Lotion, Foam or Spray: Which Sunless Tanning Products Are Best?

S. Gustafson
There is no accessory that can make a person look better than a nice, golden tan. A good tan can make your skin look healthier, give your face an appealing glow, and best of all, make your legs look slimmer. Sadly, many people choose to pursue the just-got-home-from-Mexico look by using some very unhealthy and risky methods, including laying out in the sun without any skin protection, or worse, using tanning booths. Tanning booths have been proven in a number of scientific studies to greatly increase the risk of skin cancer. Having a deep tan is never worth putting yourself at risk for cancer.

Fortunately, it is possible to get that golden glow without risking your health if you use sunless tanning products. Sunless tanning products deliver the look of a tan without forcing you to fry your skin in a tanning booth. Instead of damaging the inner layer of skin and setting yourself up for melanoma, sunless tanning products react with the cells on the uppermost layer of skin in a way that makes it change to a darker color. The main types of sunless tanning products include sunless tanning lotion, sunless tanning foam and sunless tanning spray. These kinds of sunless tanning products all have specific advantages and disadvantages. The best types of sunless tanning products for you depend on your specific needs.

Sunless Tanning Foam

The main advantage of using sunless tanning foam is that it provides the most even coverage of the three types of sunless tanning products. A common complaint about other sunless tanning products is that they leave streaks following application. Sunless tanning foam makes it clear when you have missed a spot, thus allowing you to apply the sunless tanning foam evenly, without leaving streaks. Favorite sunless tanning foam products include Neutrogena Sunless Tanning Foam and Coppertone Endless Summer Sunless Tanning Foam.

Sunless Tanning Spray

Most types of sunless tanning spray are applied in salons. Having a professional apply sunless tanning spray is an excellent choice for people who, for whatever reason, find it impossible to accurately apply other types of sunless tanning products. Unfortunately, it also can be a rather expensive option. There are several types of sunless tanning spray made for self use, such as Guerlain Terracotta Self Tanning Spray and California Tan Flawless Tinted Spray Tanner Sunless Tan. When self-applied, these sunless tanning products work well but hold no advantage over sunless tanning foam or sunless tanning lotion. Sunless tanning spray should be avoided if you have dry skin, because the quick shedding of dead skin cells will leave the skin color looking uneven.

Sunless Tanning Lotion

The biggest advantage of sunless tanning lotion is that most of these sunless tanning products include sunscreen, which enables the sunless tanning lotion t protect and tan your skin at the same time. This makes sunless tanning lotion by far the safest of the sunless tanning products. Sunless tanning lotion is also a good choice for people prone to dry skin, because many varieties of sunless tanning lotion include moisturizers. One disadvantage of using sunless tanning lotion is that it can be difficult to apply evenly and its use may result in streaking. L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Sunless Tanning Lotion may help you avoid streaks.

A number of factors go into play when you choose which of the sunless tanning products is best for you. These factors may include skin type, the cost of the product, and your ability to distribute sunless tanning products evenly on your skin. Sunless tanning products such as Sunless tanning foam, sunless tanning spray and sunless tanning lotion do have one thing in common: they are all excellent alternatives to tanning booths!

Published by S. Gustafson

Stephanie stumbled upon the Yahoo! Contributor Network as a sophomore in college. The accidental discovery led her to an exciting career in freelance writing for the web. With twenty years of experience in...  View profile

1 Comments

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  • Cathy A Montville5/8/2010

    Good read! I have never had good luck using any sunless tanning product, but your mention of having it done at a salon is a great idea! Nice work! :)

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