How To Protect Your Face in Tanning Bed

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Tanning beds can be a great way to get reliable color all year. But have you noticed that sometimes your face color doesn’t match your body? Or did your face darken or get burned in the process?

Well, that may be due to the fact that the face on the skin is more sensitive than the skin on your body. That could cause your face to react differently to the UV rays of the tanning bed. 

You might be wondering what to put on your face for indoor tanning to achieve a better tan that matches your body. That depends on how your face and body react to the indoor tanning session. 

You should give your face more protection from the UV rays if it tends to tan darker than the rest of the body. Alternatively, there are also tanning lotions that you can use on the face to achieve a better look.

In this article, we’ll go over how to protect your face in a tanning bed. Let’s break it down here.


Contents

How To Protect Your Face in a Tanning Bed

Indoor tanning is one of the most popular alternatives to sun tanning. It uses UV light to trigger the skin to darken in shade.

However, the UV light from tanning bed bulbs is much more concentrated than natural sunshine. That’s why you only need a few minutes in the tanning bed to cause your skin to eventually tan. 

The skin on the face may react differently to UV radiation. Although it will still tan, it could tan unevenly: too light, or too dark compared to the rest of your body.

Tanning beds and booths are potential paths to skin cancer, and you should be careful. See here for more information and alternatives.

With that in mind, here are some things that you should put on your face while indoor tanning:

  • Tanning goggles or tanning eye stickers
  • Sunscreen
  • Tanning bed lotion
  • Lip balm with SPF

Tanning Goggles Or Tanning Eye Stickers

Tanning Goggles

With higher UV radiation, the first thing that you should always remember to put on your face are tanning goggles  or No products found..

These are your eye’s protection from the damaging ultraviolet radiation. 

You may not instantly see the damages or adverse effects but it will eventually develop. It could lead to blindness if you don’t use protection for your eyes.

This is one thing that you should never forget to put on your face while indoor tanning. Yes, you may run into raccoon-eyes, but you need to protect yourself.  


Face Sunscreen

EltaMD Face Sunscreen

Sunscreen for the face while using a tanning bed seems counterproductive. And it is! Sunscreen will give some sort of protection against the UV rays emitted by the tanning bed. 

That protection can help you achieve a lighter tan. This is very useful for those who tend to tan darker on the face as compared to their body.

With a light application of sunscreen, you can slow down the UV impact and lessen the penetration. That could help make the face tan lighter to match the body.

A face sunscreen will work better on the face than a body sunscreen.

Additionally, using sunscreen is also great for those who tend to easily get a sunburned face. While people argue about the benefits of sun exposure, no one argues that sunburns are bad.

It is also ideal for those who have various skin conditions on their face like acne or acne scars. It serves as protection for highly sensitive skin and it prevents premature aging due to UV exposure as well. 

The skin on the face really is more sensitive. Plus, there might be products that you are using that are causing your face to easily get tanned or burned by UV radiation. 

A will also work well if you want to tan your face as little as you can, because plan to use a facial self-tanner afterward. 

Some people can’t really get their tan on their body and face with just the use of a tanning bed. That’s okay, they could just use self-tanners on the face after tanning the body on the tanning bed. 

See our article on the best sunscreens for recommendations.


Tanning Bed Lotion

Tanning Lotion

Do you put tanning lotion on your face? Yes, most people do.

Tanning bed lotion  is an optional product that you can apply not only to your face but also to your body. This will help keep the skin hydrated as exposure to UV rays tends to dry the skin. 

Compared to sun tanning, the skin will dry up more easily while tanning under a tanning bed because of high UV concentration. 

Some tanning lotions can also help speed up the process of tanning, or help you get dark. These would be great if your body tends to tan darker than your face.

In that way, you’ll better achieve a matching face and body tan. 

See also:


Lip Balm With SPF

Lip Balm

Another part of your face that you should definitely protect from UV radiation is your lips. Applying lip balm with SPF  will help protect your lips from getting damaged from the UV.

Additionally, they will also be kept hydrated. 

See also:


Final Thoughts

Indoor tanning harnesses the power of UV light to give you a tan similar to a suntan, just amplified.

Given that the skin on your face is more sensitive than the skin on your body, you should know what products to put on it to get great results after using a tanning bed. 

Tanning goggles and lip balm with SPF are staples because they protect the eyes and lips while tanning. Then you can use either sunscreen or tanning bed lotion for your face. 

The sunscreen lessens the intensity of your tan while the tanning bed lotion intensifies it. Both products are also hydrating to prevent the skin from drying out due to UV radiation. 

See also:

Written by Kayla Young

Kayla is the founder of LuxeLuminous. She has worked professionally in the tanning industry for years. She has been interested in esthetics since childhood, and has tried every hair, skin, and makeup product ever produced (more or less).