What Are Tanning Bronzers?
(Photo: against the tide)
Many people when they first start tanning hear about tanning lotions with bronzer and wonder what it is. As bronzer tanning lotions are one of the most popular types of tanning lotions, it is worth some discussion. A bronzer is a substance that is added to indoor tanning lotions to help darken a tan. So in other words, using a tanning lotion with a bronzer can, more or less, reduce the time required to develop a tan. This is great if you want to get a nice dark tan faster, or if you would like to darken an existing tan.
When used properly, bronzers can enrich your tanning experience leaving you with a nice deep dark golden bronze glow. But most people want to know how this works and if it is safe. Well most bronzers use DHA (DiHydroxAcetone) which is a type of amino acid that is usually developed from sugar cane. When DHA comes in contact with your skin a chemical reaction occurs that darkens your skin. More technically, when the amino acid DHA comes in contact with the proteins in your skin the chemical reaction occurs, which oxides the skin over several hours, and resultantly darkens the proteins to a bronze color.
Although most tanning bronzers use DHA there are some DHA free bronzers or bronzers that use natural ingredients. Some common natural ingredients are caramel and walnut extract. When these natural ingredients are included in tanning lotions they are know to help in creating a darker natural looking tan.
If you are wondering if bronzer tanning lotions with DHA are safe, the answer is yes they are safe. The cost common problem people have with DHA based lotions is their tan can look unnatural or it has uneven tanning results. This is because some of the cheaper lotions contain low quality bronzer or too high of a percentage of DHA. When these low quality lotions are used streaking can occur or your skin starts to look orange. However, most tanning lotions sold in your tanning salon (or the ones listed on this website) use high quality bronzers, so you should not have to worry about your tan looking unnatural or orange.
