Is Showering After Tanning Bad?
(Photo: champagne.chic)
There seems to be a debate over whether or not showering after tanning is bad for your tan and skin. It seems that people are worried that if they shower after tanning their tan will wash off. However, showering after tanning won’t wash your tan away, but it does have some potential negative side effects. On the other hand showering after you tan may have some benefits. Depending on the person, the tanning lotion used, and the desired results will really determine whether or not one should shower after tanning.
The main problem with showering after tanning is that it will have a tendency to dry out your skin. Like tanning, showering will dry your skin. This is because the UV light generally will cause your skin to dry out. However, using a tanning lotion actually provides moisturizer to help prevent the skin from getting dehydrated. When one has a shower after tanning they are washing this moisture off of their skin. And this is where the problem occurs, as moist skin has a tendency to retain a tan better then dry skin.
Although moist skin is better then dry skin for keeping your tan, this does not mean you can’t shower after tanning, it just means you need to shower properly. Don’t use your normal bar of soap after tanning as most soap bars have high alkaline concentration and this will remove the natural acidic oils of the skin. These acidic oils are essential for retaining moisture in the skin. So make sure you wash yourself with a type of shower gel that does not have a high alkaline concentration. Just about all kinds of shower gels are fine. But, if you want to make sure check out California Tan’s line of after tan body wash.
Also, if you do choose to shower after tanning it is best to then apply an after tanning moisturizer. After tanning moisturizers will help lock in the required moisture to keep your skin healthy and help you retain your tan.
Another problem with showering after tanning is that if you are using a tanning lotion with bronzer, you may wash some of the bronzer off. This is because a chemical reaction occurs when the bronzer is mixed with your skin. This causes your skin to oxides over several hours, and resultantly darkens your skin to a bronze color. However, when one takes a shower after tanning it can halt this oxidizing process, and making any benefits from using a bronzer disappear.
Some people argue that showering after tanning actually has some benefits such as it removes the excess oils and lotion that will clog the pores and turn to dirt. If you have acne-prone skin it might be best for you to shower after tanning. Although showering in some cases may have some benefits, it is still recommend that you wait 4 hours before showering allowing your skin to properly absorb the bronzers and moisturizers of the tanning lotion. Relatively new research has indicated that showering before tanning actually has more benefit then showering after. This is because a hot shower opens up the pores and cleans the skin of dirt and dead dry skin. This results in the lotions and the UV rays able to penetrate your skin better allowing for the best results.
So is showering after tanning bad? The answer is not really, if the right precautions are used. However, for best results you should wait around 4 hours before showering, and apply after tanning moisturizer after you shower.
