definitions · guides ·

What a Tanning Accelerator Actually Is

What a Tanning Accelerator Actually Is - Delux Tanners
The definition

What a tanning accelerator
actually is.

The phrase is on everything from body butter to bronzer, which is why it has stopped meaning much. Here is the plain definition, what has to be in the tube for the word to be honest, and how to tell an accelerator from a moisturiser with a tanning name in under a minute.

1thing an accelerator does: support your skin's own melanin under UV
0colour in a real one
2things it is often confused with: bronzers and oils
30sto check any tube against this page
1The definition2What it is not3What has to be in it4How it works5The 30-second check6FAQ
A tanning accelerator is a product applied before UV exposure that supports your skin's own melanin production. That is the whole definition.
It is not a bronzer, which paints colour on, and not an oil, which intensifies exposure.
It needs a melanin-supporting active, high enough on the list to matter. Usually a tyrosine derivative.
It needs UV to do anything. Without a sunbed or sun it is a moisturiser.

Part one

The definition

A tanning accelerator is a cream, jelly or lotion you apply before a sunbed or sun session that contains ingredients supporting the process by which your skin makes melanin. Your skin makes melanin anyway when UV reaches it; an accelerator gives that process what it needs so each session counts for more and colour builds sooner and more evenly. That is it. No colour of its own, no protection of its own, no effect without light. The result is a real tan, made by you, which is why it does not wash off and does not look orange.

Part two

What it is not

Not a bronzer. A bronzer lotion contains DHA or a tint that colours the surface of skin immediately. Some tubes contain both a tint and an accelerator; the instant colour is the tint, and it washes off. More here.
Not a tanning oil. Oil sits on the surface and intensifies UV. It does nothing for melanin, it raises the burn risk, and most salons ban it for what it does to acrylics. The comparison.
Not a self-tan. Self-tan is DHA that develops colour with no UV at all. An accelerator with no UV is a body cream.
Not a sunscreen. No accelerator contains meaningful SPF, and the ones that claim to are compromising one job or the other. Why.
Not a tingle, necessarily. Tingle is a sensation added on top. A tingle cream may or may not be an accelerator underneath. Explained.

Part three

What has to be in it for the word to be honest

At minimum, a melanin-supporting active, and it has to sit high enough on the list to be doing something. The one to look for is a tyrosine derivative, usually acetyl tyrosine or N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine: tyrosine is the amino acid skin converts into melanin. If it is in the top ten, the product is an accelerator. If it is after the fragrance and preservative, the product is a moisturiser that mentions tanning. Beyond tyrosine, a serious accelerator adds support for the other steps in the process: a copper cofactor for the converting enzyme, a signalling ingredient such as a peptide or a botanical complex, and niacinamide for moving finished pigment to the surface. Our Island Coconut guide walks through all five.

Find the tyrosine. Find the fragrance. Whichever comes first tells you what you are holding.

Part four

How it works, in plain terms

UV reaches the skin and signals the pigment cells to make melanin. To do that they need a raw material, tyrosine, an enzyme to convert it, a mineral that enzyme depends on, copper, and then the finished pigment has to be moved up into the cells you can see. An accelerator supplies or supports those steps from the outside so that the session you were going to have anyway produces more, sooner, more evenly. Alongside that, a good one conditions the skin, because conditioned skin takes colour evenly and holds it, and dry skin sheds it. Two jobs: help the process, keep the canvas.

Part five

The 30-second check for any tube

Is there a tyrosine derivative on the printed list? No means it is not an accelerator, whatever the front says.
Is it above the fragrance? Yes means it is doing work. No means it is for the label.
Is there DHA, caramel or a CI number near the top? Yes means the instant colour is a tint.
Is it water-based? Water first on the list means sunbed-safe. Oil first means salons will send you home.
Does the website list match the tube? The tube is the legal one. Believe it.

Quick answers

Frequently asked

What does a tanning accelerator do?
Applied before UV, it supports your skin's own melanin production so each session builds colour sooner and more evenly. It contains no colour and needs UV to work.
Does a tanning accelerator work without the sun or a sunbed?
No. Without UV there is no melanin trigger, and the product is a moisturiser.
What is the main ingredient in a tanning accelerator?
A tyrosine derivative such as acetyl tyrosine, high enough on the list to matter. Better ones add copper, a signalling ingredient and niacinamide.
Is a tanning accelerator the same as a bronzer?
No. A bronzer colours the surface with DHA or a tint. An accelerator has no colour; the tan it helps build is your own.

An accelerator that passes its own check.

Tyrosine in the top ten, above the fragrance, no colour, water first. Every Delux cream, on the label.

Shop the creams
Find your formula
Delux creams · Real accelerators, on the labelShop now
Back to News