The Ultimate Guide to Self-Tanning

It’s around this time of year that summer begins to feel like it’s about a million months away, and many of us start to daydream about warm days and a healthy glow.

Self-tans fade when dead skin cells shed, she says.

You also want to search for brands who are open about the process in which they derive DHA, which can be extracted naturally from beets or sugarcane or chemically with formaldehyde, which speeds up the process but makes the DHA lower quality and drying to the skin, says Evans.

Alternatively, mousses and sprays are the most light-weight and perfect for hot climates, especially if you want to ditch stickiness and color-transfer.

To do this, Evans recommends an exfoliator that’s non-oily (oils can affect the outcome of your application, she explains) to slough off dead skin as well as remove any lingering lotion, deodorant, and self-tanner—all of which can affect the color of your fresh tan.

Although it’s unclear why, it seems that the DNA repair enzymes—featured in Cellular MD’s Night Shield Lotion—could be linked with other pathways, such as the production of melanin, that darken the skin for longer periods of time, he says.

Sunless tanner is not sunscreen; therefore, it does not protect the skin from sun damage, nor does it repair past sun damage, says Dr. Moy.