Campus Chronicle

Issue date: 9/14/09 Section: Pulse

Dr. George

Q: How do you get rid of orange-looking spray on tans besides exfoliating until you give yourself a second degree burn?

A: The short answer is you either exfoliate, or wait to shed the stained skin. The wait is usually short, 5-7 days, and can be hastened with exfoliating treatments. That may seem damn near forever, but trust me, it goes by quick. I'm sure it seems a little longer if everyone is pointing at you and laughing.
For the men out there who are unfamiliar, exfoliating means shedding the outermost skin cells with the use of either mechanical (i.e. scrubbing) or chemical (mild acids of natural or man-made design). It's often part of the facials and spa treatments that our fairer halves are so unexplainably fond of.

While exfoliating, expedites the natural process of purging older, dead skin cells, a certain amount of common sense is helpful. After all, the object is to eradicate the dead cells on the outside, not draw blood or cause pain. You're not trying to shed the whole hide after all.
Sunless tanning products have been around for loads of years. Several oral preparations were popular for a while, but none are currently available. Now the common product used is dihydroxyacetone (DHA). It is a colorless liquid that works by forming brown-black compounds called melanoidins in the outermost layer of skin called the stratum corneum. Since certain areas of our skin have a thicker layer of that stratum corneum, like the palms soles, knees, ankles and elbows, these areas end up darker than elsewhere unless precautions are taken. Commonly, because the hands are used to apply it, the palms get a humongous (industry term) dose and become very dark. Whoops.

Some of these products contain a small amount of sunscreen as well, although they are of a low SPF, like 3, and last for only a few hours. They are presumably used instead of the sun to add color, and therefore agencies like the American Cancer Society endorse them. We already learned of their trepidation of the sun in a previous column (Suntans and Sunburns, Chicago Flame, July 13, 2009).
In the US, commercially available sunless tanning products made their introduction in 1960. Coppertone stunned the tanning lotion market with a product called "QT" (Quick Tan). The whole concept of tanning without the sun was a blockbuster. It was a huge success since all of us would love that healthy looking tan without going through all the trouble of actually "earning" one, with the exception of one little problem. The little problem was that it produced a ridiculous orange hue to the skin, only distantly similar to an authentic sun generated tan. It was very obviously NOT a genuine sun tan, but that didn't stop lots of teens from using it.
Or, you could reapply and be a pumpkin for Halloween…..

Send your anonymous questions to pulse@chicagoflame.com.

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