Preparation & Maintenance For Your Custom Airbrush or Premium Mystic Tan Session
Preparation: 24 hours before your session
Exfoliate rigorously before each session to remove dry, flaky skin. Skin replaces itself in cycles naturally every 28 days. Twenty-five percent of skin is exfoliated each week, causing a UV-tan to slowly wear away. Sunless spray tans affect only the top 25 percent of skin, so you will want to remove the dead, dry skin cells that will prevent the absorption of DHA bronzers into fresh, healthy skin cells. Doing so allows for the sunless spray to absorb deeply into the skin and oxidize to a brilliant golden brown color. Spraying sunless products on dry, flaky skin causes the tan to look less natural, will be uneven when fading and shorten the life of your sunless tan.
For exfoliation of extremely dead, dry skin cells we suggest a two-step process. First use a high quality salt scrub for a deep exfoliation and skin treatment 24-hours before your session. This provides a thorough, deep skin exfoliation to nourish and moisturize your skin. Second, use a non oil-based moisturizing body scrub on the morning of your session for a light exfoliating, moisturizing and skin pH balancing treatment. This will give your skin the fuel needed for beautiful, long lasting color. Norvell’s Amber Sun Sea Coral Salt Scrub and Moisturizing Body Scrub are ideal products to use in your pre-session exfoliation and skin preparation treatments.
Avoid using bar soaps, high pH shower products or in-shower moisturizers. These products can halt the DHA bronzing reaction or cause the dreaded “orange effect.” Any waxing should be done no less than 2 days prior to your tanning session. Also, elevated body temperature, perspiration or moisture on the skin can hinder DHA development and affect results.
STOP! Do not apply lotion! Do not apply lotions, moisturizers or perfumes prior to your session. Use deodorant sparingly. It is best not to apply makeup, but if you do, carefully remove makeup prior to your session.
Preparation: Day of Session
Wear dark, loose fitting clothing and remove jewelry. We recommend wearing old, dark colored undergarments / swimwear to be sprayed in. DHA solution washes out of cotton garments, but will not wash out of synthetic, silk, leather or suede materials.
Maintenance: After Session
Avoid sweating! Avoid activities that may cause you to sweat excessively and possibly cause streaking of the cosmetic bronzer. Use the air conditioning in your car on a hot day. Remember, you have just been tinted with a water-soluble solution.
Avoid water! You must avoid water entirely for at least 4 hours or you will stop the tanning action of the DHA and/or cause streaking. Avoid swimming and spas. Avoid chemically treated swimming pools and spas for at least 24-hours after your spray tanning session to prevent color from prematurely fading.
Wait to shower! For maximum results, wait at least 8 hours before showering or bathing. Bathe with plain water only for the first 16 hours after your session to avoid fading and stripping of instant color.
Cleansing: After your sunless tanning session, we recommend a hydrating shower gel or body wash as your shower product. It is important to avoid using bar soaps or high pH products – they will strip and fade your tan rapidly. Norvell’s body cleansers are designed to hydrate, moisturize and nourish while maintaining the proper pH levels for your skin. Proper cleansing insures even fading and the longest lasting, most natural looking sunless results. After bathing, gently ‘pat dry’ skin. The instant cosmetic bronzer will wash off – as it is designed to do.
Tan Extend / Moisturize / Refresh: The day after your session and after first shower, use Amber Sun Prolong or a high quality skin moisturizer. This lotion helps keep your tan health and skin moisturized while adding refreshing glow each day to your color. Prolong is specially formulated to help your color fade gradually and evenly. For an extravagant daily moisturizing ritual, try Amber Sun Body Butter – a rich crème developed to eliminate severely dry skin due to environmental exposure, UV and sunless tanning.
Between Sessions: For additional color and ‘touch ups’ between sessions, we suggest the use of the Norvell line of sunless mousse, lotions or touch up sprays. These products contain the exact same DHA as in the sunless tan solution and are excellent in preserving and maintaining your beautiful deep, dark color.
Solar Spa Tanning proudly offers the complete line of Norvell Amber Sun professional skin care products. The Amber Sun line is specifically formulated to work with the DHA and the other ingredients found in professional sunless sprays and will maximize your sunless tanning sessions. Ask a Solar Spa Tanning staff member about this luxurious line of skin care products and the proper maintenance regimen to follow.
Call us today and speak with an Custom Airbrush Tanning Specialist at 714-734-8845