Is Tanning Oil Bad for You? How to Tan Safely
Summer is all about long nights, beach parties, and glowing skin. But, of course, not everyone is lucky enough to have a gorgeous bronze skin color naturally. That’s why tanning oils are a staple. They grace your skin with the perfect tones for a beachy background while you lie under the sun and enjoy yourself.
Instead of lying for hours in the sun, you can spray tanning oil on your skin and get the perfect color in just one hour. But what’s the catch? Read on to find out whether tanning oil is safe for your skin or not.
Is Tanning Oil Bad for You?
Tanning oil on its own isn’t harmful in any way. It’s often made of natural components like olive oil, coconut oil, and aloe vera. In addition to these oils, most tanning oils also contain SPF to add protection against the sun. But the harm often comes from how you use them.
The catch here is that SPF in tanning oils is nowhere near enough to protect your skin against harmful UV rays. Tanning oils often contain SPF 15, if any, when the minimum to keep your skin safe is 30. So, unlike sunscreens, which often have SPF up to 100, tanning oils offer weak protection from the sun.
Furthermore, the secret to tanning oils’ quick work is that they lower your skin’s refractive index, thereby allowing more rays to penetrate.
The fast absorption of UV rays causes your skin to produce more melanin, which is the pigment responsible for the attractive bronze color. This is good news for your busy schedule, but it certainly isn’t good for your skin’s health.
The increased sun exposure without sufficient protection can have many detrimental effects on your skin, even for just one hour. For example, you’ll be prone to premature wrinkles, dark spots, and skin cancer. Not to mention, if you stay in the sun long enough, you’ll most probably suffer skin burns.
The good news is that you shouldn’t abandon all hope. You can still get an attractive tan without having to spend time under the harsh sun rays. And we’ll tell you how to do that.
How to Tan Safely
Some people think that using tanning oil and sunblock together will offer them sufficient protection and appealing results. Sounds convincing, right? Sadly, that isn’t the case at all.
Using these two products together won’t guarantee you the results you want because they cancel each other out. To elaborate, it’s either sunblock and hours in the sun or tanning oil and one hour under the sun.
There are many ways to protect your skin against the sun while tanning, and there are even alternatives to natural tanning altogether.
Tanning Oils With SPF
The SPF number is an indicator of how protective the product you have is against the sunrays. It’s essential in sunblocks but not that vital in tanning oils. In other words, some tanning oils don’t come with SPF at all, making them extra harsh on your skin.
Consequently, if you want to protect your skin against UV rays, you should look for tanning oils with a minimum of SPF 15. However, you should note that these won’t offer enough protection for long hours under the sun.
Otherwise, if you want maximum protection, look for a tanning oil with SPF 30 or more. It’ll be sufficient if you’re planning to stay in the sun for more than an hour.
Choose Your Tanning Time Carefully
The sun reaches its hottest state starting from noon till 3 PM. On the one hand, you can tan during this time to enjoy an attractive golden skin color. On the other hand, lying under the sun then puts your skin at risk of burning.
If you have sensitive or fair skin, you should tan either before noon or after 3 PM. This way, you’ll minimize the risk of painful burns.
Self Tanning
Your idea about spray tans may be limited to awkward and splotchy skin colors that look more orange than bronze. Ross Geller is excellent proof of that!
But this isn’t the case anymore. Nowadays, you can get spray tans that emulate the look of a natural tan. You don’t even have to go to tanning salons anymore because home kits are now available everywhere.
If you choose the right product for you and use it correctly, you’ll enjoy beautiful bronze skin without suffering the consequences of direct exposure to sunlight.
To Wrap Up
Tanning oils are often sought-after during the summer because of their long-lasting effects. They make your skin more receptive to sun rays, speeding up the production of melanin. This pigment is what gives you the tan. So, instead of spending hours in the sun, you can get a natural tan in just one hour.
While tanning oils are efficient in coloring skin, they pose a health hazard because of their minimal protection against sun rays. We all know how the sun can have catastrophic effects on the skin, starting from wrinkles and dark spots and all the way to skin cancer.
To get a natural tan safely, look for tanning oils with SPF 30, not less. If you want to stir away from tanning oils and harmful sun rays altogether, look for appropriate home spray tanning kits. They can give you the golden look you have in mind with little to no effort. So, are you excited to have a gorgeous tan this summer while protecting your skin? We sure are!
