Sunless tanning has been around for a few decades, but it seems that only recently people have started to understand the importance of using it over regular tanning methods. If you’re unaware of the multitude of health issues that sun-based tanning can bring you, you’re in for a lot of disappointment – from serious burns all the way to skin cancer – UV rays can harm you severely.

Spraying at home has become a popular method of tanning for many people. It removes all the hassle of having to go to a professional to get it done, and it can also turn out cheaper. Not to mention that there are a lot of low-quality facilities which pose risks to their customers’ health through carelessness.

There are many kinds of sunless tanning solutions, but only a few of them come in spray variants. The most popular of those are DHA sprays. They work without staining your skin – rather, the spray induces chemical reactions in the top layers of your skin, which cause it to become darker.

When applying a DHA spray, make sure you’ve taken a bath and dried yourself well. Your skin needs to be completely clean and dry to achieve best results with this type of spray. The dryness part is crucial to the whole procedure – any contact with water can compromise the results, and that includes after you’re done spraying yourself, so avoid it until the spray has been fully absorbed by your skin.

It’s important to find out if you’re allergic to the spray before using it too – this is done by applying it to a very small portion of your skin and waiting a day. If you don’t see any unexpected side effects, you may proceed with the spray’s application.

This type of sunless tanning can last anything from a couple of days to a week – it depends on your body entirely. If you shed dead skin cells too quickly, the tan will wear off quickly as well – those are the cells which it’s applied to.

Sometimes, you don’t even need this much though – for example, going to a pool party, or entering a bodybuilding competition, you may want to tan yourself for a better impression. In this case, you can use a bronzing spray – a product which acts more like make-up than traditional sunless tanning products. That is, it just tints your skin and the effect is gone with the first good shower.

In the case of bodybuilders, this is actually a standard practice – in every competition you look at, everybody will be sprayed with this type of product to some extent. It’s easily noticeable, because bronzers have the side effect of painting your skin slightly orange – and sometimes, with improper use of the product, the effect is really noticeable and your tan starts looking ridiculous. This is why you should be very careful with the application of such sprays – go slowly, in layers, until you get the color you want.