Skin type guide
Dry skin and tanning.
What actually helps.
If your tan goes patchy on your shins, looks dull by day four and vanishes a week before everyone else's, the problem is usually not the tanning. It is the skin underneath it. Dry skin makes colour perfectly well. It just holds it badly, sheds it unevenly and hides it under a rough surface. This guide covers why, what to look for on a label, and which Delux formula suits dry skin best.
About a monthfor the surface of your skin to renew itself, taking colour with it
3jobs a dry-skin formula has to do: draw water in, seal it, repair the barrier
10psized amount per area, spread thin
0DHA or bronzer, which cling to dry patches
Quick answer: for dry skin, choose a tan accelerator built on a proper moisturising base, with humectants like glycerin, emollients like shea and squalane, and barrier ingredients like ceramides, and no DHA or bronzer. Apply a thin layer, moisturise every day, and exfoliate gently the day before a session, never the day of. Our pick for most dry skin is a
Next-Gen cream.
Dry skin can tan. It makes melanin like any other skin. The problem is holding on to it.
Colour lives near the surface. When that surface flakes off unevenly, so does your tan.
Rough skin looks lighter. A dry surface scatters light, so the same tan reads duller and greyer.
Fix the skin and the tan follows. Hydrated, smooth skin shows more of the colour you already have.
Part one
Why dry skin loses its tan first
When you tan, pigment cells deep in the skin make melanin and pass it up into the cells above them. Those cells keep moving upwards and are eventually shed from the surface, which is why no tan is permanent. Healthy skin sheds a few cells at a time and you never notice. Dry skin sheds in flakes and patches. Colour leaves in patches too.
There is a second, quieter problem. A dry, rough surface scatters light instead of reflecting it evenly. That is the ashy, dull look dry shins get even when they are tanned. The colour is there. You just cannot see all of it.
Dry skin does not stop you tanning. It stops you seeing it, and it stops you keeping it.
The usual dry spots are the ones people complain about most: shins, knees, elbows, the tops of the feet and, in winter, hands and face. If that list sounds like your patchy areas, this is why. The legs guide goes deeper on the lower half.
Part two
What to look for on the label
A formula that suits dry skin has to do three things at once. Most tanning creams do one, or none.
Draw water in. Humectants pull water into the top layer of skin. Look for glycerin, hyaluronate, panthenol, betaine or beta-glucan near the top of the list.
Seal it in. Emollients soften the surface and slow water loss. Look for shea butter, cocoa butter, squalane or jojoba.
Repair the barrier. Ceramides are the mortar between skin cells, and UV depletes them. Ceramide NP and niacinamide are the two to look for.
A typical sunbed accelerator
1
GlycerinButtersCeramidesBarrier support
A thin lotion built to carry an active, with one humectant doing all the moisturising.
VS
What dry skin needs
3
HumectantsEmollientsBarrier lipids
Water drawn in, water held, and a barrier that does not leak it straight back out.
What to avoid if your skin is dry
DHA and bronzers
DHA reacts with the dead cells on the surface, and dry patches have more of them. That is why fake tan goes darker on knees and elbows and flakes off in bits. A tan accelerator with no DHA or bronzer avoids the problem entirely, because there is no surface colour to go patchy.
Tanning oils on a sunbed
Oil feels nourishing, but it sits on the surface, intensifies exposure rather than supporting your skin, and most salons ban it for what it does to the acrylics.
Why salons say no.
Alcohol high on the list
Some gels use alcohol so they dry fast. On dry skin that is the wrong direction. If it is in the first few ingredients, give it a miss.
Scrubbing the day of a session
Exfoliating is good for dry skin. Doing it hard, just before a session, strips the surface you are about to tan and leaves it irritated. Do it gently, the day before.
Part three
Which Delux formula suits dry skin
Every Delux formula is water-based and has no DHA, bronzer or tint. They are built differently underneath, and for dry skin that matters.
| Formula |
What it brings for dry skin |
Best for |
Next-Gen creams
Island Coconut, Electric Melon, Bubblegum Mania |
Aloe second on the list, shea third, glycerin, squalane, ceramide NP, beta-glucan, ectoin, panthenol and niacinamide |
Most dry skin. The full moisturising base plus all five melanin actives |
| Go Dark |
Glycerin, shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, oat kernel oil and jojoba |
Very dry skin that wants the richest feel, and anyone starting out. Conditioning first |
| Lumière |
Hyaluronate, hydrolysed collagen, ceramide NP, squalane, jojoba and meadowfoam |
Dry skin on the face, where a body butter would feel heavy |
| Sun Sauce |
Glycerin, panthenol, betaine and aloe. No butters or oils |
Normal skin. On very dry skin, moisturise after the session and on rest days |
Why the Next-Gen creams are our pick for most dry skin
They were built as a skin cream first. Aloe is the second ingredient and shea the third, not somewhere after the fragrance, and the barrier half of the formula, ceramide NP, squalane, beta-glucan and ectoin, is the same set you would look for in a good body moisturiser. On top of that sits the melanin stack. You get both jobs from one thin layer. The
Island Coconut guide walks through every ingredient.
Where Go Dark fits
Go Dark is our original, and it tans through conditioning rather than a melanin stack. It is the richest feeling formula we make, with two butters and three plant oils, which is exactly why people with very dry skin in the winter sunbed months like it. It is the starting point in the range, not the strongest option. When you want more from each session, the Next-Gen creams are the step up.
The Go Dark guide.
What about Sun Sauce?
Sun Sauce is a jelly, and a jelly is mostly water by design. It hydrates with humectants instead of butters, which is why it feels weightless. That is great on normal skin. On very dry skin it has nothing to seal the water in, so pair it with a plain moisturiser after your session and on the days in between, or choose a cream.
Cream or jelly?
Part four
A routine for dry skin
The day before: exfoliate gently, focusing on shins, knees and elbows. Shave or wax the day before too, not the morning of.
Every day: moisturise, especially the dry spots. This is the single biggest thing you can do to keep a tan even.
In the shower: lukewarm, not hot, and pat dry rather than rubbing. Hot water strips the oils dry skin is short of.
Before the session: a 10p sized amount per area on clean, dry skin, spread thin until it disappears. Nothing greasy underneath.
After the session: moisturise. Outdoors, sunscreen over the top, every time.
In winter, central heating does to your skin what the sun does in summer. The autumn and winter guide covers keeping colour through the cold months.
What a cream cannot do
A tanning cream with a good base will make dry skin feel better and hold colour more evenly. It will not treat a skin condition. If your dryness is eczema, psoriasis or anything that cracks, bleeds or itches badly, speak to your GP or pharmacist before you tan, and patch test any new product. And no cream stops skin from shedding. The best it can do is help it shed evenly.
Which, for a tan, is most of the battle.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
Does dry skin tan worse?
Dry skin makes melanin like any other skin, but it sheds unevenly and its rough surface scatters light, so the tan looks patchier and duller and fades sooner. Hydrated skin shows and holds the same colour better.
What is the best tan accelerator for dry skin?
One built on a proper moisturising base, with humectants like glycerin, emollients like shea or squalane and barrier ingredients like ceramides, and with no DHA or bronzer. The Delux Next-Gen creams are built that way.
Should I moisturise before a sunbed?
Moisturise every day, but on the day of a session apply your accelerator to clean, dry skin and skip heavy body butters or oils underneath. A good accelerator cream already carries the moisturising ingredients.
Why does my tan go patchy on my shins and knees?
Those are usually the driest areas, so they shed in flakes and take colour with them. Exfoliate gently the day before a session, moisturise daily and apply a thin, even layer there too.
Is Go Dark good for dry skin?
Go Dark is the richest feeling formula in the range, with shea, cocoa butter, oat kernel oil and jojoba, so it suits very dry skin and first-timers. For more from each session, the Next-Gen creams combine a moisturising base with five melanin actives.
Look after the skin. Keep the colour.
A thin layer of a proper cream, a daily moisturiser and a gentle scrub the day before. That is the whole routine.
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