Prep and Maintain, How to get your tan to last 2 weeks

The steps to have a baben tan & making it last 2 weeks

Spray tans can be a bit hit and miss when you have a few different factors in place; a self taught spray tanerist, patchy dry areas that the tan sticks too, over sprayed when you come out looking like you just spent 6 weeks in the dessert. lets face it we have all seen the oompa loompas strolling around the streets looking the colour of a certain round fruit.. i will break down the do's and don'ts when it comes to in salon tans and home tanning.

Salon Spray Tans

firstly prepping is the most important step to come out looking even and perfectly goddess like. our skin sheds dead skin cells everyday so they sit on the surface layer of your skin which means if you don't get rid of them when you get sprayed its going to stick to your dead skin. by the time your tan is 2 days deep your scaly and patchy and avoiding bra straps and tight sandals rubbing, totally giving your fake tan away..

ok so what we need is prep prep prep starting with a body scrub containing natural oils that exfoliates and hydrates this is so benEficial for your skin it will leave you feeling smooth as a babies bum.. now the key is not to do this just before tanning you need to do it the night before a spray tan, doing it the same day it will leave oils on the skin creating a barrier between the skin and tan you need clean dry skin free of any moisturisers and deodorants. then the morning of your tan with an exfoliating glove scrub that bod with some body wash removing oils and dead skin cells.

do not use soap on your skin! soap strips the skin of its natural oils its important to keep your skin at its natural Ph level, so using a body wash that contains natural ingredient is an important factor in keeping your skin healthy and hydrated.

Now next factor is shaving or waxing when to do it?

have you ever experienced getting a tan and then there is lines down your shins well that is from shaving to close to your spray appointment. we have to remember that shaving is also an exfoliant so doing it just before a tan you are likely to get lines or dots when your hair follicles are opened and tan is going straight into your pores leaving you looking spotty AND THIS IS TAN IT DOEsn'T JUST COME OFF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SPOTTY FOR A WEEK.

So bottom line is PRep waxing or shaving should be done the day before tanning.

now when you get sprayed a good therapist should also be doing prep work before she gets you naked and sprays you with freezing cold sticky liquid and sending you on your way.

The next key factor is moisturising your elbows hands feet and heels before spraying this will eliminate tan sticking to those areas.

now a big mistake that spray artist do is overspray. i can not stress enough how important it is not to over spray. It causes scaling & drying out the skin and leaving it fading out uneven and patchy because there will be too much product siting on the top of the skin, people seem to think that the more they spray on the browner and better it will be................. um no! I don't quite no what the obsession is of trying to become a very very very dark person if every day you are walking around like an albino why do you think that you will look natural becoming extremely dark then patchy then white. so i beg of you ladies if your naturaly white you can be brown but a natural looking brown one where people aren't going to say she has had a spray tan! The DHA in the spray tans these days are very smart they will go as dark as your natural skins dha will let you so you cant actually look like the little people in the cadbury ad.

next is after you have been sprayed the therapist should wipe down your hands elbows underarms feet and heels leaving you with a flawless tan.

ok so now that all of the prep is accounted for we need to talk maintenance how you can keep your tan looking glowing for 2 weeks, how you ask!

Well as long as you have followed the prep steps the rest is easy you need to drink around 2 litres of water a day keeping your body well hydrated is great for your skin along with many other health benefits. moisturise moisturise moisturise using a good moisturiser that is natural twice a day morning & night i also believe in using body oils that are natural as well full of the good stuff coconut oils and almond oils hydrating your body to its fullest potential remember the more you hyrdrate the skin the less skin cells are going to shed.

now when ever i tell people the next step they think i'm cray cray. after 3 days of doing the following steps you need to go back to prep stage and use your body scrub people have this idea that it will totally remove your tan well not if you use the right one and do it the right way. by then you will have had dead skin cells sitting on the top layer of the skin if you leave them they build up and then eventaully your tan will start to patch up and not fade evenly so my proposal to you is try it my way and then i want to hear your feed back because i know you will love how your tan will fade and last.

anyway back to the steps......... scrubs using a scrub that has all the natural oils in it, there are many benefits to using scrubs from fading scaring to helping reduce cellulite with stimulating the blood flow to these areas it creates your body to naturally heal and burn any fat.... who needs a gym!

now when you use this in the shower on your third day you will need to have a tan extender moisturise on hand for when you get out this will put the colour back in that you have scrubbed off we like to use either the st tropez or eco coco tan extender both are amazingly natural colours whilst being nice and hydrating, without being sticky or hanging around all day where you cant cross your legs because you may take skin off when you un cross your legs.

now by doing this you will then need to do this every second day where you will scrub and tan extend one day then just moisturise the next, you will be amazed how long you can keep this routine up for and how long you will be looking like a bronzed babe for!!

So routine is;

day 1 - moisturising morning & night

day 2 - moisturising morningt & night

day 3 - moisturising morning & night

day 4 - body scrub & tan extender morning/night & moisturise night/morning

day 5 - moisturising morning & night

day 6 - body scrub & tan extender morning/night & moisturise night/morning

You get the drift..... do this routine until you feel like its time to scrub it all off and start again.

Home Tanning

so home tanning can be a bit more tricky to get right but following these steps for prep and maintain you have more of a chance.

Now we have a few favs; st tropez tanning mouse in express is amazing if you want to have a shower within 3 hours and be able to see where you have put it plus most importantly it is an amazing colour so it's dummy proof! use tanning gloves these babys are so good i never recommend using your bare hands to apply tan. if you don't have a tanning glove then you need to be using disposable gloves. the other product were crushing over is eco coco tan this is a moisturising cream so you can't see where you are applying but it does develop evenly if you rub it in right. this one you don't need a glove you can use your hands and it doesn't stain. this product is great for skins that need a bit more hydration.

with home tanning i recommend starting the scrub stage at day 3 not 4 home tanning products don't last as long as in salon tanning.

happy tanning mr foxes babes <3