Drink plenty of water in the days leading up to your tan. This will help ensure your skin is hydrated and the tan goes on smoothly and lasts longer.
Make sure you’ve been moisturizing your skin in the days leading up to your tan, but do not moisturize the day of your tan.
Exfoliate the day before your tan, not the day of. Gently exfoliate using a dry brush or exfoliation mitt. Make sure you are gentle because we don’t want any irritation on the skin before the tan.
We don’t want anything on your skin or having touched your skin in the last 8-12 hours before your tan.
This includes deodorant. If you arrive and you’ve had it on, let me know and we can try to wipe as much of it off as possible. (Note: I am usually able to correct any issues with the tan caused by deodorant residue.)
Shaving can leave a residue on the skin which can look like streaking on your body after the tan. So you want to do any shaving 8-12 hours before your tan appointment.
Don’t workout before you come in for your tan. We don’t want any sweat on the body before the tan as this can alter the pH of your skin before the tan, which can affect the results.
The day of your appointment, avoid socks that go above your ankles up your shins, and avoid wearing leggings or joggers that fit snug around your shins. This can cause dryness around your shins and the tan will not go on as flawlessly. I have seen this a lot lately, and it adds to your appointment time if I need to blend or blot the area.
Wear very loose clothing to your appointment and while the tan is developing. A maxi dress is perfect. Avoid tight clothing while the tan is developing. Sweat pants are a good idea if the waist band is not snug on you, or if you can pull it up to your waist so it’s loose fitting on your waist and the rest of your body.
Think about your plans for after your tan. Going in the ocean, a chlorinated pool/jacuzzi or taking a bath can strip your tan and make it fade much faster.
If you’re flying in before your appointment, make sure you moisturize extra before your flight. Air travel can seriously dry out your skin, and you don’t want to show up to the appointment with dry skin!
If you had to wear clothes to your appointment that are not ideal for spray tans, when you go home try to take the clothes off and throw on loose clothes or a robe. Same goes for shoes, if you wore socks and sneakers, take those off ASAP at home.
Ideally you wash the tan off at the time you are supposed to. On the majority of my clients I use a rapid solution – the longer you leave it on the darker you will be. But for skin type 1 and skin type 2 clients (fair complexion), the longer you leave it on for the more unnatural it can look. That being said, I have skin type 2 clients who will leave it on for 12-24 hours and love the results. These are avid self-tanners who understand they might look a little unnatural but prefer that over a light or medium tan.
Understand that most tans have a developing time (when you wash off the solution), but they actually continue to work in your skin over the next 24 hours. So you might wash off and not look tan, but the tan is still developing. Be patient. 🙂
We want you to avoid anything that can cause wetness, moisture, or sweating while the tan is developing – so no sweating, working out, sitting on leather car seats in warm temperature, walking home in misty or rainy weather, washing yourself, or sleeping in a way that could result in sweating while the tan is developing.
Per the pre-tan instructions above – wear very loose clothing. If you did not read that bullet point in the previous section, please do so.
If you are sleeping in your tan, keep the AC/fan on to help make sure you do not sweat while you sleep. Also, try to remember to not put your hand between your legs or do any type of sleeping style that will create skin on skin contact which can cause friction and a little bit of wetness, affecting your tan. The bronzer will get off on your sheets, so I recommend sleeping in dark clothes and on top of a sheet or blanket that’s already dark or one you don’t really care about. If you get bronzer on your sheets, wash them the next day to avoid staining.
When you rinse off the tan, use warm water and your hands to gently wash off the bronzer on your body. Do not use any soaps or shampoo/conditioner at this time. You can shower with these products 24 hours after our spray tan appointment.
Immediately following your warm water rinse, do not use moisturizer as the tan is still developing. Ideally you apply moisturizer 24 hours after our spray tan appointment.
Avoid harsh ingredients and chemicals on your skin that can cause dryness and make your tan fade faster. Retinols, actives, acids, and some body washes/soaps (especially dove) can strip your tan away. Using gentle cleansers is ideal.
Per the above pre-tan instructions, moisturize daily. Approved moisturizers include:
ShaeMoisture Body Lotion
Hempz Original Herbal Body Moisturizer
Cetaphil Daily Lotion
Starting Day 3 or 4, start using a dry brush or exfoliation mitt daily. Use it right before you go into the shower for about a minute. This will help your tan fade evenly, and avoid the dreaded alligator skin towards the end of your tan. Very important!
Per the above pre-tan instructions, no pool or jacuzzi if you want to preserve your tan. If you do go in, limit the time to a couple minutes, and try to do it towards the end of any trip you might be going on.
Don’t forget to stay hydrated. The hydration of your skin is key for the tan.
If you are taking a flight after our spray tan appointment, make sure you have moisturizer ready to apply after your flight, as air planes can really dry out your skin. You want to moisturize around 24 hours after our appointment.
The amount of time the tan lasts depends on your unique skin skin type and which solution I’ve used. For fair complexion clients, I find the tan usually last 6-7 days. For clients that are able to hold onto tans easier, it can sometimes last 7-9 days.
