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Winter Vacation Alert
08
Mar

Safe Tanning Products

I was asked if this was a safe tanning product?

I was recently asked for advice around a popular tanning oil – a client was seeking guidance as to whether it was the product for her. Once I began reading, the product immediately lost me with words referring to “safe tanning”.

One could spend a lot of time researching ingredients on reliable sites such as Pubmed or another EWG, but I am quite certain the ingredients of the product in question do not have documented & safe protection ratings against UVA / UAB ….if they did, the formulators would have submitted their ingredients for testing (a very expensive undertaking) and results of such testing would have been included in the details of their product packaging. i.e. SPF 20+

Quoting an spf of “around 4” does not fly for me – I certainly would not trust it for myself, my babies, my mother, my hairless dog.

Assuming the ingredients in the “Nutritive Skin Tanning Serum” are pure, the carrier oils could actually be beneficial as a skin hydrating product, or as part of an antioxidant regime. The problem lies in the marketing claim as a tan enhancer….let’s be clear:

  • A Tan is unequivocally a sign of skin damage and it is irresponsible to ignore the dangers of tanning, and even more so, encourage it!
  • A Tan induced from natural outdoor UV light is harmful to the skin.
  • A tan produced from an indoor tanning bed is arguable one of the most dangerous by-products from a beauty service…ultimately contributing to skin cancer , which is the #1 Cancer Kill of women age 25-30.
  • Tanning bed vs Outdoor light: Tanning bed light is disproportionately made of UVA in terms of the UVB (burning rays) to UVA (the aging rays). It is more harmful in that it dismantles your early warning system ie. a
    sunburn which would tell us to get out of the sun….all the while bombarding the skin with deeply penetrating and harmful UVA rays.

In essence look at this type of product for its moisturizing properties…some oils may even have a dying/staining effect on the skin, giving the illusion of a tan….that said, one would still get seriously burned if this was your protection. I personally would consider this as a “getting ready ” product….to be applied at night, on bare legs, wearing a short little skirt and sassy heels.

Professional Beauty Tip

For a healthy and natural look it is important for people to remember that aside from being born with jaundice, our true-natural colour is the same as that when we were born……good point of reference is the colour of your bum on the day of your birth.