Victorio asks…are spray tanning booths safe? Also while you’re being sprayed there is a lot of residual mist that is being inadvertently inhaled is this dangerous to your lungs?

Left Beauty Brain replies.

Spray tanning booths use the same chemicals found in the sunless tanning sprays and creams that you can buy from your local grocery store (or chemist for our UK Beauty Brains). We’ve discussed how sunless tanning works in the past for those who are curious. But we didn’t say whether spray tanning booths were safe or not. That’s an interesting question.

Sunless Tanning and DHA

Sunless tanners take advantage of a browning chemical reaction between your skin proteins and a compound called DHA (Dihydroxyacetone). It’s actually pretty neat now that they’ve figured out how to make it look brown instead of orange. Sunless tanning is much safer than the real thing.

Safety of mist tanning

Unfortunately, the safety of DHA has only been verified for external use. That means it’s perfectly safe for putting on your skin but it hasn’t been proven safe inside your body (e.g. in your lungs).

According to the FDA,

DHA is listed in the regulations as a color additive for use in imparting color to the human body. However, its use in cosmetics–including sunless “tanning” products–is restricted to external application (21 CFR 73.2150). According to the CFR, “externally applied” cosmetics are those “applied only to external parts of the body and not to the lips or any body surface covered by mucous membrane” (21 CFR 70.3v). The industry has not provided safety data to FDA in order for the agency to consider approving it for use on these exposure routes, including “misting” from tanning booths.

So, as far as the FDA is concerned spray tanning booths probably fall outside the realm of what’s considered safe if any of the DHA gets inside your body.

Still mist tanning may be ok

While the FDA is weary of spray tanning booths they are also quick to point out that they have no jurisdiction to regulate them. It’s up to the operator of the spray tanning booth to ensure that they are safe. A bit like the fox watching the hen house eh?
How can you tell whether the spray tanning booth that you go to is safe? According to the FDA, you should ask the following three questions.

1. Are your eyes protected from exposure?
2. Are your lips and mouth protected from exposure?
3. Are you protected from internal exposure caused by inhaling or ingesting the product?

If the answer to any of these in “no” then the booth you are in wouldn’t be considered safe by the FDA.

Beauty Brains bottom line

Sunless tanning is great and we recommend using any of these fine sunless tanning to get your tan on.   Until more testing is done, you should avoid spray tanning booths because unless your eyes and mouth are completely covered and you can hold your breath for the few minutes it takes to spray, you’ll get DHA inside your body. It could be perfectly fine but without safety data, you just don’t know.