Why Do Sunless Tans and Natural Tans Fade?

Your skin is the body’s largest organ and it is made up of three major layers of skin. We will talk about the outer layer of skin, the epidermis because that is the layer affected when we use sunless tanning products.

The epidermis is made up of thousands of cells. One of the major cell types in the outer layer of skin is called keratinocytes. These cells are formed at the base of the skin layer and travel through other layers to reach the surface. As these cells reach the surface of the skin, they are in fact, dying because the blood supply is cut off and the cells are not receiving nutrients to survive. The skin cells then naturally sloughs off. This process is a constant cycle that takes about 30 days to completely run through the life stage of a healthy skin cell, at which time the cycle starts all over again.

This is also why natural sun tans and your sunless tan that you achieved from your favorite sunless tanning product fades away. Your tan fades as your skin cells naturally slough away. It is a natural process and why manufacturers recommend reapplying sunless tanning products every few days or at least weekly to maintain your sunless glow.

Exfoliatiing your skin before applying your sunless tanning product is just a way of helping out mother nature to remove dead skin cells from the surface of your skin. It allows for your sunless tanning product to penetrate the skin and work better and longer for you.

Be nice to your skin and keep it moisturized, better yet….use a good moisturizing sunless tanning product for a healthy glow!

Photo credit: Anita Patterson