How Sunless Tanning Works and Why It is Safe

All around the United States, pictures of Hollywood celebrities sporting great tans have been used to embody youth and beauty. Whether old, middle-aged or young, Hollywood royalty has shown the public time and again that being tan is something that is akin to youth and beauty. Why? Because being tan connotes being athletic, active and busy. It is totally opposite the idle life associated with being old. And so, with people wanting to preserve their youths—both through their activities and their appearance—the act of sunbathing has become ingrained in the American culture.

However, throughout the years, sunbathing has proven to be bad for the health as it exposes the skin to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that can lead to skin cancer. The presence of new technologies, together with the demand for a safer, easier and faster way to get a tan, have thus prompted a German scientist to invent the indoor tanning bed that became popular all throughout the 80s until the early 21st century. But in the recent years, indoor tanning beds and lamps have been proven to produce a greater concentration of UV rays that make them more harmful to the skin than natural sunlight. Because of this, a new need has arisen for a safer way to sport a tan without having to go to the beach.

Enter sunless tanning technology. With the decline of the use of indoor tanning equipment like tanning beds and lamps due to the proven fact that they are carcinogenic, the tanning industry has developed a new and safer way for people to sport a tan. Self-tanning through the use of sunless tanning products, like sunless tanning lotions, creams, gels and sprays were invented to give Americans the tans they want without risking the development of skin cancer. Indeed, the past several years have seen the innovation of these self-tanning and sunless tanning products, even incorporating the technology of anti-aging creams into the package. These days, you can get a tan and make your skin more youthful whilst in the comfort of your homes.

So for those of you who want to become tan, the question that begs to be answered is, how exactly do these self-tanning and sunless tanning products work? How are they safe? The answer is quite simple. Sunless tanning products contain the active ingredient called dihydroxyacetone (DHA). When applied, DHA causes a darkening reaction on the dead skin cells located at outermost layers of the skin, more specifically the stratum corneum of the epidermis. Now, like a natural tan, self-tanning and sunless tanning products are only temporary. They last only 5-7 days because as your skin replaces your dead skin cells with new ones, the darkened dead skin cells are sloughed off, revealing your white and natural complexion.

Because DHA is a colorless sugar, it is safe to use. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved of its use in sunless tanning products that are directly applied to the skin. It is certainly ingenious to use a type of sugar to darken your skin and create the tan that you only get from sunbathing. Hence, self-tanning through sunless tanning products has become widely popular due to their safe and easy-to-use components. Now, those who want to sport a tan even during winter can do so through the safe and convenient use of nontoxic sunless tanning products.