How to Get Rid of a Tan: Tips to Remove and Reverse Suntan

In my eyes, there are two kinds of people; those who love to get tanned and those who don’t.

I always write for the former one. But, this article is for the later.

At some point in our life, we all have been in the shoes of the later. Aren’t we? I’m talking about the time when you had spent hours in the beaches holidaying and ended up with an ugly tan.

How to get rid of a tan from face and skin is a serious thing for many.

Let me tell you removing tan from your skin is not a big deal at all. With simple home remedies, you can get rid of tanned skin quickly. There are very good cosmetic products that will help you to get rid of suntan instantly.

We will see both the natural and cosmetic methods of losing a tan in this article.

Let’s start!

Do Tans Go Away?

A patchy tan is a worry for everyone. People doubt whether the tans go away or not.

It does. Technically speaking, it will fall.

How deep may be your tan, it doesn’t have a life for more than 10 days. Even if you don’t do anything for removing the tan, it will go away in 7-10 days time.

However, the tips I’m going to tell you will help you get rid of tans in 2-3 days.

Before going into the tips, let us see why the tans fade off.

For a better understanding of this, you need to know what actually a tan is.

Basically, tanning is our body’s simple mechanism to protect the skin from harmful UV rays. While doing so, melanocytes in the skin produce melanin; the pigment which is responsible for skin’s tanned look.

You can even get a tan after 5 PM or during an overcast day. Remember, tanning has nothing to do with the heat, but only with the intensity of UV rays.

Pigmentation will take place only on the outside of your skin. And we all know how long the outer skin lives. They get replaced in every 2-3 weeks time.

I think you go the answer by now.

How to Remove Tan from Skin

In life, there are good times and there are bad times. Likewise, there are good tans and bad tans.

Good tans are the ones that give you the desired chocolaty glow while bad tans are the ones that won’t let you go for a second without thinking of getting rid of it?

What do you do?

Luckily, I came across a lot of options whenever I messed up because of the salon I own. You’d like to learn from my experiences, wouldn’t you?

Well, for starters, you have to be patient. Patience is the key because nothing will give you results with the movement of clock’s hand.

Gather some patience and read on!

Natural Home Remedies to Remove Tan

The best thing about losing a suntan is not just about its easiness, the process is very cheap too. You can make use of commonly found home items to remove the suntan.

Below are some of the naturally occurring methods I found to be effective.

1.      Lemon Juice

Coming to lemon, it’s the arch-enemy of melanin! Yeah, it will remove melanin from your skin, when properly applied. Lemon juice helps in removing tan by lightning up your skin.

Lemon has a lot of antioxidant properties and rich in vitamin C.

You need to follow the following steps to use lemon juice for reversing a tan:

1. Cut lemon/lemons.
2. Rub the slice on the little bit of your tanned skin.
3. For using it on a wider area, squeeze a few lemons into a tub of water.
4. Add some water to dilute it.
5. Add some honey or rose water to dilute the acidity.
6. Dive in! (Joking, pour it on yourself nicely and smoothly)
7. Keep the liquid undisturbed on your skin for half an hour.
8. Wash off the lemon juice after a few minutes with warm water.

However, you need to be very careful about the following points:

2.      Turmeric Powder

If you didn’t know earlier, let me tell you something interesting.

Turmeric is one of the spices originating in India mainly, used for its very effective properties to lighten the skin.

Unlike you, there are a lot of people who want their skin to look lighter. That’s where the turmeric comes in. You can use this at home to deal with your unwanted tan.

Here are the steps:

1. Pour some milk and rose water into a cup.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of turmeric powder in the cup.
3. Stir till you make a paste.
4. Apply this paste on your body evenly and calmly.
5. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes before taking it off (not more than that!)
6. Use lukewarm water to remove the mask.

But there is one issue with using turmeric for reducing tan. It can stain just about anything it leaves its residue on. Yes, this includes even our face too!

So, wash your body and face nicely with a good soap or a facewash and be wary of any residue.

You don’t want to look like turmeric, do you?

3.      Tomatoes and yogurt

Yes, tomatoes aren’t just for pranks on peoples’ seats.

Tomatoes are a great source of citric acid. Enriched with vitamins, it doesn’t even have any side effects or reactions like other harsh substances.

Mixing tomatoes and yogurt will slowly take your tan away and also give you a glow on your face. More like, they’ll leave their shades on your skin!

Here’s how to prepare some magic:

1. Get a nicely made yogurt, either from a dairy or packed products (I’d prefer dairy, though). You can use Cultures for Health‘s starter kit to make one.
2. Get some pulpy tomatoes and squeeze them into a pulp. You can find already pulped tomatoes at your local supermarket too.
3. Mix equal amounts of yogurt and tomato pulp to make a paste (depends on how much body you want to cover)
4. Apply the paste on your desired tanned areas.
5. Let it sit and dry for at least 30 minutes before washing it off with clean water.
6. Repeat once every 2 days.

4.      Milk and Strawberry

Sorry for hurting your feelings like this, but nowhere in the near future do you have to eat this.

Yes, I know it sounds so delicious to you but this is what will help you in removing your tan if you haven’t eaten it already.

Strawberries naturally exfoliate the skin and remove the dead cells faster than anything else would. On the other hand, the milk will moisturize and provide nutrition to your skin.

Here’s how to prepare this delicious mask:

1. Pour some warm milk into a cup.
2. Crush around 15-20 strawberries delicately, making sure that you don’t lose the real contents of it (nor eat it!)
3. Mix them up and make a paste mixture.
4. Apply the mixture on tanned areas very nicely and smoothly.
5. Let it sit for about 35 minutes before washing it off (even though you won’t feel like washing it off).
6. Repeat twice a week.

5.  Exfoliation

Exfoliating your skin is the easiest way to get rid of the bad tan. But you need to be careful here.

Exfoliation means removing the outer layer of your skin. If you get in direct contact with the sun after exfoliating, the chances are that you will get more tan.

No, how to exfoliate well?

Use a good scrubber or loofah while taking shower for this. I would ask you to take bath twice a day using the scrubbers to remove the dead skin cells.

Artificial (and quick) Remedies to Remove Suntan Quickly

I know this is what you were looking after. If the tan is ugly, you don’t want to wear it for 3-5 days time. Nobody wants to get embarrassed in front of others.

So, yeah, there are faster methods to get rid of tanned skin. If you are looking to remove your tan instantly (I know you’re super fed up of it but read on), there are many artificial methods out there.

I’ll share with you some of my personally tested techniques.

1. Tan removal creams

Tan removal creams are widely available over the counters because of the mistakes people did in the past. Of course they contain natural ingredients, but after all, they’re artificial creams.

These creams come by the name of tan removal creams only, but you can find them under the ‘whitening creams’ section too.

These artificially hinder the production of more melanin and also exfoliate your skin time to time to give you faster results.

Cool, isn’t it?

Recommended product: Divine Derriere Intimate Skin Lightening Gel (Click here for latest Price in Amazon) is one of the best tan removal creams in the market. It has been the favorite of many happy customers for years.

2. Bleaching agents

Yes, bleaching agents. I wouldn’t recommend this normally.

But, if you’re really upset with your tan and want it to go away at all costs, this is your last and fastest resort.

Bleaching agents come as many different brand names but commonly are the same thing. All you have to do is read the instructions on the leaflet and you’re good to go (because it varies forever different product).

Admire MySkin face cream (Click for Amazon latest price) is a fantastic option you can consider.

3. Sun Screens

Last but not least, prevention is better than cure. This is my last suggestion to you which won’t bring immediate results but is really necessary (you wouldn’t be here if you were using it in the first place).

Sunscreens keep the UV light away from your skin. Moreover, they also hinder any extra melanin production.

So, the next time you’re heading out, don’t forget to wear sunscreen. This will not only stop any further tanning but give you control over your tan while the old one wears out.

How to Prevent Tanning

Before wrapping up this article, I want to tell you that people only remove accidental and bad tans. Never in my career, I have seen a customer asking for tips to remove her hard-earned sun-kissed look.

If you want to remove the tan from your face or skin, you shouldn’t have gotten it in the first place.

You can do this why the following methods:

Concluding Remarks

Tanning is a natural process. If you spend time in the scorching heat, that too without any precautions, you will get a tan.

How to get rid off tanned skin might be the one thing you might be searching for if you get an ugly and uneven tan. People find solace in many artificial means to remove a suntan.

Although all the above options work fine, I would advise people to wait. There is nothing time can’t heal. If you wait for a couple of weeks, the tan will go away.