Indoor Tanning Lotion | Tan Accelerator - Bronzers

A lot of indoor tanning lotions on the market these days contain what is called a tan accelerator or bronzer.  This type of tan accelerator is very popular with those who do self tanning and has often been toted as the best and fastest way to get a deep natural tan.

What are Indoor Tanning Accelerators?

The difference that sets a bronze, tan accelerator apart from other tanning lotions is the fact that they promote tanning of the skin without necessary exposure to sunlight and / or UV rays.  The idea behind bronzers is to give the self tanner an almost immediate bronze colour without sun or sunbed exposure.

The most common and most effective additives in tan accelerators are certain chemicals that react with the different proteins and amino acids found on the skin. 

We have discussed dihydroxyacetone (DHA) in a previous post.  It is added to indoor tanning lotion products to assist with the tanning process.  It is often used along with another ingredient called Erythrulose.

Erythrulose is a very similar chemical that turns brown or bronze when coming into contact with the skin.  Generally, when use together with dihydroxyacetone (DHA) it improves the length of time that the tan will last.

Different types of Bronzer:

Hot Bronzers refer to bronzers that have ingredients added to them that make the skin tingle or feel hot.  Usually this tingle is nothing to worry about as it is just the way the lotion stimulates the skin.

Cool Bronzers have cooling ingredients, such as menthol, to cool and soothe the skin.

Other bronzers do not fall into either the hot or cool category, but rather offer non-tingle products that are enriched with vitamins and moisturisers.  The Australian Gold Swedish Beauty bronzing line is a good example of this.

Though these types of indoor tanning lotion additives are very effective (some are more effective than others), they do eventually wear off and so are often used to kick-start the actual sunbed tanning process.  

Usually a tanner would apply a bronzer when starting out but would go for a few sun bed sessions as well so that when the tan accelerator wears off the real tan is already in place.

Indoor Tanning Lotion – How does it work?

Many people do not know where to start when choosing an indoor tanning lotion.  They are worried about the effects that these tan accelerators might have on their skin.  They have reason to worry, because everybody’s body and skin will react to a tanning lotion in a different way.  

The tingle that is caused when applying some of these indoor tanning lotions is another aspect which affects many people differently.  Some people worry about this tingle and what it is actually doing to their skin.  Different chemicals are added to these tanning products to actually produce this tingle.  This begs the questions:  

What ingredients are found in these products?

Why do these lotions tingle?

Common Tanning Lotion Ingredients:

Some of the most common ingredients are those that aid the tan and those that moisturise.  

An indoor tanning lotion is useless if it does not actually help your skin tan.  In order to facilitate the skin’s changing colour, different chemicals are used in order to stimulate the skin to produce more melanin, which in turn causes your skin colour to change.  The chemical L-Tyrosine is one of these chemicals. Often, actual melanin is added to the lotions, especially for those that do not cause any tingle.  The ingredient Dihydroxyacetone (otherwise known as DHA) is added sometimes to assist with achieving an almost immediate tanning effect.  Different types of copper are also used to add to that bronzing effect.

Other ingredients are added to preserve and increase the moisture retention of the skin.  These ingredients vary from product to product.  Some of them use tea tree oil, walnut oil, hempseed oil, and some combine cooling additives such as menthol.

Lotion Tingle – Is It Safe?

This type of tan accelerator is generally safe, especially if used according to the instructions.  The tingle is caused by the active ingredients that actually stimulate the skins own production of melanin.

Different people react in different ways to these ingredients and usually there is no adverse reaction.  However, there is no guarantee that one might have an allergic type reaction to these products.  It is therefore prudent to carefully test your indoor tanning lotion and indeed any tan accelerator on a small part of your skin, before applying it liberally all over your body.