The Products Matter

Okay, I am every dermatologist and plastic surgeon's nightmare. I love be tan and work very hard at it. I am also very vain about my skin and most people would be hard pressed to put my age at 37, let alone 38 in July.

It's all about the products.

After spending years and thousands of dollars in tanning salons, my husband and I purschased a tanning bed. The given reason was that Martin has very bad psorarisis and tanning helps. Well, guess who is in the tanning bed twice as much as the person who should be? That would be me.

There are three types of tanning. I'll give you my view on all three of them.

OUTDOORS IN THE SUN

This method is not for the faint of heart. Free radicals, toxic breeze and ominious "hole in the ozone" are the watchwords of the outdoor tanner. Many outdoor tanners are unwilling participants, thrust into the sun through occupation or avocation. The guys I work with fall in this category. Farmer's tans abound. Then, there are those of us who relish the feel of the real sun upon our skin.

The best way to tan outdoors is to make yourself as comfortable as possible. For me, this involved a well cushioned chaise lounge deck chair, a cold drink, such as fresh brewed iced tea with lots of lemon and sugar and ice, and a portable CD player with appropriate music. Some of my outdoor favorites: Cesaria Evora, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty, Liz Phair.

A nice fat issue of your favorite magazine helps. Vanity Fair and Food & Wine are favorite tanning reading aids. Lurid true crime books are also fun.

My all time favorite outdoor tanning lotion is Bain de Soleil. I love the original Orange Creme formula, but it is difficult to find these days. The smell is just wonderful. I have lately been using the Bain de Soleil Luminessence, which has an SPF of 8 and provides just a bit of shimmer upon application. It also gives you a fabulous tan while moisturizing your skin.

The ultimate best way to tan outdoors is to send the kids somewhere with Gran for the day and invite a sun-worshipping friend over and ditch the iced tea for some greyhounds while gossiping like crazy.

IN THE TANNING BED

I use the tanning bed about three times a week in the winter. It is very drying to my skin, no matter how much lotion I use and how careful I am with my skin. MOISTURIZE MOISTURIZE MOISTURIZE! Moist skin tans best. Use a body exfoiliator at least once a week. Always put on lotion after a bath or shower. If you take baths, don't get the water too hot and soak, no matter how good it feels. Terribly drying.

I am enamoured of the Supre line of indoor tanning lotions. I find the Smoke line achieves the results I am looking for. I use the Smoke Black Bronzer, the Smoke Tingle and Jam tanning accelerator in rotation. I use the Colour Tan Maximizer Shimmering on my face. It is designed for use on your face and neck. All of these products are available online for a fraction of the price you pay at a tanning salon. I got them from a Lewie's Tan Store site. If I find the link, I will post it.

To achieve the best tan possible in a bed, use products wisely. General tips:

Tan an hour before or two hours after bathing. You skin continues to tan outside the bed but if you shower or take a bath, it stops.

Apply slightly more tanning lotion than you would moisturizer. When rubbing it in, use up and down then back and forth motions so it is distributed evenly. If you are using a lotion with a bronzer in it, take a baby wipe into the bed with you and rub vigorously between your fingers so you don't have stains. Use bronzer very lightly on knees and your face. Stripes are not a good thing.

Alterate lotions every time. I don't know why this works, but it does.

THE TAN IN A BOTTLE

I've tried every sunless tanning potion under the sun. (Heh!) The two most effective I have found are Clinque Self-Sun body, self tanning lotion dark and Bain de Soleil Streakguarde. The Clinique tans much darker and evenly, but it unfortunately smells just like QT from the olden days.

The Bain de Soleil Streakguarde has the wonderful Bain de Soleil smell but takes at least 3 applications to achieve the darkness of the Clinique in one application.

With sunless tanning, it's all in the application, so be prudent and careful. The best method is to execute your sunless tanning when it is feasible to lock yourself naked in the bathroom for 20 minutes. Put on the lotion and read a magazine or admire your eyebrows for a while. Only when the lotion is completely dry and you can no longer feel it on your skin should you dress, unless you like orange edges on your clothes. Wash your hands after like you are going to do surgery. Especially between the fingers.

Maybe it is the Mediterranean in me, but I feel better and think I look best tan.

Comments

[Michael]

Orange Gelee SPF 4 is my favorite - live in Florida 8mths/yr - GREAT for tanning and it's a perfect moisturizer.

In the past 2 years it has become MOST difficult to find @CVS or Walgreens or Eckerd or ...

[Rob]

For some reason, this post caught my eye. Believe it or not, I used to compete as a bodybuilder (wierd, I know. I think I've always liked doing things people didn't expect me to do). Anyway, getting the right tan was a big part of it.

My training partner was a guy named Laverne Schmell (I'm not kidding). No question about why he started training, is there?

We called him Grandpa. He had a great method for tanning which we called the GTM--Grandpa Tanning Method. He had this lotion he mixed up--iodine, baby oil, and something else I think to. Anyway, we'd use that in addition to laying out in the sun between classes (or instead of classses). It worked pretty well, I think.

[Jennifer]

Hey Girl!
I used to tan all the time but sincei started college i've not been able to visit the beach or the tanning beds in awile. I have a very eventfull weekend coming up and want to be as tan as possible. I have approx. 3 days. I've thought about baby oil but fear getting fried. I have tanning lotions but they take at least 2 sessons in a bed to actually start to show. What do you think I should do?

[Jessica]

I have very bad psorarisis and you mentioned that your husband has it. My husband and I recently purchased a tanning bed for this reason, but what I want to know know is does it take a while before seeing any improvement? I have had my tanning bed for about a month and a half and even the little spots I have are not clearing up. I can tell a change but not much. I was wondering if you have any advice on the subject since your husband has it. Thanks!

[Corey]

I have recently started going to the tanning bed to prepare myself for a school trip to South Carolina later this month. I tried some different accelerators and i couldn't seem to find anything I liked until a friend recommended a lotion called "Fire Walker" which is produced by Fiji. THIS LOTION IS AMAZING! It is the BEST thing I have found if you want to tan quickly. However, it is a VERY hot lotion. There are both Wasabi and Cayenne pepper in it so be sure to have a fan by the bed if you use it. For about 2.5-3 hours after use, the skin turns very red and looks like a sunburn, but will go away after a couple of hours. DO NOT USE THIS LOTION IF YOU DON'T TAN OFTEN!!! It is absolutely insane how easily you can burn when using it. Thanks for the info! ~Corey

[Brandi]

Hey, I was searching he internet looking for tips on tanning my face and I saw your website. I work at a tanning salon and I was wondering if you had any tips on getting my face to tan! Thanks, Brandi

[Gene Stagg]

I always tanned naturally when I was younger but living in New York only gave me a couple months of tan. When I tried the sunless lotions they all turned me either yellow or orange, so that was not an option.
For awhile I used a product (can't remember the name) from Herbalife, but it still wasn't like a natural tan.
Since moving to Florida and having an outdoor job my problem now is to keep the tan down, not how do I get a better one.

Thanks for your insight. There's a lot of information in your post that's especially good because it's your personal experience.

Gene Stagg

[Samantha]

An Argentenian (Spelling?) woman told me recently that if you pour coca cola on your skin, you will get an incredible bronze tan. Have you ever heard this? Or possibly tried? It may be a silly question, but it made me start thinking about the many uses of cola, so what if?