How To Fix Tan Lines With Self-Tanner

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Even though you might avoid the sun as much as possible to prevent damage to your skin by the UV rays from the sun, tan lines can often be inevitable.

While they might not seem like a big deal at first, tan lines can detract from the gorgeous dress you have bought to wear to a big event, and you would rather your skin look flawless.

However, there is a way to remove tan lines, or rather hide them, almost instantly, using self-tanner.

How can you conceal tan lines with self-tanner?

Self-tanners work well to hide tanning lines. They develop a darker color on the skin, which blends in with the tan lines evenly, creating a flawless and complete look. This gives the skin an even tan, free from white lines and patches.

Self-tanners are a gift to those who want to achieve a golden tan at home and fix up any uneven tans.

However, they can be tricky to work with, and understanding how to use them properly is important to ensure that you can blend in your tan lines and keep your skin free from any streaks and blotches.

How to Fix Tan Lines with Self-Tanner

Here is how you can use self-tanner to hide tan lines at home.

Prepare Your Skin

You cannot simply massage self-tanner onto skin that hasn’t been properly prepared.

It is incredibly important to take the time to prepare your skin for self-tanner, ensuring a clean canvas to work on, which helps prevent patches and streaks.

Exfoliate – Exfoliating your skin before helps to remove the natural tan as much as possible, which might even help reduce the appearance of tan lines.

Exfoliate your entire body with a gentle exfoliator or an exfoliating mitt.

While you should exfoliate your entire body, pay special attention to drier areas, such as the knees, elbows, ankles, and tan lines.

Here’s the complete guide to exfoliating before applying self-tanner.

Cleanse – You can choose to use a gentle cleanser at home, or a special self-tanner cleanser which helps to cleanse and prime your skin, perfectly setting it up to make the most of the self-tanner.

Moisturize – Some self-tanners can dry out the skin due to the DHA active ingredient. To protect your skin against this, you should apply an oil-free and fragrance-free lotion. Once again, pay attention to the drier areas such as knees, elbows, and ankles.

Cocoa butter is a great moisturizer to use with self-tanners.

Preparation is the absolute key to ensuring you get an even-looking tan.

Without the exfoliation, cleansing, and moisturizing, your skin will not be able to hold the tan evenly, and you might end up with more streaks to add to your tan lines.

Apply The Self-Tanner

Once you have properly prepared your skin, it is time to apply the self-tanner. There are two types of self-tanners you can choose from: gradual tanners or normal self-tanners.

The one you use will depend on how quickly you need to hide your tan lines. Use a gradual tanner if you have a few days, and a normal self-tanner if you need a quick fix.

Gradual Self-Tanner

A gradual self-tanner is best to use, but you will need to plan a few days in advance and apply the self-tanner to your skin daily.

Here’s how to use it:

Use a makeup brush or the edge of a tan applicator mitt to place the gradual self-tanner onto your tan lines and the skin around it.

Dab the self-tanner gently onto the lines and blend them out towards the rest of your skin. You will need to repeat this process daily to achieve the desired tan tone and to help the tan lines fade and match the rest of your skin.

You can then use the gradual self-tanner every other day or so to maintain your tan, allowing you to keep your desired tone for a longer period of time.

Gradual self-tanners are also gentler on the skin, as they contain a lower concentration of ingredients than regular self-tanners, which means they won’t dry out your skin as much.

Additionally, they are safe to use regularly.

To learn about the differences between gradual and regular self-tanners, read this article.

Regular Self-Tanner

A regular self-tanner is ideal for use if you need to quickly cover up your tan lines.

Regular self-tanners are stronger than gradual tanners and offer a complete tan in one application, rather than requiring daily applications to build up a tan.

Using a regular self-tanner to cover up tan lines is a little trickier, as you have one shot to get it right.

It will be a little more of a guessing game as to how much to add to the tan lines, as the color does develop over time, and you will not be able to see it instantly.

You will need to gently dab the self-tanner onto the tan lines with a makeup brush or tanning mitt, and blend it out towards the rest of the skin.

If you have fair skin, only leave the self-tanner to develop for an hour. For darker skin, two hours should be sufficient time to cover the tan lines properly.

Once you have left the self-tanner on your skin for the right amount of time, you can rinse it off in the shower.

Once you have rinsed off, you can add a little more self-tanner to the tan lines if they need some extra coverage, but do not leave it on as long as you did the first time, as this might cause the tan lines to become darker than the rest of your skin, and therefore they would stand out again.

Even It Out

Once you are happy with your application of self-tanner, you should then look to apply a gentle self-tanning formula, such as self-tanning water or treatment.

This will help further even out your skin tone, and these products usually contain moisturizing ingredients that keep your skin hydrated and nourished, which is much needed after a self-tanning application at home.

You can use a tanning mitt to even out your skin, as you will be focusing on the whole body and not just the finer areas, such as the tan lines, which require a makeup sponge or brush to delicately cover and blend.

Keep Moisturized

As important as it is to prepare your skin and apply it properly, it is equally important to continue moisturizing your skin in the days following self-tan application.

Continuing with a good moisturizing routine will ensure your skin remains hydrated and smooth, and will also help keep the tan lines seamless for longer.

Moisturized skin allows a tan to fade more evenly, so it will not appear blotchy over time.

Gradual tanners are good to use for this reason, as they contain moisturizing ingredients that help to keep the skin nourished as you build a tan daily.

Keep Protected

Even though you have gorgeously even skin without tan lines after your self-tanner application, you will still need to protect your skin from further tan lines and damage.

Apply a light suntan lotion Daily, with an SPF of 15 or higher, especially when planning to spend time in the sun.

Self-tanners do not contain sun protection, so you will need to apply sunscreen over this to ensure your skin is protected.

There is no point in going through the process of applying self-tanner to even out your skin, only to then go back into the sun unprotected and develop brand new tan lines again.

Using Self-Tanner To Fix Tan Lines: Conclusion

If you have tried to cover your tan lines and it turns out patchy and streaky, you might be eager to remove the tan. There are a few ways to do this.

You can exfoliate using a mixture of

If you have tried to cover your tan lines and it turns out patchy and streaky, you might be eager to remove the tan. There are a few ways to do this.

You can exfoliate using a mixture of

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