I'd like to try a spray tan but I don't want to look horribly fake. What brand, codeword, ingredient should I avoid?
What sort of spray tan is best?
the active ingredient that they all share is DHA (dihydroxyacetone)....the cheapest to the most expensive. That is what makes you tan.
The naturalness of it comes from skin prep and application.





Exfoliate!
You need to shave and exfoliate right before going in to get it. There is a lotion, I forget the name, but it blocks some of the DHA from absorbing and you'll put it sparingly on your feet, toenails, knees, elbows, hands and fingernails. Don't get in any water for as long as you possibly can aftter the tan.
At my tanning place (not sure if it's universal) there are 3 levels, I started out on the first one since I'm pretty pale. It looked good, and wasn't orange. The next week I tried the level 2 and I looked kinda orange, mostly my face but I rinsed my face off about 6 hours after getting it done and it wasn't bad.
The level 2 is starting to look pretty natural on me, probably since I get it done once a week and I'm not just starting over from being super pale every time I go in, if that makes sense? The only time I've ever looked orange was the first time I got the level 2 tan, now that's what I get every time and it looks great.
The girls at the tanning place said once I tried the level 2 that if I just keep looking in the mirror and I start to get orange, I can just rinse off a bit and it helps. Don't go overboard and scrub it all off, but rinsing will help.
Anything else I left out you'd like to know?
Animals are my friends, and I don't eat my friends.- George Bernard Shaw
Try the Jergen's Natural glow. I like it much better than Mystic tan or any of those other spray tans. The Jergen's gradually builds you up and is suited for your skin type. Both times I did the spray tan I was orange.





it's a lotion. it works for me gradually... but.. i feel really sticky afterwards. i'd put it on right before you go to bed. that's what i did!
but now i just go to the tanning bed once a week. twice if i have time. (so sue me! ;] )





Neither. The DHA undergoes a chemical reaction (Maillard reaction) with the keratinized layer of skin causing it to darken. The Jergens or daily stuff is probably a 1% formulation while the Mystic probably is around 10% (depending on the level.) So it "paints" on, but because of the reaction does not wash off; it fades as the keratin cells slough off.





How much of a result can one expect from Jergens? Is it very subtle?
It's gradual, depending upon your skin tone you can get a fair amount of color within of a week of using it. I have a medium complexion and I tan twice a week along with using it. I am pretty dark now.





I am white as a ghost. Literally clear. I have been told that being my shade makes me a bad canvas for spray tans; I'll look orange.![]()
I use the Jergans stuff, and i found in a few days my skin looked really prettily tanned. Altho it doesnt smell the best, and it says on the bottle to avoid getting dressed right away (let it "soak" in your skin for a few minutes) and to wash your hands after.. (sometimes when im running out the door and i didnt wash it off my hands, in between my fingers its orangie haha)..
BUT now that ive been using it (ive almost used the whole bottle) i dont feel tanned at all, and i found it made my stretch marks darker too!! so i stoped putting it on there.. im pale as hell, and im going to Cuba on thursday soo i didnt want to look like the crazy sun deprived Canadian that i am. lol.
Last edited by vanilla.love; 04-11-2008 at 06:01 PM. Reason: wrong word
I'm the exact same way. I'm so pale in fact that after going to the boy's parents house for Christmas last year their neighbors, after seeing me leave, came over later to ask if I was sick and wondered why I was paler than anything they'd seen. I'm fine, just scared of skin cancer
I never liked the way Mystic looked. The Jergens stuff was good and looked very natural on me. I had an airbrush tan applied last year (I think its like $45 regularly but tried it on a special) and it looked incredible. I was BROWN and natural looking on the lightest color. I loved the way it looked for oh, about 5 days. The only downside was it when it started fading I had to very painfully scrub and exfoliate myself all at once or look like I had a bizarre skin disease. It like almost peeled off in patches and looked really weird. At the cost of it I couldn't keep it up all the time. Now when I want to go darker than the Jergens I use Loreal Sublime Bronze. It looks a tad unnatural in regular light but its way darker and doesn't come off with oil/shaving cream like some do.
I've been tan free for a few months now. Its too much of a pain in the ass for me to keep up. If I look in the mirror after a few drinks I scare myself because I know I look like a vampire and its totally unintentional.





From what I've read, the orange factor depends on a couple things:
1. The interaction of your individual body chemistry with the particular brand of self-tanner.
2. The paleness of your natural skin color. The paler you are, the more likely you are to turn orange if you use a self-tanner formulated to create a dark tan as opposed to a light one. Even if your skin type is II/III or III (meaning you can develop an even, medium-to-dark tan when exposed to UV), if your ACTUAL skin is pale due to not being exposed, you can still turn orange.
That's why a particular brand of self-tanner can look awesome on one person, and turn another into an Oompa Loompa. Granted, some brands are better than others in terms of quality, but for the most part, you basically have to try it yourself to see how it will look.
The above reasons are why I really like the gradual-tan mechanism. You can build a more natural-looking tan and stop before you get to the orange point, or if the color just looks wrong on you, at least it's light enough so you're not stuck in a total orange-palm QT nightmare. I'm a II/III (leaning toward the III) but in the winter, I am WHITE. So if I try to go for the tropical look in one shot, it's Oompa time.
Bookmarks