How to Extend the Life of Your Mystic Tan

Depending on which tanning salon you go to, if you don't have a package, you could pay around $30 for a single tanning session with Mystic Tan, so it's important to do everything you can to extent the life of your new glow.

First here's a little information incase you are thinking about getting a Mystic Tan for the first time. Mystic Tan has three tanning levels, 1, 2 and 3 that go from light to dark. If you're not sure which level would best suit you, ask one of the employees at your local tanning salon. While the active ingredient in Mystic Tan, DHA, doesn't make you orange like store-brought sunless tanners, if you are really pale, a level 3 session can still leave you looking fake, like this poor guy seen here.

I'm a redhead with naturally pale skin, and even with a good base tan or a full on real tan, level 2 is almost too much for me. Also, if you plan on using Mystic Tan as your only means of tanning, it's best to go only once a week so your tan doesn't start looking fake.

The key to extending the life of your Mystic Tan is to exfoliate your skin in the shower prior to going tanning. If you've used store-bought sunless tanning products in the past, you know that elbows, knees and ankles tend to absorb more of the product due to dry, dead skin, and you will look darker in those areas. A good sloughing prior to tanning should take care of this issue.

Next, while many tanning salons offer cocktail sessions, which involve tanning in a bed and then going off to the Mystic Tan machine, I don't recommend it unless you don't use tanning lotion while in the bed, because then there will be a small layer of lotion left on you, and you might wind up streaking.

Follow the pre-tanning instructions located in your salon to a T, which includes the booties, hair net, nose clip and barrier cream, and don't rush, otherwise you might end up with a pointy tan on your feet or a strange tan line on the sides of your hands. Tanning salons love to rush their customers, but with Mystic Tan, you choose when you want to start the machine, so there's no reason to rush, especially at $30+ a pop!

Once your tanning session is over, don't be afraid to wipe yourself totally dry. While you will see a light brown color coming off onto your towel, it's the pre-bronzer and not the DHA itself. To get the most out of your session, don't shower anywhere from 4 to 8 hours after you get home, or you will wash off the DHA and your tan will be a lot lighter or not show up at all.

If you did somehow streak, which is rare, or if you messed up a tan line, you can buy a product online called Norvell DHA Stop, which will help reduce the tan, although it won't get rid of the tan all together. If you need to even out a tan line, a pumice stone will also work quite well. Since you are already exfoliated, you might get a little raw, but it's the nature of the game.

To further extend your tan, don't exfoliate again until right before you are ready to go to another Mystic Tan session. If you exfoliate before then, you will see the color coming off of your skin. Same goes for shaving, but shaving is a necessary evil. Thankfully the color loss from shaving is minimal.

Once your color has set, be sure to use lots of moisturizer to keep your skin soft. Moisturized skin will extend the life of not only Mystic Tans, but regular tans as well.

Probably the number one tip I can give for those with Mystic Tans, is do not wear a wet suit for surfing or diving and expect to have the same even tan at the end of the day. I made this mistake once, and when I peeled my wetsuit off after a half-day of fun, I could see where the suit had exfoliated my skin and I could rub off dead skin that was bronzed. I was left with patches of lighter skin on my legs and a lesson learned.