4 Ways to Extend Your Sunless Tan

We all agree, we’re not celebrities or rock stars. However, sometimes we want their beautiful tans. After all, we each deserve one.

Once you have a sunless tan, how do you extend it? A sunless tan normally lasts 4-5 days, but if maintained correctly, you can extend the tan for 6-8 days. Since this is our area of expertise, we’ll let you in on 4 ways to extend your sunless tan!

1. Are You Prepped and Ready to tan?
To extend the life of your sunless tan, you need to be ready. Be sure you exfoliate and SCRUB (ideally with an exfoliating mitt) the day before your sunless tan, whether it’s spray tanning or self-tanning. It’s important to exfoliate and rub-off excess, dead skin cells so your body does not naturally exfoliate the tan too soon.

Also, if you need to shave or wax, do this in advance also. Don’t wax after because you’ll strip your tan off. It’s essential to start with a clean, fresh skin for your sunless tan. The day of the tan, forgo any moisturizers, as it can act as a barrier to the tan and your results may not be as dark as you’d like.

2. Sweat? Wet? No Way!
After tanning, you don’t want to accidentally wash the results down the drain or sweat them away. Don’t get wet and don’t get sweaty for at least 8 hours. It’s crucial to the development of your tan. And when you’re ready for your first shower, do a light rinse in warm water, not too hot. To extend your tan, you may want to avoid going in a pool or ocean. Both chlorine and ocean salt can exfoliate your skin and cause your tan to fade too early. 

3. Hydrate & Moisturize!
Moisturizing your skin, daily, when spray tanning or self-tanning is important. Your body naturally exfoliates its top layer of skin about every 7 days. When your skin exfoliates, it takes the tan with it. So, to delay the fade, hydrate your skin to maximize the length of the tan.

4. Do You Have Help at Home?
No, we’re not talking about a nanny or assistant. Do you have self-tan products to help extend your spray tan? If you do, great! Use them, regularly. If you don’t, we’d recommend getting some and putting them to good use. Whether you buy a bronzer or a gradual tanning product, they’ll help moisturize and extend the life of your sunless tan. 

It’s all about your lifestyle and preferences. Do you want a beautiful tan for a week, a month or a few months? Many women decide to get a spray tan every week and maintain it with self-tanning products in between. Other women, use just self-tanning products and have a tan year-round. If you follow these few tips, you’ll have a beautiful sunless tan and extend the life of it for the length of time that works best for you.