The Best Non-Toxic Sunless Tanners

Summer is on the horizon and there is nothing wrong with wanting to look like a bronzed beach bunny. I'll admit it, I LOVE being tan. By now, I think most of us know that getting tan by laying out in the sun all day isn't so good for us with the skin cancer risk, and, a tan is actually damaged skin, so we turn to lotions to help us get the look.

Most of the popular sunless tanner brands we are used to using are full of health-harming ingredients like parabens, formaldehyde, petrochemicals, artificial colors, and fragrances. The ingredient that makes us appear tan, DHA, is potentially dangerous as well.

According to wellness expert Kris Carr, 'When it comes to applying DHA-containing self-tanner in the forms of cream and lotion, things get a little foggy. Some research shows that DHA does not migrate past the outermost layer of skin, or the “dead skin layer”, while other research shows that DHA can migrate to the living layers of the skin after all, but it’s unclear what happens from there. Even though we don’t have a conclusive answer on this, the following recent research on DHA makes me think twice about exposing my skin to these products (synthetic or natural). A few years ago, an ABC News investigation reported that DHA has the potential to cause genetic alterations and DNA damage. Concerns were raised by a panel of medical experts, ranging across the fields of dermatology, toxicology, and pulmonary medicine, who reviewed 10 of the most current publicly available scientific studies on DHA, including a federal report ABC News obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Some of the studies found DHA altered genes of multiple types of cells and organisms. '

Remember, when we lather a product all over our body we are putting it on our largest organ. The ingredients we put on our skin are absorbed into our bloodstream within 20 seconds.

Thankfully, there are plenty of great safe options made without any of those yucky ingredients I listed above that will give you that summer glow all year long.

For the best result, I always recommend dry brushing your body and showering before applying sunless tanner to your clean, dry skin. You will always want to use a tanning mitt and wash it out thoroughly after use. I also recommend clearing the floor area, we have white bath mats and they have been stained one too many times by errant mousse.

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Beauty By Earth - Face & Body Sunless Tanners. They offer face serums, lotions, drops in light, medium, and dark. For body they offer Mousse, Lotion, and Spray in different tones.

I have and use the lotion and the foam and like them a lot.

Suntegrity - Tanning Drops. Tanning Lotion, Bronzing Shimmer Serum

EcoTan - Gradual Lotion, Mousse, Tanning Water. Their Winter Skin gradual lotion is one of the first I ever used and I really liked it.

Lux Unfiltered - Gradual cream, Tanning Mousse, Bronzing Face Drops

I just bought the gradual cream and will report back soon! I will say this does have fragrance so I'm trying to investigate what exactly they use.

I have all of these together in one list that you can find here.

Happy Tanning!