How to Remove Sun Tan from Face and Body Instantly

Some people spend hours trying to get the perfect tan. Others spend their money trying to get rid of it. I’ll leave the appearance debate up to the professionals. In the meantime, for those of you who are looking to lose the tan, let me help you with some home remedies that won’t require abusive chemicals or excessive amounts of money!

Read on to learn more about suntans and how to make them go away!

Why Does Our Skin Tan?

Your skin increases the level of melanin within each cell to protect itself from the sun’s UV rays. While sunlight is good for us, UV rays are radioactive and can cause damage to exposed skin. While melanin helps protect our skin from the radiation, it is also responsible for the tanning effect.

Melanin is what differentiates those with lighter and darker skin tints. It is also why those with lighter skin tend to get sunburn quicker than those with darker skin.

Avoid the Tan

The best way to relieve yourself of a tan is not to get it to begin with! When you go out in the sun, wear a hat and put sunscreen on your exposed skin. The most important places to apply sunscreen are the face, neck, and arms. Tanning can also result in hyperpigmentation – where it causes discoloration in your skin tone. However, you should place it on any bare skin before going outside.

Note that getting a tan doesn’t hurt your health. However, sunburn does. When your skin turns red and hurts, that is because the skin cells are killing themselves on purpose to prevent radiation exposure. If your skin cells didn’t do that, then you would likely die from UV exposure. Your body may know what to do but do your best not to put it in the position to need to!

Remedies for Skin Tan?

Exfoliation – Exfoliation helps to balance the skin tone by removing the top layer of skin and any dead skin cells. Treatment such as microdermabrasion for dark skin is popular among people who wish to even out their skin tone at the convenience of their own. They may be done with home products that does the exfoliation.

While exfoliation will greatly benefit suntan, as you removed the dead skin, you no longer have protection from the UV rays – that’s why you must stay well away from the sun for at least a couple of days after the treatment. Thereafter a day or two, your skin will be strong again. 

Aloe Vera – Aloe Vera helps to soothe the inflammation of sunburn. It also helps to moisturize tanned skin, slowly correcting the skin pigment.

Skin Lightening Products – If you do resort to using a product, make sure you use one that is 100% natural. Any product containing chemicals will harm your skin as much as heal it. Aim for products containing vitamins and other helpful ingredients.

Final Thoughts

The best method for removing suntan is to protect your skin from the UV rays of the sun in the first place. Of the above options, the most effective is exfoliation.

One thing to avoid is the myth that lemon juice and other acidic juices will remove suntan. There’s no clinical proof of this so I would advise choosing a proven method instead.

At the end of the day, protecting your skin is more important than keeping the pigment balanced. However, if you can perform both at once, then all the better!