An added glow to the skin can not only positively impact your confidence, but help your summer wardrobe to look even better. Over the years we?ve all been actively encouraged to ditch the sunbeds and undertake a safer and ?faker? alternative; self tans have become incredibly mainstream and offer a sun-free way of achieving a golden and radiant glow. I?ve been a self-tanner for years, transforming my pasty pale skin into something a little less transparent - especially as we step into summer and start to slip into something a little more revealing. As scientific advances have made self tanners even more realistic and less troublesome to apply, the market has boomed to leave the self tanning shelves of your local Boots store bursting with newness. A little indulgent tanning time once a week can offer a golden glow, but did you know the main ingredient in the majority of your tan products is actually holding a dirty little secret"
DHA (dihydroxyacetone) is the main active ingredient in the majority of self tanning products; DHA is a colorless chemical (derived from glycerin) that interacts with the amino acids in dead skin cells to produce a brown color change. DHA has been used as the standard technology in self-tanning for years and it is the only approved ingredient to be able to make a self-tanning claim. It?s this ingredient that has the biscuity scent we so closely associate with self tan, and the ingredient that helps provide a natural glow all over the skin...