It's clear that we like to look like we just stepped off a private jet we boarded in Aruba: sporting a tan akin to the golden brown of a Thanksgiving turkey. Despite the countless headlines shouting that roasting yourself in the sun will prematurely age your skin to the texture of an old leather purse. Regardless of the warnings that you put yourself at a greater risk of developing skin cancer, tens of thousands of people scoff at the information and stretch out on a poolside chaise lounge basting themselves with tanning oil. The good news is that you can still get that burnished skin look but safely, with sunless tanners.

The idea itself isn't new; sunless-tanners date back to 1960 when Coppertone first introduced QT, notorious for making you look like you were dipped in a vat of orange dye. The formulas being bottled today are nearly foolproof and goof proof so you look bronzed instead of streaked and artificial.

How do they work? Most take advantage of the chemical dihydroxyacetone, or DHA. When you slather on a sunless tanner, the DHA (actually a sugar) interacts with the dead cells that make up the upper layer of your skin and cause them to change color. The result: you look golden for a few days up to a week until those now tinted skin cells naturally slough off. Fun products to look for include California North Titanium Self Tanner - 8 oz bottle, TanTowel Plus Express Self-Tan Kit, Sevin Nyne Self-Tanning Lotion, Luminess Air Airbrush Tanning System, Rodial Brazilian Tan - DARK and Hampton Sun Sunless Tanning Gel.

But, turning to the bottle isn't the only way to fake bake. Cosmetic bronzers, like gloMinerals gloBronze & PRIORI CoffeeBerry Perfecting Minerals Sun Kissed, let you dust on what appears to be hours spent in the sun. Unlike sunless tanners, whose color develops gradually and fades the same way, these wash right off in the shower.

One method to definitely avoid is tanning pills. Banned in the United States and not approved as a tanning product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, tanning pills can still be found illegally. Tanning pills count on high doses of canthaxanthin, legally used as food color in small doses, to tint the skin. The trouble is, the mega dose used in the tanning concoctions have been linked to urticaria (a skin condition that will have you itching and sporting eruptions) and, according to the authors of a 1993 article in American Pharmacy, can cause nausea, cramping and diarrhea. If that doesn't keep you away, the pills have been fingered for causing the liver disease hepatitis, aplastic anemia (a blood disorder characterized by bleeding or bruising, pallor, exhaustion, and infection) and crystal deposits in the eye.

Other tanning pills, sometimes marketed as nutritional supplements to escape the FDA's scrutiny, contain dangerous levels of caretenoids like beta carotene which give you an orangey hue by taking up residence in the fat layer beneath your skin. The obvious aesthetic problem here is that since fat isn't evenly distributed over your body, neither will the tint. Worse is that high levels of caretenoids, a necessary nutrient at the correct dose, can permanently damage your vision when the pigment takes up residence in your retinas.

A third type of tanning pill claims to accelerate the tanning process. These contain the amino acid tyrosine, which is supposed to stimulate melanin production so you end up nice and brown without spending hours in the sun, in just minutes. The catch: your body already produces plenty of tyrosine on its own, and there are no studies that show taking more of it will make you darker.

HOW TO GET A GREAT FAUX TAN

Practice and preparation will help you fake a perfect tan. Just follow these steps:

• Exfoliate skin with a scrub like DERMAdoctor KP Duty Dermatologist Body Scrub with Chemical + Physical Medi-Exfoliation, washcloth, or even microdermabrade with DermaNew. This will slough off excess dead skin cells, so you get a more even application. Pay special attention to the knees and elbows, which can bank more dead skin than other areas. After exfoliating, massage some moisturizer like Nutraderm Therapeutic Lotion - Original Sensitive Skin Formula into the knees and elbows to head-off extra dry skin soaking up too much sunless tanner.
• Shake up the product. Massage the product into your skin in even doses, whle working in an organized pattern (a circular motion) to avoid missing a spot. If you are using a spray-on product, you'll still need to even it out by hand for the best result. Remember, wherever you stop, the color will stop. Have a friend do the tough to reach spots like your back, or try this trick: use Body Buddy Non-Absorbent Lotion Applicator, put some tanner on it and work it over your back.
• Once you're done, thoroughly wash your hands (make sure to get under your nails) to prevent staining your palms. Wear disposable exam gloves when applying sunless tanner if you like (look for ones that are made of nitrile if you're allergic to latex).
• Follow the package directions for how long you need to wait before dressing or touching anything (self tanners can turn other things brown, like your couch or bed linens). Don't bathe or work up a sweat for several hours after the application to prevent streaking.
• To keep the color up, reapply every few days.

If you aren't a do-it-yourselfer, a new kind of tanning salon is sprouting up in many locations. Instead of bombarding yourself with damaging UV rays in a booth or on a bed like at a traditional tanning salon, with a Fantasy Tan you are airbrushed with a micro fine mist of sunless tanner for a perfect application to your entire body. Of course it will fade just like the at-home version, but you don't have to worry about missing a spot or getting an even application.

However you choose to glow, make sure yours is a skin-healthy choice.

Karmen B. Saran
DERMAdoctor Staff Writer

(Any topic discussed in this article is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, please check with your doctor.)

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