Ingredients for Homemade Tanning Lotion
Lying out in the sun will give your skin a nice dark tint, but it can also cause skin damage and even cancer. Store-bought tanning lotions will help make your skin a shade darker, but they also come with an unappetizing smell and a hefty price tag. You can make your own tanning lotion at home that will smell better and cost less. Does this Spark an idea?
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Lanolin
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Lanolin is a greasy yellowish substance secreted by wool-bearing animals such as sheep. It is often used by breast-feeding mothers to help heal nipples that become cracked or as a preventive measure to protect nipples. Skin readily absorbs lanolin, making it an ideal product for use in homemade tanning lotions.
Coconut Oil
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Besides smelling wonderful, coconut oil is also great for homemade tanning lotions because of its moisturizing quality. Coconut oil contains vitamin E, which helps keep skin smooth and protect it against cracking and even aging. Coconut oil also contains saturated fats that help lock moisture into the skin. Some of the fatty acids in coconut oil also have disinfectant qualities that can protect the skin against infection.
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Water
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Use water in homemade tanning lotion to extract the color from the tea bags through a process called steeping. Place tea bags in the water once it is brought to a boil. The hot water draws the flavor, as well as the color, out from the tea. The water then turns a deep rich color, which is what gives the homemade tanning lotion its shade, and what will eventually give your skin a nice deep tint.
Black Tea
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Black tea is a wonderful ingredient for homemade tanning lotion for more reasons than just its coloring. Black tea is full of antioxidants and vitamins C and E, which help fight aging of the skin. Black tea as an ingredient in homemade tanning lotion has the added benefit of fighting blemishes, cooling sunburn and reducing the itching and swelling of bug bites.
Sunblock
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While opting to use a tanning lotion instead of lying in the sun is a start to preventing skin cancer caused by excessive sun exposure, it isn't enough. Use sunblock along with tanning lotion for the best prevention of sun-related skin damage. Cover your skin in sunblock after applying the homemade tanning lotion.
Assembly
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Boil 3/4 cup water, add three black tea bags and let it steep for 20 minutes. Blend 1/4 cup of tea, 1/4 cup of lanolin and 1/4 cup of coconut oil. Slowly add the rest of the tea to the mixture with the blender still running. You can use an empty lotion bottle or an empty bottle from the drugstore to store your homemade tanning lotion.
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