I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I fake tanned so I can get a better color in the sun!” This is a dangerous little myth. The only thing that will happen is your real tan will develop under your fake tan. This can look really weird.
Your body will start producing melanin as it normally would. Because the fake tan is sitting on top, you won’t see that real color until you shower. Then you get this strange reveal where your “real” skin is a different shade than the bottle color. It never matches perfectly.
I had a friend who tried this for a beach holiday. She came home, scrubbed off her DHA tan, and looked like a leopard because her skin had tanned in patches under the mousse. It was a mess, and she ended up buying more fake tan to fix it.
So, What Should You Actually Do?
Here is the easy-going, stress-free plan. Never treat fake tan as a substitute for sunscreen. If you want to be in the sun with your lovely bottle glow, you absolutely must wear SPF. Put on your sunscreen first, let it dry, and then your fake tan will still look great on top.
Can You Tan With Fake Tan On | Detroit Chinatown
The magic happens when you realize you can have both. You get the perfect, even, safe color from your bottle, and you get the protective, life-saving benefits from your real sunscreen. It’s the ultimate skincare power couple. Don’t choose one over the other.
Think of it this way: your fake tan is your stylist. The sunscreen is your bodyguard. You wouldn’t go to a party with a stylist but no bodyguard, would you?
