After your tan

As with ‘before your spray tan’ most of what you need to do after your spray tan is what you need to avoid.

Immediately after your tan wear dark, loose fitting clothes and leave it until the allotted time before showering it off. The time needed for the tan to develop depends on the type of solution you were sprayed with but is generally eight hours unless one of the rapid tan solutions was used.

Avoid excessive exposure to the sun and definitely avoid sunbathing or tanning beds for 24 hours after your tan. Also bear in mind that even after this time, when the skin’s sensitivity to UV is back to normal, a spray tan is not the same as a real tan and affords no protection from sunburn and premature ageing due to UV so it is as necessary as ever to use sunscreen

Try and avoid swimming as both salt water and the chlorine in swimming pools will fade your tan. Avoid hot baths and saunas or vigorous exercise that makes you sweat a lot and after the shower try and pat yourself dry rather than vigorous rubbing.

What you should do is moisturise regularly. Avoid moisturisers that use citrus products. There are plenty of low DHA gradual self-tanning lotions that will prolong your tan as well as moisturising the skin.

If you must shave (and Ideally you would shave 24 hours before your tan and then leave it till the tan has worn off) then at least make sure you use a new razor so as not to scrape off your new tan.

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