How to Adjust Your Color Tone on Your Airbrush Tanning Kit

Airbrush tanning is an alternative to give skin color without sun rays.

Airbrush tanning offers a golden hue without the need for skin-damaging sun exposure. Among the most natural-looking choices for a faux glow, airbrush tanning can offer more color control than lotions, creams and other types of sprays. With airbrush tanning, you can adjust color tone with relative ease, opting to go more pale or bronze at will. Although color tone adjustment may be as simple as turning a dial in many cases, the preparation work and airbrushing technique you use also affect the overall color, evenness and longevity of your airbrushed tan.

Things You'll Need

• Soap
• Loofah sponge
• Sunless tanning solution

Instructions

1. 

   Exfoliation can help ensure uniform color tone.

   Cleanse and exfoliate the skin. Before airbrush tanning, wash the entire area to be sprayed, and then exfoliate it well using a loofah sponge. Because self-tanning solutions' active ingredient, dihydroxyacetone (DHA), adheres to dead skin cells, sloughing off excess cells results in a more even airbrush tanning color tone.

2. Choose a sunless tanning solution based on your desired color tone. Different airbrush tanning solutions contain varying amounts of the skin-darkening agent DHA. A higher concentration of DHA results in a darker airbrush tan. DHA concentrations range from 2.5 to 10 percent, with the majority falling in the 3 to 5 percent range.

3. Adjust the airbrush tanning kit's air pressure regulator valve to make the pressure higher for a darker color tone or lower for a lighter color tone. The kit's air compressor forces air through the opening of a hand-held tool. The air propels the spray of tanning solution from the airbrush onto its target, skin. A higher air pressure results in a faster spray and more solution expelled from the machine, which leads to a darker color tone.

4. Allow the skin to air-dry fully after airbrush tanning and before dressing, using a towel or bumping against objects. Letting the sunless tanning solution dry completely helps to ensure a color tone that is more even than is otherwise possible.

Tips & Warnings

• Use less tanning solution on thicker skin, such as elbows and knees.

• Airbrush tanning solution usually does not contain sunscreen, and, therefore, offers no protection from the sun.

References

• DermNet NZ: Dihydroxyacetone; 2010
• Aruba Tan: Frequently Asked Questions -- Airbrush Tan Equipment
• Mayo Clinic: Sunless Tanning: A Safe Alternative to Sunbathing; 2010

Resources

• The Arizona Cancer Center, Skin Cancer Institute: Sunless Tanning Options