Why Am I Not Tanning? Eight Reasons, and What to Change
Why am I
not tanning?
You are doing the sessions. You are putting the cream on. And the mirror is giving you the same colour as a fortnight ago, or a pink one. So why am I not tanning? It is rarely one thing. Here are the eight reasons we see most, how to tell which is yours, and what to change. One of them you cannot change. We will say which.
Part one
First, which kind of not tanning is it?
"Not tanning" covers several different problems, and each has a different cause. Find the line that sounds like you, then skip to the reason it points at.
| What you see | Most likely reason |
|---|---|
| You have never really tanned, you go red or freckle | Skin type (reason 1), going red (reason 2) |
| You used to tan well and now you are stuck | Plateau (reason 3), lamps (reason 6) |
| Colour shows up, then vanishes within days | Shedding (reason 4), spacing (reason 5) |
| Your body tans but your legs or face do not | The area (reason 7), something on the skin (reason 8) |
| You tanned at one salon and not at another | Lamps (reason 6) |
Part two
The eight reasons you are not tanning
1. Your skin type sets the ceiling
Skin is often sorted into six types, from the palest skin that always burns and rarely tans, to the deepest that rarely burns. The type you are born with decides how much melanin your skin can make and which kind. Very fair skin, especially with red hair and freckles, tends to make more of a red-yellow pigment and less of the brown one.
No cream, gummy or routine changes your skin type. If you always burn and never tan, the honest advice is that a sunbed is not the route for you, and a self-tan is. Fair but slow to tan? You can build colour, slowly. How pale skin builds colour covers the slow route properly.
2. You are going red, and red sets you back
A burn is not a tan in disguise. Red skin peels, taking any colour underneath with it. People who "never tan" are often people who burn every few sessions and start again from zero.
The fix is shorter sessions and stopping before you go pink. Some medicines and skincare make skin more sensitive to UV, which shows up as redness rather than colour. Started something new? Check the leaflet for photosensitivity, or ask a pharmacist. Why going red sets your colour back.
3. You have reached your natural depth
Everyone's skin has a depth it settles at. You build quickly in the first few weeks, then the gains slow down, and eventually sessions keep your colour rather than add to it. That is a plateau, not a failure.
What people do next is add minutes. It does not work: the extra UV mostly buys redness. What helps is keeping your skin in good condition so the colour shows evenly, and keeping your routine consistent. How many sunbed sessions it takes shows where the curve flattens.
4. You are shedding the colour
A tan lives in the top layers of your skin, and those are replaced constantly. Anything that speeds that up takes your colour with it: dry skin, long hot showers, scrubbing mitts, exfoliating several times a week while you build.
Exfoliate a day or two before you start building, then go gentle. Moisturise every day, including days off. How long a tan lasts, and how to keep it.
5. Your sessions are badly spaced
Colour from a session keeps developing for days afterwards, so going back too soon does not give it time to show, and it raises the odds of going red. Leave it too long between sessions and you lose the build. Salons usually ask for at least 48 hours between sessions, which is a sensible floor.
How long a sunbed tan takes to develop has the day-by-day timeline.
6. The lamps are tired
Sunbed tubes lose output as they age, so two beds with the same session time can give very different results. If you tanned well at one salon and stall at another, the lamps are a fair suspect.
Ask the salon when the tubes were last changed. A good salon will know. Then stick to their session times on a bed you trust.
7. The area is slow
Some parts of the body tan more slowly than others. Lower legs are the classic one: thicker skin, fewer pigment cells, and they are often the first to be shaved and scrubbed. On a lie-down bed, the spots that press into the acrylic (shoulder blades, bum, backs of the legs) get squeezed, which can leave pale patches.
We have whole guides for both: why your legs won't tan and how to tan your face on a sunbed.
8. Something on your skin is getting in the way
A lot of face moisturisers and foundations now carry SPF, which is good news for your skin and bad news for your sunbed face. Leftover self-tan sits on the surface and makes real colour hard to judge. Your skin cannot tan through something built to stop UV.
Take make-up and SPF products off before a session, let old self-tan fade, and keep what you put on beforehand to a thin layer of something made for the job.
Part three
What a tan accelerator can fix, and what it cannot
We sell tan accelerators, so this is the bit where we are meant to say a cream fixes everything. It does not.
The honest bit
If your skin is the type that always burns and never tans, no accelerator will change that, ours included. If you are a slow tanner, stuck at a plateau, or losing colour to dry skin, a good formula helps each session count and helps what you build last. It works with UV, never instead of it, and never as a reason to stay on longer.
The cream supports the session. It does not replace the sensible parts.
Part four
Where the Delux range fits
None of our formulas contain bronzer or DHA, which matters here: if you are trying to work out whether you are actually tanning, nothing painted on confuses the picture.
Island Coconut, Electric Melon and Vanilla Paradise (Next-Gen creams)
Sun Sauce (Next-Gen jelly)
Go Dark (the original)
Not sure which one? Cream or jelly walks through it, and a sachet lets you try a Next-Gen cream for a few sessions first.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
Why am I not tanning anymore?
Why won't my skin tan on a sunbed?
Why do I go red instead of tan?
Will a tan accelerator help if I am not tanning?
Why does my tan fade so fast?
Same minutes. Better sessions.
Bronzer-free, DHA-free and made to be used with UV. A thin layer before each session, and whatever colour turns up is all yours.
Shop the creamsTry a Next-Gen sachet