Self tanning in summer - I give up!

[Gizzasec]

Older bloke, started self-tanning maybe 3 years ago after moaning about always being pale & pasty, especially in the summer. My niece got me into it - and to begin with it was great, good to have a bit of colour, nothing extreme. I underestimated the work involved, of course - but the payoff was worth it.
Currently using Isle of Paradise drops mixed with moisturiser - I'm prone to eczema & so should use it daily (don't always!). I like the control they give, ie how many drops, plus the result.

But summers! It's blimmin' well impossible to maintain a non-patchy self-tan in these temperatures - or anything over about 25C tbh. You can't NOT sweat, and lo! - patches at elbows, knees, etc etc. And my skin's patchy enough as it is. This is when you most want a tan, but you can't have it.
How the hell d'you do it - buy a big fridge and stand in it until your tan develops? Or hang out in the cheese aisle at Sainsbury's all day? 🤷🏻‍♂️

You are a man and probable hairy with body hair in the places you want to tan. This is the wrong forum for you!

If you’re my dd aged 23 you just accept it goes a bit patchy and live with it.

I use No7 tanner and a cheap mit I got from Asda. It develops quite slowly like the gradual tanner ones so I find it’s a bit more forgiving if it does go patchy.

I also try not to tan the same night as shaving as that seems to make any patchiness worse. I try and exfoliate every few days too although realise this may be a bit difficult with skin issues.

The tanning kit was a revelation for me tho especially on knees elbow feet etc as you just sweep over and around so I find less gathers on nooks and crannies and trust me I have very nooky knees and elbows 😄

Also No7 is almost always 3 for 2 and often a 10 off a £20 spend always stacks of ones about so it’s such good value.

But yea, while o feel better when my blue limbs are a little tanned it’s frickin high maintenance.

I have been using the gatineau gradual tan, it was very expensive but I've think i wasted my money 3 to4 layers before a light tan, then I brought dove mouse in the medium, dark had sold out, again I need 2 to 3 layers for a light tan, is there one out there that gives good colour in one go , I'm fair to light skined with blue eyes, so should be easy

Thanks all! Hm, maybe gradual is the way? A little often - then any sweat problems can only affect a small proportion of your overall colour? I did start off using very gradual stuff, but my DW hated the smell so I had to change. This summer I'm just constantly trying to repair patches & it's all become a real chore.
@Blueyellowhalfmoon I'm not that hairy, don't think that's the issue bc it works ok in autumn & spring - it's just summer that spoils everything.
I'm gonna try a very gradual tanner, but maybe apply late evening when it's cooler. I don't need a deep tan but I can't go back to deathly pale now.

Why would you say that? It isn’t unreasonable to post just because he’s a man.

You need to have a good scrub in the bath about once a week followed by moisturiser to remove all the tan, a loufer or a special tan scrub mitt will help get it all off (but I would be careful given your eczema). Baby oil is good as it dissolves the tan. Once your skin is smooth and free of any dead/dry skin you can reapply your tan. Don’t reapply the tan until the moisturiser has fully soaked in or it will be patchy. I would personally wait until the next day. To stop the sweat ruining your tan baby powder all over is excellent. I also often get built up patches on my neck and the skin near my ears and I use Clinique liquid exfoliater stuff (the purple one) to take it off. It’s very high maintenance having a fake tan, I’m an ex tanning addict and I’ve stopped using it for this reason and I am embracing my natural skin!

Another annoying thing is you need to avoid swimming pools as chlorine makes it patchy (another reason I cba with tanning anymore)!

@putitonthewrongway Thank you, this business of "removing all the old tan" has always been something I struggle with tbh. I'm not sure I've ever managed to remove ALL of it! It fades unevenly in any case - generally areas where there's more friction from clothes fade first. But other areas are really persistent. Lower legs & arms, odd patches here & there. I scrub away, yes with the special mitt, but it seems to make very little difference to those zones. If only the rest of me held on to a tan that well. So when it comes to re-applying, I'm far from working on a "blank canvas"! I go easy on those bits that still look darker, and generally it all works out - until summer and the dreaded perspiration. I don't even sweat that much, but it's enough to cause damage.
Baby oil & talc - I will deffo give them a try. It IS high maintenance, isn't it?

haha yeah too high maintenance for me these days! It’s been a while since I’ve used the brand you mentioned but to be honest I didn’t rate it highly when I used it (I think I only used it on my face and neck) it gives a nice colour but I don’t think it lasts long. Might be worth trying a different brand. Clarins do nice tanning drops and I like St Tropez as well. I used to get the 1-3 hour tan one from St Tropez and then you don’t have to sleep with it on and upset your parter with the smell!

Gradual tan. Use for a few days. Much less prone to be patchy.

You need Jimmy Coco. Goes on smooth, dries quick - does look like you’ve Marmited yourself but then when you shower off, it is all even and golden. I find it fades evenly but I guess that might be skin type dependant. Coco and Eve is also good, works the same way. I don’t really bother with all the skin care stuff and I seem to get good results with those two brands, I couldn’t be bothered with all the maintenance otherwise tbh.

I've kinda sworn off anything with a guide colour because I think it was making the patchiness worse. I think the random dry patches (which resist all efforts to rub or moisturise them away, they just regenerate 🙄) absorbed the guide colour a bit & held onto it.

But @putitonthewrongway the baby oil really helped, thank you! @greengreentall I'm definitely going back to gradual over the summer. Trying Superdrug Vitamin E gradual tan - smells ok, at least it doesn't seem to upset DW. Applying at night when it's cooled down, it dries fairly quick, then bed. Don't sleep with the covers on in this weather anyway, so less chance of the dreaded perspiration.
Thanks everyone for helping out a pale guy; it's not a conversation you can really have with most blokes! It's just so nice to have a bit of colour when it's hot, instead of sitting there looking vaguely ill-at-ease (or just ill), like you can't wait for the summer to end. It's odd, I love other people's pale skin, just not my own. 🤷🏻‍♂️

How pale are you? I do enough to take the purple tinge off…. I mean I’m incredibly white and the best thing for me is to exfoliate and then moisturise really well. I use dove. Get the pale one , medium just turns me orange but again ymmv

I'm pretty damn pale! And fairly freckly. As a kid, I was almost ginger, but it darkened (and now it's started whitening!). I drove a lot for work, it was a fairly outside-y job, so I'd get a bit of colour on my face and the classic "trucker's arm" but even that was kind of freckles joining forces. 😁

I could never stay out in the sun; if I forgot sunblock, I'd burn, peel & go back to white. I said to my niece one summer, oh it's ok for people like you with skin that loves the sun. And she went, no you're forgetting I'm pale too, you just haven't seen my skin without tan for years now. And I thought, blimmin' heck, I need a bit of that.

I'm taking a little bit of flak for it too, from DW & DCs but tbf they're getting used to a browner dad! It cheers me right up, makes me feel I'm not just sliding into old git territory without a fight. I don't overdo it (ok the odd mistake!), it'd be weird if I was super-dark, I mean I'm obviously not Mediterranean or anything.

So I'm using the Superdrug Vitamin E gradual tanner (medium) which is actually a bit more effective than I thought, but I've got 2 tubes so sticking with it, about once every week, ish. And Isle of Paradise medium drops (with the green stuff that's supposed to counteract redness) so that when I moisturise (supposed to do it twice a day but it's more like once) I can also do a little top-up. All applied late evening plus drying off for maybe 45 mins before bed. Gonna see how that goes. It's WORK looking good!