Sunny days are back ! And with them these sun preparations that promise us THE quick and perfect tan. It's true, you can't go from chicory to caramel gold in a snap: good preparation of the skin is the secret to a radiant, long-lasting and safe tan.
But not just how...
Preparing the skin for the sun: why?
On his Facebook account, your skin would write that with the sun, "It's complicated". Burns up to the 2nd degree (“sunburn”, this sweet euphemism…), sometimes fatal cancers, alteration of collagen and elastin, dryness of the epidermis, pigment spots: UV exposure accelerates skin slackening and aging and puts our health at risk.
There is no question of avoiding it altogether. : exposure to UV is essential to synthesize vitamin D. In other words to fix calcium in our bones, strengthen our immune defences, protect us from cancers or cardiovascular diseases… 2 – 3 trifles, what!
On the moral side, the sun acts on our sleep and our mood by stimulating melatonin. And if you suffer from eczema or psoriasis, you know its beneficial effect.
In short, unless there is intolerance, we love the sun. And then, our skin knows how to defend itself . Under the effect of UV, it thickens and builds a veritable shield of melanin capable of absorbing UV: the tan. But after months wrapped up, with little sun, she really needs a little help to wake up all that. How ? By following these 7 tips.
1.Have reasonable expectations
Genetics, personal history with the sun: our skin can be more or less sensitive or even powerless against UV rays. First of all, know your limits . Pale complexion, light hair and eyes? A neckline that is covered with pimples on the first sunny days? Take the greatest care in this preparation phase. But whatever your phototype, don't expect too much . What is your priority? A complexion as tanned as possible as quickly as possible or healthy skin and preserved health? To reap all the benefits of the sun's rays, there's no need to spend hours on the beach: 15 minutes of exposure to the least aggressive hours is enough. Especially that – attention, spoiler! -, a diaphanous complexion will never turn into matte skin, even in the tropics.
2. Gently wake up your epidermis
The winter weather and the rubbing of clothes have thickened and flaked your skin. Dead skin and toxins have accumulated. In short, your skin looks gray, your complexion is uneven. It's off to a bad start for a radiant tan… The right thing to do? A scrub to bring your skin out of hibernation and offer regenerated skin to the sun, rid of its impurities. But not just anyhow , at the risk of weakening it and its protective film. And therefore to expose it more strongly to sunburn.
Use gentle and natural products, well in advance of exposure. The best option? Go to the hammam or bring the hammam to your home with our black soap and its traditional Kessa glove . Without aggressive grains, it also has moisturizing properties. For the fine skin on the face , apply a suitable treatment by hand, such as our gentle exfoliant with Argan powder . It combines regenerating essential oils, detoxifying Rhassoul and nourishing and anti-aging Argan.
3. Eat colorful
The key to a lasting and healthy tan is also on your plate! Your diet can boost your melanin, protect and repair your cells from the effects of free radicals. To you carotenoids, vitamins A, E and antioxidants to regenerate the epidermis and strengthen its defenses against UV rays. Abuse colorful, organic and seasonal vegetables , in salads, toasted, juiced, steamed: red for lycopene (peppers, watermelon, etc.), orange or green for beta-carotene (apricots, sweet potatoes, peppers , spinach, broccoli, salad, parsley…), yolks for lutein (mango, corn…). Two stars: carrots and tomatoes , which will give you a nice complexion. Two birds with one stone ! Add to the menu seafood, rich in tanning accelerator and UV protector selenium, oilseeds (oils and seeds or nuts), cheeses, oily fish, eggs …
A program much preferable to solar capsules, potentially dangerous in interaction with other supplements, strongly discouraged for pregnant and breastfeeding women and smokers.
4. Stay hydrated
Sun and heat dehydrate our skin, which has already been damaged in winter by weather and heating. More than ever, drink plenty (of water!), and moisturize face and body. Indispensable for comfortable, healthy and strong skin against UV rays. From the first fine days, before and after exposure, opt for a moisturizer rich in vitamins A, C, E. The top to strengthen the hydrolipidic barrier and fight against the oxidation of cells by UV? Vegetable oils and butters, rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants : Borage, Evening Primrose, Inca Inchi, Shea, Buriti, Sea Buckthorn, Pomegranate… Be careful, some natural active ingredients are photosensitizing : certain essential oils, but also the macerate of St. John's Wort, yet often recommended as regenerating after sun. To be avoided before exposure.
5. Expose yourself gradually
If you can take the sun before leaving , it's ideal. Your slightly thickened and tanned skin will be less vulnerable to more violent UV rays at the water's edge or in the mountains. But be careful, the tanning is a slow process : do not jump into your bathing suit at the first rays! Otherwise your skin, thickened too quickly, will dull and be more prone to sunburn. Whoops! The ideal program? Very, very painful: aperitifs in the sun at the end of the day, reading in a deck chair or walks outside the most aggressive hours… Always with sunscreen, clothes, hat.
Of course we definitively ban UV cabins whose harmfulness is no longer to be demonstrated, and we forget this false good idea of gaining a kind of immunity for the summer with a "good sunburn" in the spring. We are not in Koh Lanta! You will only get weakened skin, which will tan badly, and above all a sun capital that is well under way with an increased risk of melanoma...
6.And the self-tanner?
Impossible to sunbathe before leaving? The self-tanning joker can be interesting: arriving a little tanned on vacation, you better resist the temptation of too intense exposure at the start of your stay. Two reservations, however. Conventional self-tanners are content to superficially color the skin , without any action on melanin. The risk ? Relax your protection level, having the illusion of skin already used to the sun. Above all, these products contain carcinogenic endocrine disruptors (formaldehyde and nitrosamines), DHA allergenic, carcinogenic and dangerous for the respiratory system. A ban, especially for pregnant women. Once again, nature offers us much more interesting solutions , which give a delicious tanned complexion while protecting the epidermis from UV rays (insufficient, however, to make sunscreen superfluous).
Our favourites? Once again : carrots . A few drops of macerate in your daily moisturizer and presto, a nice healthy glow effect. But for a more pronounced tan, there is no better than the Urucum or Roucou . This seed used by the Indians of Amazonia to color and protect their skin is 100 times richer in beta-carotene than the carrot. But also antioxidant, rich in zinc, copper and selenium: the ideal cocktail! To be used in powder mixed with a vegetable oil as a cure for one month before exposure or in the form of a food supplement. 100% natural effect guaranteed.
7. Adopt sunscreen in the spring
Finally, anticipate the choice of your sunscreen as much as possible . To draw it from the first rays of the sun, even in town. And avoid falling back on any beach shop product at the last moment. Criteria ? A strong SPF index (50) and a mineral filter . Avoid chemical filters, full of endocrine disruptors, harmful to health and disastrous for marine ecosystems: they lead to the bleaching and death of corals. Hawaii is trying to ban them. Finally, prefer those that leave a white film on the skin . Less sexy on the beach, perhaps, but it guarantees the absence of nanoparticles, which scientists qualify as the next health scandal... In short, we come back to it: favor natural and organic. You are now ready for a beautiful summer under the sun! But be careful, keep in mind that the best of preparations will never exempt you from the greatest caution during exposure and rigorous after-sun care. Above all, pay extra attention to the children : more fragile, their exposure to the sun will have repercussions all their lives...
