Who doesn’t love a nice bronzed tan?  A tan is synonymous with looking good and feeling good.  It’s a sign of the good life.  But at what cost?  We all know the danger of too much sun exposure; burning, wrinkles, aging and far worse, skin cancer.  It’s a hefty price to pay for a little bit of color. 

What is it?
You might think you have to choose: Expose your skin to the sun's damaging rays to get a coveted tan, or avoid the sun and miss out on that sun-kissed glow. But you have another option — sunless tanning products. Sunless tanning products, also called bronzers, self-tanners or tanning extenders, can give your skin a tanned look without exposing it to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

When these products emerged in the 1960’s they left telltale signs of a fake tan…streaky, blotchy, orange skin. Sunless products have come a long way since then.  There are a wide variety of products available today targeted at giving you a natural “golden glow”.”  Spray tanning is at the forefront of that market.  There are also many spray tanning solutions and systems that promise a natural tan but don’t be fooled. All spray tans are not alike.

The Ingredients
The active ingredient in most sunless tanning products is dihydroxyacetone (DHA). DHA is a derived from sugar beets and sugar cane and is a natural colorless sugar that when applied to your skin, reacts with dead cells in the outermost layer of skin to temporarily darken the skin's appearance.  The resulting color is not a dye, stain or paint, but a chemical reaction between the DHA and the amino acids in the dead layer on the skins surface.  The tan does gradually fades as the dead skin cells slough off, just as a real tan does. In most cases, the color is completely gone after five to seven days.

Erythrulose, also a sugar, is another important substance in the sunless tanning solution. When used in combination with DHA it provides a longer lasting and more natural looking tan than DHA alone.

Is sunless tanning safe?
Sunless tanning products are generally regarded as safe alternatives to sunbathing. DHA, which has been approved by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for over 30 years for cosmetic applications, is considered safe when applied to your skin.

Does The Tan Fade?
Just like an ordinary tan achieved thru sunbathing, the sunless tan will fade. The reason is simple: Every day, millions of dead skin cells are sloughed off or worn away from the surface of your skin. In fact, every 35 to 45 days, you have an entirely new outer skin layer (epidermis). This is why the tan will gradually fade. As the dead cells are worn away, so is the tan. Fading of this kind applies to all tans, both sunless and real. There are many things you can do to help increase the duration of your tan.  We would be glad to help you find a solution that is best for you.

Why a sunless tan?