Sonia says…Lately I’ve been using Clarins Liquid Bronze Self Tanning, and I like how it looks, but I was wondering, this sounds just too good to be true, don’t these self tanners damage the skin in the long term?
The Right Brain replies:
Don’t worry, Sonia. Self tanners use an ingredient called Dihydroxyacetone (or DHA) that creates a brownish color when it reacts with the upper layers of skin. The upper layers of skin are dead anyway and DHA doesn’t penetrate into the deeper layers so there’s really no danger. If you want more info, read our previous post on how sunless tanning works.
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Haven’t you heard of the studie of Gematria Test Lab in Berlin from 2007 in which they discovered that skin is in the first 24 hours after applying very sensitive for sunlight and therefore produces more free radicals than normally?
warm regards
Monique Lindeboom
beautyjournalist and publisher of http://www.beautyjournaal.nl
in The Netherlands
Monique, I’m confused. I though free radicals were produced by processes such as metabolism and reactions to radiation and carcinogens. How does skin produce free radicals on its own?
Great article, Brains! Although this article might be of some interest (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19016307)
Free radicals are produced when the sun oxidizes the skin. I presume Monique is talking about skin that has been treated with DHA will be more sensitive to the sun and therefore more likely to create free radicals.