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How Long After a Sunbed Can You Shower?

How Long After a Sunbed Can You Shower? - Delux Tanners
Sunbed aftercare

How long after a sunbed
can you shower?

Short answer: it depends on what you put on before the session, not on the sunbed. Water does not wash off a tan. It can wash off a bronzer. Here is how to tell which one you are dealing with, and what to do after either.

0minutes of tan that water can wash off
1-2days your colour keeps developing after a session
Hoursthe usual wait printed on bronzer lotions
Lukewarmthe only shower setting that matters
1The short answer2Why salons say wait3What actually helps4The routine
A UV tan is made inside your skin. It is melanin, and a shower cannot rinse it away.
A bronzer sits on top of your skin. Shower too soon and some of it goes down the drain, sometimes in streaks.
Bronzer-free accelerators absorb in minutes. By the time you leave the salon there is nothing left on the surface to lose.

Part one

The short answer

If you used a bronzer-free accelerator, you can shower whenever you like. Most people wait until they have cooled down and stopped sweating, which is comfort rather than science.

If you used a lotion with bronzer or DHA, follow the wait printed on the bottle. It is usually several hours, because that colour is still developing on the surface of your skin.

If you are not sure which you used, read the label. Look for DHA (dihydroxyacetone), erythrulose, caramel or iron oxides. Any of those means there is colour in the tube. How to read an ingredient label walks through it.

The sunbed does not care when you shower. The bottle you used before it does.

Part two

Why salons tell you to wait

The advice comes from bronzer lotions, which most salon shelves are full of. A bronzer gives you instant colour by staining the surface of your skin, and some types keep darkening for hours. Rinse that off early and you lose some of the colour, often unevenly, which is where the streaky arms come from.

It is good advice for a bronzer. It just gets repeated as if it applied to every tan.

Bronzer lotion

Wait
Colour on the surfaceStill developingCan streak

Shower early and some of the colour goes with the water.

VS

Bronzer-free accelerator

Go
Absorbed in minutesNo colour to rinseTan made in the skin

Nothing on the surface to lose, so the timing is up to you.

Part three

What actually helps your colour

A shower cannot take your tan away, but it can make your skin shed faster, and your tan lives in the top layer of skin. That is the bit worth getting right.

Lukewarm, not hot. Hot water strips your skin's oils and dries it out, and dry skin flakes off in patches.
Go easy on scrubs straight after. Exfoliate the day before a session instead, so you tan on fresh skin.
Pat dry. A towel rubbed hard is a mild exfoliator you did not ask for.
Moisturise while your skin is still damp. Hydrated skin sheds evenly, so your colour fades evenly when it does fade.

Your colour also keeps developing for a day or two after a session, so the shower straight after is not the end of anything. How long a tan lasts covers the rest.

Part four

The routine, start to finish

Before. Clean, dry skin. A 10p-sized amount of cream per area, or 5p for Sun Sauce, spread thin until it disappears. A minute or two before the session is fine.
During. Your salon's session length for your skin. Never longer because you want to go darker faster.
After. Cool down, then shower when you like. Lukewarm, gentle, pat dry.
Every day. Moisturiser, especially in winter when heating dries your skin.

To be clear about what we are not saying: no shower timing, cream or jelly changes how much UV your skin gets. Follow your salon's guidance on sessions. This page is only about not wasting the colour you have already built.

Quick answers

Frequently asked

Can I shower straight after a sunbed?
Yes, if you used a bronzer-free accelerator. A UV tan is made inside your skin and water cannot wash it off. Most people wait until they have cooled down, which is about comfort. If you used a bronzer lotion, follow the wait on its label.
Does showering wash off a sunbed tan?
No. The tan itself is melanin in your skin. What a shower can wash off is any bronzer or guide colour sitting on the surface.
Why do salons say to wait before showering?
Most salon lotions contain bronzer, which stains the surface of your skin and can keep developing for hours. Showering early can make that colour streaky. The advice is right for bronzers and unnecessary for bronzer-free accelerators.
Should I use hot or cold water after a sunbed?
Lukewarm. Hot water dries your skin out, and dry skin sheds unevenly, which takes the colour with it in patches.

Nothing to rinse off.

Our creams and jelly have no bronzer and no DHA, so the colour you see is yours and the shower is whenever suits you.

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