Great question! I’m glad you asked! Here’s what you should do to achieve the best tan possible:
- Shave and exfoliate 24 hours prior to your tan (or as close to this as possible). Do not shave or exfoliate immediately before your tan. The spray tan solution reacts with amino acids on your skin, and if you exfoliate or shave immediately before your session, there are no amino acids for it to work with.
- Do not have lotion or oily residue on your skin the day of your tan. Remove makeup and deodorants prior to your tan.
- Make sure to get manicures, pedicures, or spa treatments 24 hours prior to your appointment, and arrive for your tan without any oily residue or lotion on your skin.
- Bring your swimsuit, underwear, or other garments to wear during your session. We also offer disposable items in the salon for your convenience. Females can wear as much or as little as they’d like, but we do require our male customers to wear full coverage bottoms.
- Be sure to bring loose fitting clothing and flip-flops to wear after your session. Tight clothing can rub off the bronzer and create streaking.
- DO NOT GET WET for at least 8 hours after your appointment. You must not sweat, shower, get rained on, or swim. If you get wet, it can halt the DHA development process and cause streaking. We recommend not showering for 10-12 hours for best results.
- Unless we spray you with one of our clear formulas, you will notice “brown” running down the drain during your first shower. This is normal…it is the cosmetic “instant bronze” color washing away as it is designed to do, leaving you with a beautiful bronze glow underneath!
- While you have a spray tan, it is very important that you use a sulfate-free soap or body wash. This means Dove, Safeguard, and most anything you’d buy at the grocery store are off limits – they’ll strip your tan! Our pH balancing cleanser is sulfate free if you’d like to purchase it.
- Be sure to MOISTURIZE after your first shower & beyond! The more, the better! The key to a beautiful, long lasting tan is super-moist skin. We carry a great selection of tan extending moisturizers and can recommend a product specifically for your skin type. A good moisturizer will deliver water to the skin very effectively and keep it in the skin for as long as possible. If you don’t moisturize your skin after being spray tanned, your skin will dry out and exfoliate quickly removing your tan. Your tan will also come to appear more patchy.