Goofy stuff! Goop suggests that you use make up instead of a tan or a sunless-tan. It makes sense (for once!)
I would prefer it if we all just gave up on the silly idea that a tan makes us look better. But, if I can’t win, let’s make it less bad than a suntan or a chemical tan.
What is a suntan? It happens when UV (it doesn’t have to be the sun!) reaches your skin and starts a cascade of events that ends up with the pigment melanin accumulating in the keratinocytes of your skin. See my posts below for more information.
What is a chemical tan? Here, the pigment is not melanin, and melanin has nothing to do with the process. Here, the chemicals in the “cosmetic” product react with proteins and other macromolecules in your skin. Dihydroxyacetone reacts with amino acids like arginine, lysine, and histidine found in the outer layer of skin to produce yellowish-brown pigments called melanoidins
This is the makeup that makes you look like tanned. Silly, I think, but not as silly as a suntan or a chemical tan.
Water, Butylene Glycol, Olive Oil, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate, Squalane, Astaxanthin, Ilex Paraguariensis Leaf Extract, Caffeine, Glyceryl Caprylate, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Saccharomyces Ferment, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Corn Starch, Acacia Senegal Gum, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Xanthan Gum, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Lauroyl Lysine, [+/- Blue 1 (Ci 42090), Yellow 5 (Ci 19140), Red 33 (Ci 17200)].
References:
Petersen AB, Wulf HC, Gniadecki R, Gajkowska B. Dihydroxyacetone, the active browning ingredient in sunless tanning lotions, induces DNA damage, cell-cycle block and apoptosis in cultured HaCaT keratinocytes. Mutat Res. 2004 Jun 13;560(2):173-86. doi: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2004.03.002. PMID: 15157655.
Wittgenstein E, Berry HK. Staining of skin with dihydroxyacetone. Science. 1960;132(3431):894‐895.
What is glycation? What are A.G.E.s? And what about that “safe” sunless tan?
The strongest aging agent: the sun