It's spring time so you can't wear mittens to cover up your hands to avoid getting those looks in the checkout line. What do you do?
Effective ways to treat light spots:
- Lemon juice
- Vinegar
- Baby oil (let the baby oil rest on your skin for a few minutes and then gently use an exfoliating glove or wash cloth)
- Mix baby oil with baking soda to form a paste, then rub the paste on the stained areas
- If you have just some small areas that are lighter than the surrounding areas, try using a small dab of self tanner to blend the spot
- Magic eraser - this is a tried and tested method for removing marks on your wall but it will also remove light to semi-dark spray tan stains
Effective ways to treat dark spray tan stains on your hands, knees or elbows:
- Hydrogen peroxide - this is a common household item that many people have in their medicine cabinets. It has been used to lighten hair (so I'm told) but it can also be used to remove a spray tan stain. Rub some hydrogen peroxide on the affected areas and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Then take a wash cloth or loofah and scrub the area. Be very careful that you are using this only on the area of concern. If you are too liberal with it you will remove the spray tan from surrounding areas.
- Tan remover (you can purchase tan remover product in most stores)
- Acetone or nail polish remover - another household item for most ladies. Apply the nail polish remover to a cotton ball and wipe the affected area
- Heavy duty hand soap. If your husband has some mechanics soap around the house to remove grease stains from his hands, you will find that a product such as Orange Goop will work as well. Most of these products have little exfoliater balls in the soap that aid in exfoliating the area.
- Pumice bar - use a pumice bar such as Mr. Pumice. You can use it wet or dry but a dry pumice bar may work better for our purpose but be careful because it could irritate your skin if you rub too hard.
Helpful tip:
If the stained area is not on your hands, remember to wear latex disposable gloves to apply any type of spray tan removal product to any other parts of your body. You don't want the top of your hands, fingers, wrist or any parts of your arm to inadvertently get exposed to a removal product.
There are many ways to remove unwanted spray tan stains from hands, elbows, knees or feet. Next time this happens to you, we suggest any of the above or just bookmark this blog post for a quick reference guide.
By Deann Casias Howard