Get Self-Tanner Off Your Hands Every Single Time By Following These Expert Tips
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If you've ever applied a self-tanner, you likely know some of the popular hiccups that can occur: streaks, product transfer, and heavy smells. However, all of those results are temporary and can be easily fixed, there's only one side effect that's particularly hard to correct — getting self-tanner off your hands.
Nothing screams "fake tan" quite as much as orange palms do, and while there's nothing wrong with flaunting a faux glow, it's not necessarily the natural sun-kissed look everyone goes for.
Thankfully, there are ways to get rid of self-tanner on your palms. Here, two celebrity spray tan experts shares their tips and tricks to achieving a picture-perfect self-tan..
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What's the Best Way to Remove Self-Tanner Off Hands?
There are two easy wasy to remove self-tanner. First, Marc Elrick, the founder & CEO of TAN-LUXE, says to exfoliate. "It's the best way to get rid of an old tan," he explains. He recommends using the brand's Glyco Water, as it's packed with glycolic acid which gently breaks down remnants of self-tan. Apart from chemical exfoliation, Elrick recommends doing some physical exfoliation, too.
Another out-of-the-box way to remove self-tanner is by applying hair removal cream to the area for up to 10 minutes. "[It] dissolves whatever is on the top layer of the skin," explains Sophie Evans, St. Tropez's Skin Finishing Expert & Celebrity Self Tanner. She recommends leaving it on for half the time if all you want to do is lighten the color, and leaving it on the full 10 if you want to get rid of the tan completely.
Additionally, she says the brand's Prep and Maintain Tan Remover Mousse also works to remove old self-tans and correct mistakes. It contains bicarbonate of soda, urea, and cotton extract, but what Evans says make it a unique formula is that it also uses a probiotic yogurt which primes the skin and sets it to the ideal pH.
"If you want to make a homemade version of a tan remover, add lemon juice to bicarbonate of soda to make a paste mix, leave on the skin for about five minutes, then lift [it] off using an exfoliating mitt or face cloth," she adds. "If you make a mistake while tanning, you can simply wipe off any unwanted self-tan with a cleansing wipe."
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Elrick says the trickiest areas to work around are the knuckles and wrists, but to exfoliate the hands with an exfoliating mitt and use hot water. If you don't have the time or patience for that, good ole' hair removal cream works just fine.
