, creams, lotions, sprays and gels. It is in this regard that sunless tanning products are easy to use and are practically accessible.

These forms make sunless tanning convenient. Thus, you can tan your skin sans sunlight and ultraviolet rays anytime of the day, wherever you can be.

Sunless tanning products are all manifesting effects within just about 45 minutes to an hour. That means, you can have your perfectly tanned and golden brown complexion within just a short period of time.

Sunless tanning products also dry up easily and rapidly. Within just about 20 minutes after application to the skin, the lotion, cream, gel or spray should all be completely dry, eliminating any risk of staining your clothes.

Choosing sunless tanners

When choosing a particular sunless tanning product for your skin, you should first and foremost consider the main and active ingredients used in the products. There are three basic and usual active ingredients that can be found separately on different sunless tanning products.

Dihydroxyacetone or DHA. Most sunless tanning products out in the market today are containing DHA as an active ingredient. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, DHA is responsible for giving a tanned color to the skin.

The substance is a kind of colorless sugar that when interacting with the skin's dead cells in the outermost layer of the skin would facilitate a change in color.

Tyrosine. This substance induces skin coloration by stimulating and raising the production of melanin, which is responsible for giving the skin its pigmentation. When melanin levels are elevated, the skin would look more brownish or golden brownish, and the perfect tan is achieved.

Tyrosine can be found in sunless tanning lotions, while there are several pills that contain the active ingredient. As such, sunless tanners with tyrosine are called tanning accelerators for obvious reasons.

Canthaxanthin. Though still not widely approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a sunless tanning ingredient, canthaxanthin is regarded as an effective food additive that acts at the same time as a tanning agent.

As a food additive, the substance is used only in trace amounts. However, for sunless tanning, significant amounts are needed, and medicine practitioners and researchers are still unsure whether taking the substance in generous amounts would not pose immediate risks to health.

Bronzer, an alternative sunless tanning product

If you are still searching for a good and appropriate sunless tanning product, a bronzer could very much make for a good sunless tanning alternative. Bronzers are usually in the form of skin moisturizers and powders.

Once the sunless tanning products are applied to the skin, a perfect golden brown tan is instantly achieved. Sunless tanning using bronzers are the fastest achieved.

What is more interesting about bronzers is that the sunless tanning effects can be easily removed out of the skin using water and soap. This may not be liked by some, especially those who want a longer lasting tanned complexion.

However, for a significant few, bronzers are practical especially when people want to get and remove skin tans every now and then.

If you aim to get a sunless tan, for sure, there is an appropriate and more advisable sunless tanning products and procedures for you.