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SKINCARE
15
Help! I look like a ghost!
Is fake tan still ok to use?
Feeling kind of pasty? You have to be living under a boulder to
not know the serious safety hazards of getting a real sun tan ( skin
cancer, anyone?) , not to mention the leathery look that long-term
sun worshipping does to your appearance. But if the pale shade
your skin has taken on isn’t quite doing it for you, a fake tan can
sound like the perfect way to bring your mojo back, right? Well,
yes and no.
The active ingredient found in most self-tanning lotions is called
DHA (dihydroxyacetone) , which is a sugar molecule derived from
plants. The DHA reacts with the amino acids on the top layer of
your skin and in turn stains the skin brown (or, in the case of a
poorly made self-tanner, Oompa Loompa orange) . DHA has up
until recently been thought to only affect the outermost layer of
the skin (aka the stratum corneum) , which is comprised of mostly
dead skin cells.
However, some new information is giving people pause. A
pregnant pause you might even say. Reports show that small
amounts of DHA can potentially trickle into the blood-stream via
topical use
1. Whilst there’s no data to clearly support that DHA
is harmful, even a trace amount of it in the bloodstream during
pregnancy is cause enough for concern not to use it.
So as with everything else in pregnancy, exercising caution is
your best bet, but if you’ve got a special event ( i.e. your bestie’s
beach wedding in Barbados ) that calls for a show of your skin
and you absolutely need to use self-tanner, the safest way to
apply it, especially during pregnancy, is with your own two hands,
not with a spray. While DHA may be considered ok for topical use,
breathing it in is another story. If inhaled into the lungs, DHA could
get absorbed into the bloodstream quicke
r 2 .Not to mention
that when self-tanner is sprayed on, you’re possibly getting it into
any open cuts on your body. While a spray tan may deliver a
seamlessly bronzed look, it’s not worth it.