I was recently asked by one of the followers of the site if it’s alright to spray tan 2 days in a row, and I found the question interesting enough that I felt like it was worth answering with a quick post.
Many people, understandably, worry about how they’ll look from a spray tan. I’ve had sessions where the airbrusher didn’t have a shade dark enough, and so I wondered if it was alright if I just layered up by coming back the next day to get a darker tan.
So let’s talk a little bit about how this works specifically with spray tanning. If you’re curious about layering self-tanner products at home, check out this other post I wrote.
Alright, so let’s get into this.
What Happens If You Get A Spray Tan 2 Days In A Row?
First, let’s just have a quick chat about how just about all tanning products work, including spray tans. Products that produce tan almost always contain a chemical called DHA.
DHA is a type of sugar that is derived either synthetically, or naturally from things like sugar cane or sugar beets. When DHA comes in contact with the amino acids in the dead skin cells on your body, it chemically reacts forming pigment.
This pigment, if the product is of quality, should look very much like a natural tan. Typically products intended to produce a darker tan will have a higher DHA content in them.
However the higher the DHA content, the harder it is to get a natural-looking, even tan over your entire body, so most professionals prefer to use a light to a medium tone spray tanning product.
However, if you’ve read my guide on getting a darker self-tan, you know that layering self-tanner is a completely reasonable way to do this, but there are a few things you want to watch out for.
First of all, you should really talk to, and trust, the person doing the spray tan for you, or at least the employees at the salon you go to. However, I’m going to share my experience and my knowledge with you.
How To Spray Tan 2 Days In A Row
First of all, you certainly don’t want to get a spray tan twice on the same day. First of all, you won’t even give the first application enough time to fully develop, even if you wash it off.
It takes around 8-24 for a spray tan to fully develop, which is why many people will get their spray tan late in the day, and then go to sleep and wash it off in the morning.
Next, before you decide to try and get a spray tan darker by doing it twice in 2 days, first ask your salon what the darkest solution they have is. The average spray tanner solution that they use will probably have between 8-14% DHA.
However, there are brands out there with significantly higher amounts of DHA such as Brown Blitz and others. So talk with your airbrusher and see what they can do. If they have a darker solution, that is a much better option than tanning multiple days in a row. Not only will it be easier to maintain, but it will also fade off cleaner.
Next, if you haven’t tried it already, I would try using a high-quality self-tanning solution you can apply at home. My favorite (and the one I’m using right now) is this one that you can pick up fairly inexpensively on Amazon. I’ve used this in the past and it produces a beautiful, dark shade of tan that looks extremely natural.
I personally love self-tanning, but if you don’t, and prefer to head in for a spray tan, then that’s totally fine!
If the salon doesn’t have a darker solution, and you’re not interested in self-tanning, then you can totally try spray tanning 2 days in a row. Don’t change up your routine; go ahead and do your exfoliation and your moisturizing.
You do want to make sure that you shower off the solution before you go for your second session of spray tanning. Then, when you go back to get your second session done, talk to the people at the salon and let them know. They will likely use a slightly lower DHA solution so they can better control the tan, you don’t want to be un-naturally dark.
Once you’ve had the second spray tan done, watch your skin. If you feel like the color is reaching a place where it is getting close to becoming darker than you want it to be, hop in the shower right away to slow or stop the reaction forming the tan.
Then, voila, you’ve spray tanned twice in two days and have a beautiful dark color!
I hope you found this short article helpful, if you did, consider sharing it! If you didn’t enjoy it, let me know why in the comments and I’ll work to improve it!
