Skincare Products Blog

Sunless tanning is a safe method to enjoy a beautiful sun-kissed tan without the damaging affects of the UVA & UVB sun rays. Lavandou Skincare gives your options.

Understanding Sunless tanners and how they work!
First, it is important to understand the skin’s structure. Skin is made up of two primary layers, the dermis (second layer) and epidermis (top layer). The dermis contains all the blood vessels and living skin cells. The epidermis is the outer layer of skin composed of numerous layers of ‘keratinized’ cells. These are dead cells composed of primarily of protein. Every day millions of new cells get created beneath the surface of the skin while the dead cells on the surface fall off.

There are several types of sunless tanning products including lotions, sprays, and even pills. The most effective products are topical treatments that contian an ingredient called dihydroxyacetone (DHA). When cosmetic chemists create formulas with it, DHA is a clear, colorless ingredient. It has a special property in which it chemically reacts with the skin cells in the stratum corneum. This reaction changes the cells to a brownich color and your get your tan.

Since the cells get naturally removed after about 7 days, from the normal exfoliation process, the color will also fade away. That measns these products have to be applied frequently to maintain the desired tan. This is a popular tanning method since most people are applying a moisturizing product already.

The American Academy of Dermatology points out that the only sunless tanning products said to be effective are those contianing DHA. Other products such as tanning accelerators that contain tyrosine or pills containing canthaxanthin have never been proven to be effective. Bronzers are effective however, they are more more like make-up in that they can be easily washoed off with soap and water.

Some top Sunless tanning products containing AHA are:
• SkinCeuticals - San Soleil moisturizing sunless tanner
• Jan Marini Skin Research - Bioglycolic Sunless Self-tanner
• YonKa Paris - Autobronzant phyto-fruit self-tanning lotion
• Cellex-C - Bio-tan sunless tanning gel
• Sothys - Cellu-Guard tanning products

Important Step: Because you epidermis is made-up of dead skin cells it is important to sluff-off or exfoliate your skin with a good body scub prior to the application of your sunless tanner. Some suggested products include:
• SkinCeuticals - Body Polish
• MD Formulations - Face and Body Scrub with glycolic acid
• YonKa Paris - Phyto Gel Exfoliant body gel
• Jan Marini Skin Research - Resurfacing Body Scrub